Raised on Television

It’s the late ‘70s, baby and nothing screams polyester-clad perfection quite like The Bob Newhart Show . We’re talkin’ shag carpet, wood paneling, and those absolutely criminal suit patterns Dr. Bob wears like a badge of honor. In this episode, we catch up with everyone’s favorite low-key therapist and his neighbor Howard Borden— a.k.a. Major Healey in our hearts —as Howard has a major freak-out m...

“Tonight, a very special presentation…” Before bingeing was a thing and long before streaming was even a twinkle in the internet’s eye, there was the mighty miniseries, a multi-night television event so important, your parents made popcorn and told you to sit still or go to bed . And this week, we're celebrating the golden age of those limited-run epics that hijacked the weeknight schedule and the...

This Week on Raised on Television: Perry Mason Loses?! This week, we’re throwing it way back again ... this time to 1966, Season 7 of Perry Mason . The courtroom legend himself finally takes an “L”… sort of. In this rare twist, Perry is actually foiled! N ot by the prosecution, not by a surprise witness, but by his own client , who decides to play keep-away with critical evidence. Bad move. Guilty...

Episode 52 – Phil Silvers Takes the Island: Hecuba and Hamlet on Gilligan’s Island We’re marshalling right along to number 56 with a back-to-back Phil Silvers double feature! This week, Silvers swaps out his stripes from The Phil Silvers Show to guest star as egotistical Hollywood producer Harold Hecuba on Gilligan’s Island. After Hecuba’s plane crash-lands on the most conveniently hard-to-find is...

This week on Raised on Television … It’s 1955, and we’re diving fork-first into one of the earliest sitcom classics: The Phil Silvers Show ! In this episode, Company B—perpetual underdogs in everything from inspections to softball—finally sees a glimmer of hope in an unlikely arena: an eating contest . Their secret weapon? The legendary Ed "The Stomach" Honnegan, a man whose appetite is as bottoml...

Sooooo ... sometimes relationships are complicated. Sometimes our friends let us down. Sometimes we have to remember the "before we found some things out" time. Not talking about anything in particular, just saying. Today our hosts dive head first into the 1980's! The then-wildy popular Cosby Show was a prime time juggernaut for NBC and helped to raise ratings for the shows around it. This particu...

Entry #55 on the 1997 TV Guide list of the 100 Best television episodes is the final episode of the British sci-fi series "The Prisoner." There are 17 episodes and, frankly, hopping in at the end makes you feel like you've been taking the qualudes Bill Gannon was raw-dogging back in the #85 slot of "Dragnet", so rather than try and explain the allegorical nightmare that would require diagrams, cha...

It’s a two-fer kind of week, and we’re serving it up retro-style! First on the lineup: a show you probably haven’t heard of—heck, even we hadn’t. It’s On the Air , a delightfully oddball ABC sitcom from the summer of ’92 that ran for a grand total of seven episodes— four of which didn’t even air in the U.S. (which feels like the TV equivalent of being ghosted mid-season). Then we hit rewind for so...

It's a two-fer! So we've been off for a few weeks as Spring has been blowing us around, but we're back and with a vengence. Okay, so there's no vengence, just a gentleman farmer, two pigs (okay, one pig and one slob), a particularly prickly housemate, and Eva Gabor for comic relief! So sit down, tune in, and see if one, both, or neither of these shows should be on the list! And guess what? NEXT WE...

We’re back — and hitting number 60 on the list with a bang: After a short break, we return with Murder One , Steven Bochco’s ambitious legal drama that broke the mold with its single-season arc centered around the high-profile murder of a 15-year-old girl. While each episode sprinkles in standalone legal cases, the real hook was the slow-burn, week-to-week unraveling of the central mystery — and e...

If you've ever wondered where entry #100 was on the TV Guide list of the 100 Best Episodes of Television, it actually premiered on aNodPod as a back door pilot waaaay back in May of 2023. And while we had a lot of fun with aNodPod, one of our first podcasts, it's run its course but Raised on Television hasn't - so, you've asked for it and we've delivered ... ENTRY NUMBER 100 IS FINALLY HERE - so e...

The precinct gets a fresh batch of rookies, straight from the top of the class, and Lt. Cushman decides they should ride along with veteran cops for some real-world experience. Sounds reasonable—until genius-level rookie Reginald Corrigan gets assigned to ride with Toody and Muldoon. Captain Block tries to intervene ... because, let's face it, this pairing has disaster written all over it! The alw...

