Battle of the Network Shows

This week, we delve into the weird 1972 animated special "Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter," which takes Popeye and adds most of his King Features comic strip cohorts, including Blondie and Dagwood, Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Quincy, Snuffy Smith, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Steve Canyon, and more! Popeye does impressions, Olive flirts with Steve, a number of characters eat a lot of food, a...

For many of us who grew up in the eighties, one name defines late night--Dave--and this week, we focus on the "Camping with Barry White," episode, which features Jacqueline Bisset, the television debut of Bobcat Goldthwait, and of course...camping with Barry White. Awww, yeah.

To celebrate 50th Full Episode, we do something unprecedented and revisit a show--CHiPs! Just as we return to he well, do the men and women of the CHP when they deal with an annoying kid, humorous thieves played by likable character actors, and lots and lots of celebrities! Boulders, push ball, stars, Uncle Miltie, and more!

This week, we tackle the groundbreaking Norman Lear urban sitcom Good Times! Nothing goes as expected when James finds $27,000 stolen from a grocery store. Plus, we delve into the mysteries of the Norman Lear multiverse.

We put up a poll, the listeners voted, and we've responded with Buck Rogers in the 25th Century "Space Vampire." Things get spooky when Buck, Wilma, and Twiki have to face a space vampire...and his one giant eyebrow! Drinking game: drink every time we use space as an adjective.

We follow up our Mary Tyler Moore Episode with a look at its dramatic spinoff Lou Grant. When a tunnel collapses, Lou gets the "L.A. Tribune" team in high gear while managing fragile egos, a TV-loving intern, a human fly, an unhappy assistant editor, a nut job, and...Swedes? Yes, Gilligan's Island comes up, too.

Love is all around as we discuss iconic sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Mary wants a raise. Instead, she has to mastermind WJM's new "fun" news format. Everything should run smoothly as long as no one tells Ted he's the straight man. Oops! Plus...Gilligan's Island?

The zingers fly when Dean Martin gathers a cavalcade of stars and celebrities to roast Peter Marshall, host of "Hollywood Squares," including Vincent Price, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Rip Taylor, Orson Welles, and Paul Lynde! Plus, the mysterious case of Jimmie Walker.

We knew next to nothing about classic primetime sudser Dynasty, but that didn't stop us from diving into season 3 cliffhanger finale "The Cabin." Characters scheme, characters seethe, characters threaten, but mostly they talk. Also, fire, a mustache, and surprise guest stars!

This week, we look at two episodes of beloved kid-com Punky Brewster. First, Henry (George Gaynes) desperately wants to get tickets to the Cubs-Padres playoff game, but even Punky Power might not help him this time. Then, Punky (Soleil Moon Frye) tries to overcome...URBAN FEAR!

Season 4 begins with a star-spangled bang! Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America starred in not one but two TV movies!  We talk about both but focus on "Captain America II: Death Too Soon." Cap (Reb Brown) must stop the mysterious rebel general Miguel (Christopher Lee) before his de-aging formula takes out Portland, Oregon!

Join Rick, Mike, plus Bobby and the BOTNS Orchestra for another thrilling round of The Fame Game! Will Mike guess this week's mystery celebrity or go down swinging? Find out on The Fame Game!

This week, we take a brief look back at the career of the late Steven Bochco, co-creator of BOTNS-era-defining dramas "Hill Street Blues" and "L.A. Law," as well as groundbreaking nineties shows like "NYPD Blue" and "Murder One."

In The Fame Game, Rick puts Mike on the hot seat and challenges him to identify a BOTNS-era celebrity based on a series of clues. Will Mike rise to the challenge or fail miserably? Find out in The Fame Game!

The Internet loves lists, and we've added another one. Mike and Rick each pick their 5 top TV chefs and cooks from the seventies and eighties--real or fictional--plus a few honorable mentions.

We asked you, the listener, to help us, the podcasters, choose two of our shows for the upcoming season 4, and the results are in! Who won in the category of sci-fi show: Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, or Space 1999? Which show emerged triumphant among the workplace sitcoms: WKRP in Cincinnati, Benson, or Barney Miller? Find out right there on our continuing coverage.

Just in time for Major League Baseball opening day, we revisit another What We Want to See segment now that we've seen it. This time, Mike saw an episode of "Ball Four," the baseball sitcom based on Jim Bouton's book of the same name. Will the players really spend "A Quiet Day at the Iroquois Hotel"? Will their antics live up to the real ones Bouton described in his book? Will that one guy ever go...

In this bonus minisode, we play a very special round of everybody's favorite Robert Pine based game Pick Your Pine as Rick tries to guess what episode of CHiPs Robert Pine and our man Dick Van Patten appeared in together!

We head back out to sea for a new game, The Love Boat Game, where Mike challenges to Rick to figure out which guest stars played which roles. For our maiden voyage, we look at Season 6, episode 10, "The Man In the Iron Shorts, Victims, Heavens to Betsy," featuring Janine Turner, Ruth Warrick, Laurence Lau, and a man called Pine.

In this bonus minisode, we play another round of everybody's favorite Robert Pine based game Pick Your Pine. This time, Rick tries to guess what show from the BOTNS era featured both Robert Pine and the great Anne Meara.

In this bonus minisode, we discuss seeing a show we once wanted to see, Year At the Top. Greg Evigan and Paul Shaffer sell their souls to rock and roll with help from Mickey Rooney! Mike saw an episode, Rick has a lot of questions, and Mike has some surprising answers.

ALL ABOARD THE PACIFIC PRINCESS FOR THE SEASON 3 BATTLE OF THE NETWORK SHOWS BATTY AWARDS…AT SEA! YOUR BARTENDER ISAAC WILL BE MIXING COLORTINIS ALL NIGHT, SO SIT BACK AND LAUGH AT THE COMEDY STYLINGS OF MERRIL STUBING! RELIVE THE BEST OF THE "EIGHT IS ENOUGH" TALENT SHOW, LOVINGLY RE-CREATED BY OUR CRACK RESEARCH TEAM! GROOVE TO A SPECIAL DUET BY MICHAEL KNIGHT AND KITT…ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE GERMA...

With anticipation running high for the season 3 BATTY Awards, we present this special teaser. Hear the Outstanding Eyebrows category before anyone else and be sure to return next Thursday for the full extravaganza!

All aboard The Love Boat for our season 3 finale. In this fascinating, timely, yet very much of its time episode: Marcia Brady competes in a beauty contest and contends with a jealous boyfriend (Bobby Sherman); our man DVP (Dick Van Patten) plays a disgraced politician courted by Mama (Vicki Lawrence) for the wrong reasons; and Isaac (Ted Lange) learns about his people from an unlikely source. Plu...

Rick fulfills a podcast dream to talk about professional wrestling, and Mike plays along. This episode of "Saturday Night's Main Event" features staples like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and Rowdy Roddy Piper, plus Jesse Ventura providing very colorful color commentary. Expect action, expect yelling, expect something resembling comedy. Oh, and did we mention the wedding?