The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

The NFL season starts tonight!  (Who knows how long it will last...)  In celebration of the start of the new season, we look at what is considered the worst Monday Night Football game, a 2007 affair between the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Though Miami had a forgettable team that year, that wasn't the primary reason this game was bad.

It's not the Double Dare from 1976 which was previously covered, nor is it the Double Dare on Nickelodeon a year later.  This Double Dare was a cop show in the vein of Miami Vice which lasted just over a month on CBS, starring TV's Wiseguy and the guy who is as cool as the cool side of the pillow.

From the era of Deal or No Deal, we get a game of luck, truth telling, psychology, some memory, and lots of balls.  2/3 of us didn't like it.  If you like it, you likely will really enjoy Golden Balls.  It was popular for a brief period of time, but quickly faded away to obscurity. Link to weirdest Split or Steal round ever:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0qjK3TWZE8

When late 80s family sitcoms and wrestling overlap, the end result is the short-lived Canadian entry Learning the Ropes, starring Lyle Alzado.  We also determine the Canadian equivalents of TV shows it seems everything goes back to.

M*A*S*H is one of television's most popular shows ever, yet its spinoff AfterMASH lasted less than a season and a half.  Was it too derivative from the parent show's plot?  Did it just run its course?

We're going back to school with three shows from early 1979, which tried capitalizing off the success of Animal House.  All three were busts, though each show produced quality future talent.  Also in this show, Mr. Whipple typecasting and ZIPPER?!

As an homage to the recent Omnibus podcast episode about Ronco, we look at commercials for what is likely Ronco's most popular product, Mr. Microphone.  Greg's dad also proposes new rules to football.

Join two of the top playboys from the 1970s, Hugh Hefner and Richard Dawson, for a night of roller skating, disco music, and tastefully done Playboy photo shoots in this 1979 special which epitomizes the late 70s nicely.

Like many things in the 70s and 80s, minor happenings were turned into celebrity-laden events for television.  It happened to collegiate cheerleading in 1980, infusing it with such personalities as Magic Johnson, Catherine Bach, and...Willie Shoemaker?

This episode is shorter than usual because under half of it is online and it is more of a retrospective than anything.  But really, that title is why we're here.

Who doesn't enjoy late night television's comedy bits between the monologue and the first guest?  We like them so much, we are devoting episodes to such segments which we affectionately call "shows within the show."  Our first look at late night shows within the show is David Letterman, running the gamut from a troubled teen who is clearly not a troubled teen, to a spoof of one of the most popular...

In 2005, ABC was breaking new ground with Desperate Housewives and Lost.  Another show in the mix which absolutely bombed was the Steven Bochco police procedural Blind Justice.  This is the first show where all three of us gave up on it.  It's that bad.

As we mentioned in episode 80, while we were recording that episode, word broke that Regis Philbin passed away.  We felt we should honor the television legend both by looking back at one of his more forgettable shows, The Neighbors, but also by offering up our memories and favorite Regis moments, including Regis on Password Plus with someone from a previous entry.

The CW will start airing reruns of the amazing UK version of Taskmaster, starting on Sunday, August 2.  It isn't the first appearance of the creative competition show.  Comedy Central had a series of 8 episodes in 2018 which quickly disappeared.  If it's so good, what happened?

In 1986, Bruce Forsyth wasn't the only UK entertainer to be imported by ABC.  For one week, UK legend Noel Edmonds had his own self-titled talk show following Nightline.  Even throwing out a gaggle of superstar guests didn't get the show a longer run.

Two families tied together through relationships struggle with each other on an ABC sitcom in the early 80s.  Where have we heard that?  Soap, but also this entry from people who brought you Soap--the McLean Stevenson vehicle Condo.  Could this series have gotten a popular emcee his iconic hosting gig?

From a listener request, we look at the very short-lived CBS entry from summer 1992, The Hollywood Game, where your knowledge of movies past and present could pay off handsomely.

Everybody loves Unsolved Mysteries.  In honor of the recent reboot on Netflix, we look at a dozen of the more bizarre stories from the original series including stories involving a magic rock, lightning strikes, and a death chair.

This show is likely the most bizarre show we will cover.  Greg took copious notes on each of the 20 episodes of this Adult Swim series which makes Aqua Teen Hunger Force look straight-laced. Warning:  The language is inappropriate occasionally in this episode.

Video Power--is it a video game cartoon or a video game game show?  ¿Porque no los dos?  This might be the only show we will cover which can be classified as a show in two different genres, while keeping the general premise intact. Video Power contestant interview:   https://lakupo.com/grblitz/video%20power.htm

Password is a timeless classic which came off as dated in 1974.  What's a show to do?  Raise the stakes, upgrade the set, and for a brief while in 1974 and 1975, turn it into a celebrity tournament.  These changes didn't help, as the show was off the air by mid-1975.

20/20 has been a television staple for over four decades. Its start was a different beast than the 20/20 we have seen for years, from a graphic expose to words and their definitions to Claymation animations.

Go was in the death slot of Noon and had a very short life, despite being a exciting, action packed game.  All 3 of us look at how the game was played with the assistance of Funko Pop dolls.  (You wish this episode was a video podcast.)  Also bad impersonations of Johnny Olson.

In May, our first live show was on the Dark Side of the Ring installment about Herb Abrams.  On this episode, we go a bit deeper into this feeble attempt to topple the WWF (now WWE) empire.

14 years after prior installment When Things Were Rotten, Mel Brooks returned to TV with The Nutt House.  It had Mel Brooks behind it.  It had Cloris Leachman.  It had Harvey Korman.  Yet it lasted all of 5 episodes.