Come and listen to my story 'bout a Pod named Raised on Television ... okay, so that doesn't really work with Flatt and Scruggs but you have to admit that this theme song is a bit of an earworm! This week's entry is number 62 on the TV Guide list and this particular episode pits the Clamplet clan against Mr. Drysdale as the Jed and family help help Hedda Hopper save Mammouth Studios while Drysdale...

First appearing in a season one episode conducting the sham marriage of Latka to a call girl, Christopher Lloyd reprises his role of Reverend Jim Ignatowsi in this season two episode where he becomes a series regular. The cab crew runs into the sixties leftover at a cafe and decide to help him get a job at Sunshine Cab but they first have to convince the never sunny Louie (but always funny Danny D...

Dobie Gillis has a plan—become the snazziest dresser in town and watch the ladies flock to him like moths to a very plaid flame. But when his fashion-forward aspirations clash with reality (and his dad’s wallet), so he finds another way to thread the needle (really bad pun intended!) to battle wealthy Milton for young Thalia's gold-digging love. Does it belong on the list? Hit play and find out wh...

After an unintential holiday hiatius we're back and we hope your holidays were great and for some, still ongoing! Though this ep was recorded last year we're kicking off the New Year with a special episode all about those shows we watched when we were home from school because we were sick. From morning shows to afternoon talk shows, soaps and reruns to early evening news, we cover it all. Hit play...

We hope everyone in the USA had a nice Thanksgiving and is ready for a healthy slice of the full moon as it hits Cicely and causes things get Northern Exposure-ly weird: Ruth-Anne eats steak for breakfast, Chris tapes his show to sculpt "Aurora Borealis," and Joel meets Adam—a grumpy gourmet chef in the woods that may, or may not be green-headed. Meanwhile, a Harley-riding stranger named Bernard s...

A new show blows into Springfield and takes on Krusty -- Arthur Crandall and his dummy Gabbo, and they're met with great success. So much so that Krusty the Clown's show is cancelled ... which is odd as there doesn't appear to be an abundance of programming in fictional Springfield, buy anyway ... Bart and Lisa are soon on the task of helping Krusty get his show back with a comback special. The Si...

A classic from the not so distant (okay, kind of distant <<sigh>>) past, Get Smart makes an entrance on the list week! This 1968 episode from season three of the campy spy show starring the slap-sticky Don Adams as Agent 86 and Barbara Feldon as the always on top of it Agent 99, deals with a maniacal guru trying to control the minds of teens ... of course this pure fantasy as anyone wh...

This particular episode, a two-parter airing first on March 12, 1987, tackles death when Alex processes through the loss of his friend Greg and the guilt he feels because he should have been in the car. This episode takes an unconventional narrative approach, with Alex interacting with memories and his subconscious in almost dream-like vignettes, revealing layers of his personality and insecuritie...

You know how some shows take time off and tell you in advance? Yeah, that's not us because, well, we don't really plan on taking time off it just sort of takes us off! We hope you enjoyed the few weeks off and that it helped you catch up on your other, less favorite podcasts that you sacrifice listening to so that you can take in ALL of the richness that each episode of Raised on Television has to...

This week, we're diving deep into Star Trek: The Next Generation's iconic two-parter, "The Best of Both Worlds." Even though The Guide only put part one on the table, we believe both have to be viewed and, frankly, both should be included ... It’s Borg vs. the Federation as Captain Picard faces assimilation, leaving Riker to step up in a battle for humanity's survival. With intense action, unforge...

This week your hosts dive into #71 on TV Guide's 1997 list, an episode of The Patty Duke Show from 1964 titled "The Cousins." This first season ender was a flashback to when Patty's cousin Cathy first moved in with the fam and a case of mistaken identity quickly ensued, resulting in a confused boyfriend, who may have already been a bit confused about what he could really pull, a dad getting fired...

Small potatoes but tall tales ... or tails .. or small tails. It's The X-Files, so I'm sure the truth is out there ... somewhere! This week our hosts unpack #72 on TV Guide's 1997 list of the top 100 episodes of television with an entry from season four of The X-Files, where Mulder and Scully investigate a town where five babies are born with tails—yes, tails—only to uncover that the culprit is an...

First, before I forget, and this is very important ... -Abby, you need to get to work - DQ in Iola needs you! Whew, with that out of the way, on to the episode - Today, your hosts pick apart #73 on the list ... Mr. Ed. Now, I love horses and I love talking so it only makes sense that I'd like talking horses, but ... the list ... the 100 best episodes of television ... Mr. Ed and BEST. EPISODES. OF...