The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

Schuckapalooza forges on with this reboot of a 1960s classic with our hero this week playing Herman Munster, a role made famous by Fred Gwynne. In this sequel series, the Munster family wakes up from a 22-year sleep and has to mostly deal with Grandpa's crappy inventions.

This week, we're having our own Schuckapalooza, covering three series starring underrated character actor John Schuck.  We start with Schuck playing a robotic police officer in the 13-week wonder Holmes and Yoyo.

Soap was riding high in 1980.  Its producers gave who would likely be the 6th most popular cast member on that show her own vehicle, with a cast that includes a comedy icon and a future comedy icon.  I'm a Big Girl Now was one (season) and done.

Outer space science fiction was everywhere in the late 70s--in your movie theater, on public television, in primetime, even on Saturday mornings.  The crew at Filmation gave us their take on space adventures with Jason of Star Command, which featured a veteran from an outer space classic.

McCormick from Hardcastle and McCormick and Audrey Griswold #3 star in a sitcom about marrying someone to ensure they aren't deported from the country.  Of course, hilarity ensues.  The best moment of the show came at the very end of the final episode, when everybody knew the writing was on the wall.

Marvel Month concludes with possibly the second-worst season of SNL ever.  We talked about probably the worst season of SNL on episode 97, about the 1980-81 era.  Now, we look at the 1985-86 season, a transition season of sorts, when most of the cast lasted just this one season if not less, and the writers lasted just as long, ushering in one of the best eras in the show's lengthy history.

Marvel Month nears its end with one of the more recent shows this podcast has covered.  Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier and others showed a lot of promise when this debuted, but the plug was quickly pulled at Netflix.  Dad, Stop Embarrassing Me! was just a bland comedy which relied on many tropes.

In honor of what would have been Mr. Fuji's 88th birthday on May 4th, we present perhaps the single greatest thing the legendary WWF manager gave us. As part of a series of skits on WWF Tuesday Night Titans in 1985, Fuji and his wrestler Don Muraco play Crockett and Tubbs in this parody of the NBC drama. This sketch is so bad it's good.

Bob Saget is playing a widower taking care of his daughters, but it's not Full House.  It's the early 2000s, this show is on the WB, and the two daughters on the show went on to much bigger and better things in the upcoming decades.  Marvel month rolls on with Raising Dad.

MCU month rolls along with a recent series where Cobie Smulders has a lot of lesbian sex and some other stuff happens in Portland. This was a good show but sadly the pandemic reared it's ugly head forcing the show's premature end. Also, there's a brief discussion spoiling Episode 4 of "Moon Knight" at the start. You've been warned. "I really got derailed at the lesbian sex part" - Mike

Before he was Thanos and Wade Wilson's sidekick, Josh Brolin in 2003 starred in this NBC political drama about a California Senator. Can a prison teacher turned politician survive in the wild world of D.C. in this modern-day Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? Also, we briefly touch on one of Mike's adventures involving one of the show's guest stars around this time.

Marvel Month resumes here at It Was a Thing on TV. In the past, we have had many modern-day adaptations of plays on both television and in movies--West Side Story, The Odd Couple, You Can't Take It with You, and the list goes on.  In 2014, a modern take of Pygmalion/My Fair Lady titled Selfie aired on ABC.  Despite having devoted fan base, only a handful of episodes aired on the network before bei...

For the 109th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking last year, we looked at S.O.S. Titanic, a TV movie from 1979 with Susan St. James among others.  (UH OH!)  This year for the 110th anniversary, we're covering a much more light-hearted take, answering the question "What if Disney made a movie about the Titanic?"  Thanks to Robert Smigel, we think it might look a little like Titey.

Happy Easter! In 2011, the BBC, the gold standard of TV networks in the UK, aired a late weekend afternoon game centered around a robotic rabbit in its own underground habitat.  I wish this was a late April Fools joke.  Don't Scare the Hare is as bizarre as TV shows come and, unsurprisingly, didn't have a very long shelf life.

Greg and Chico go to warp speed in the newest It Was a Thing on TV Live Show as they look at the recent 4K restoration for The Director's Edition of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" on Paramount+. To follow along on Paramount+ pause the stream at the 1:17 mark and start after Greg says "play" following the five second countdown.

We're starting a month of Marvel universe-related shows, leading up to the release of  Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in May.  We start with a coming-of-age series about three boys attending an all-girls school from 2000.  Opposite Sex had as a supporting character, one of our favorites, Chris Evans.

Combine elements of Name That Tune and Password Plus, add an emcee with very limited hosting ability, throw in a singer and a band, and enter a legendary cheapskate of a producer and what do you get?  One of the most memorable cult classic shows from the golden age of cable, Face the Music.

The WB (and now, The CW) like their superhero shows.  In 2001, The WB piloted a reboot of a mid-70s superhero duo, but brought them to the modern day including making the main character (we're not joking) a 50-year-old divorcee who lives in a trailer and is a raging alcoholic.  Needless to say, The WB said thanks but no thanks to Electra-Woman and Dyna-Girl.

Kung Fu originally ran for 3 seasons on ABC and made David Carradine a star.  Just like any quality show, a network (in this case, CBS) wanted to reboot it.  Kung Fu: The Next Generation didn't make it out of pilot stage, but did air on CBS in the summer of 1987.  It did give us a glimpse of a future legend in a key role.

In the early 90s, if you had a beef with someone, you couldn't necessarily take them to a TV courtroom.  Enter a show with boxing, trash cans, and feather dusters, where combatants took their issues to the ring.  The Grudge Match is a show we have wanted to cover for some time and thanks to another podcast, a full episode made its way online recently.

Pyramid was cancelled months earlier, Blackout wasn't getting the viewers, and CBS had Family Feud waiting in the wings in early 1988.  Enter Wink Martindale with his format Top Secret which didn't crack CBS' lineup but had its own board game.  Be warned there is some whispering, followed by louder audio.  Respect your eardrums.

It was a movie in 1990, and a successful one at that.  Two years later, a Darkman pilot was done for FOX.  The password is "expository."  And what's the deal with a 16-year-old playing a cop?  Listen to this episode and you'll know what we're talking about.

CBS was having a tough go in the late 80s, in an era dominated by NBC.  They gave a pilot not unlike UHF spearheaded by Eddie Murphy a chance, but it was one and done.  Don't change that channel and discover What's Alan Watching?

It's the early 70s.  Gene Roddenberry hit it big with Star Trek and is looking to create the next big thing.  He pitches Genesis II to CBS in 1973, who is not interested.  He tinkers with the format a bit, pitches it to ABC as Planet Earth in 1974, and is shut out again.  There was a third pilot with this format pitched a year later and guess what?  Three strikes and you're out.

This is the first (of hopefully many) It Was a Thing on TV Hall of Fame ceremonies.  Our inaugural class of 12 includes some known names, a definite unknown, and even an animal.