The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

Post-Head of the Class, the person who replaced Howard Hesseman was given a second chance, on another series where he played an educator.  This educator, however, had some issues, the least of which was living with one of his students and the largest of which was living with her to remain in the United States.

Way back in episode 2, we originally covered Mr. Smith, on the basis of Leonard Frey being credited from it and the curiosity of what it was.  Four years later and the upload of over half the series later, in honor of the 40th anniversary of its premiere, we can give Mr. Smith the justice it deserves.  Does an orangutan with an IQ of 256 help fix Washington D.C., or do wacky shenanigans happen bec...

On this installment, Greg and Mike talk about an obscure show which ran very briefly in the early 1980s, hosted by a pair of brothers whose biggest claim to fame was being the shortest pair of twins in the world.  The pair made some appearances on movies and TV, including a segment on Real People, which was apparently enough to give them this (awful) hosting gig.

Mike and Greg recap a wild Week 1 in the NFL on a special It Was a Thing on TV Presents.  Among the things discussed are the debuts of Bryce Young and CJ Stroud, Tyreek Hill's great game against the Chargers, the Giants laying an egg against the Cowboys, Aaron Rodgers' season-ending injury, and the Jets' walk-off win against Buffalo.

Tonight is the first Monday Night Football game of the 2023 season.  There have been many legendary characters behind the mic in the 50+ year history of MNF, from Howard Cosell to Frank Gifford to Joe Buck and Troy Aikman nowadays.  For a brief period, the announcing crew consisted of the highly capable and competent Joe Tessitore and two people wet behnd the ears--the fish-out-of-water Jason Witt...

After a long wait, Greg and Chico finally deliver on giving you this livewatch of the second chapter of Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bruce Banner (looking nothing like Mark Ruffalo) has to deal with the problems of trying to control his rage while General Ross and the military try and use him for their own means. Join us as we watch The Incredible Hulk! SMASH!

Tonight is Opening Night for the NFL, in this episode we look at a game from last year that was so bad that we had to cover it for the podcast right away. What happens when two veteran QB's get traded to different teams in a marquee match-up in the debut season of Thursday Night Football on Prime Video? You get this epic crapfest.

(Yes, this show went by all of those titles.) Columbo was an NBC staple in their Mystery Movie rotation throughout most of the 70s.  When the network went on a huge decline at the end of the decade, NBC tried anything to get viewers including a non-canonical spinoff.  At least we got to see a young Captain Janeway.

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Power Rangers franchise, Greg and Chico go back to 1993 and take a look at where it all began with the premiere episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in this special live show.

A bookish girl & a jock are selected to attend high school in space. An up-and-coming movie scribe & a legendary anime studio are chosen to bring them to life. What started as a Saturday morning failure turned into a cult classic. Strap in and hold on as we round out this year’s Back to School special with a trip to Galaxy High School.

Legendary NFL quarterback Joe Namath's last stop in his illustrious career brought him to Los Angeles, with the Rams in 1977.  The next year, one of his first post-retirement gigs was on The Waverly Wonders, which was very reminiscent of a popular show on another network at the time.  Just over a month later, the show got cancelled.  Its replacement, however, would last over 7 years.

Early on in this podcast's life, we originally covered Jennifer Slept Here, but it was one of the few episodes Greg missed.  He had things to say about this show.  Thus, we are revisiting another episode from early on.

In this special Instant Reaction, Greg opens packs of old sports cards as Mike and Chico react to some of his cards. Can Greg pull a possible PSA 10 Emmitt Smith Rookie from Score 1990 Football?

Thirty years ago, Haim Saban brought the Super Sentai to the US, and Power Rangers was born... but before THAT, a similar series was brought to the US purely for laughs and/or played-up stereotypes. We look back on the show that was Dynaman, who brought it to life, and what exactly a main squeeze is.

It's that time of the year when kids are going back to school.  In this installment, we look at a Canadian reality show where the roles are reversed--the teenagers are the teachers and the adults are the students.  It's time to do some learning on Skooled. And for the first time in podcast history, we talk to someone who took part in the show, about his Skooled experiences among other things.

What was supposed to be a grand debut in WCW for the former Tugboat/Typhoon of the WWF turned into one of the biggest botches on live TV. All we have to say is this episode will shock the world because we talk about none other than THE SHOCKMASTER! (BOOM!) (Uncle Fred then trips through the wall as his helmet comes off) I TOLD YOU! OH GOD!

In honor of Susan St. James' upcoming 77th birthday, Greg and Chico look at this 2004 straight-to-DVD movie about a down on his luck clutz who teams up with a sea captain to find a sunken treasure. Also, Lou Rawls and Richard Moll are trying to stop them for some reason. We're also pretty sure that The Dove Foundation which "approved" this movie didn't actually watch this.

We have reached 400!  This time, we're talking about a show whose formula worked in theaters as Turner and Hooch, but the dog can talk?!  And Italy enjoyed this so much, they revived it in 2000?!?!

The late 70s experienced a sci-fi kick in theaters and on television.  Someone had the idea to create a show which crossed science fiction with Sanford and Son, somewhat.  Salvage 1 was about a crew who went to the moon to bring lunar junk back to Earth, but they did everything but that.  What was Andy Griffith thinking?

J.J. Starbuck fit a formula one prolific producer had used repeatedly and successfully.  It got good ratings, despite being moved multiple times, though the ratings weren't good enough for the most popular broadcast network at the time.  It also got beaten three separate times by a person who has problems with cheese.

Single female news journalist! Having lots of sex! She had everything going for her… Looks, talent, intelligence, the right people surrounding her (even if one of them was “the best sex she ever had” who ended up taking her job). There was one problem… she was on a dead network. This week, we go to the newsroom to investigate the life and career of… “Pepper Dennis”.

In 1979, Angie was bound for great success.  Then ABC meddled with the schedule a number of times and despite being a top 5 show the season before, Angie found its way to cancellation a year later.

The Baseball Hall of Fame inductions will be happening in a matter of weeks.  One of the enshrinees this year is slugger Fred McGriff.  While most people know him as a basher for a number of MLB teams, others remember him from appearing in frequently aired ads for baseball skill videos.  We look back at the videos, and discover something amazing about those ads about a quarter century later.

It's a podcast tradition like any other.  We have found more ads from podcast favorites like Marc Norton, Rhett & Link, and Darryl Isaacs.  We have also discovered new favorites.  By the end of this episode, you'll know what we do. Tim Misny - https://youtu.be/LLshVZ6mzqc Pines Motor Lodge - https://youtu.be/6ExEKKShxrI River Fair at River Mall - https://vimeo.com/340782677 1982 Public Insuran...

We did this for the first time last November.  So much stuff happened in the last week that we decided to do it again.  In this "Before the Show" conversation, among other things, we talk about what might be the greatest episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the start of Threads, "Super" SNES games, and Secret Invasion on Disney+.