The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

Mel Brooks is a legend, both for his work in film and on television.  He had something in Fall 1975 with When Things Were Rotten, but it had rotten luck and a rotten time slot versus two powerhouse shows plus it might have been a little ahead of its time.

This week 40 years ago saw the temporary ends of three game shows, each of which would return to TV by 1987.  That week also saw the birth of a legend, though he made his mark in late night.  We look at the three NBC game show finales of June 20, 1980 and their replacement, The David Letterman Show in this timely installment of the podcast.

Three completely different shows, one title--Break the Bank.  One was good, one was basic, and one was a mess.  And how does one Mrs. Mickey Kennedy Branson play a role in all of this?

We Got It Made was a dog of a show in 1983-84 that NBC tried to get people to watch by having the cast show up on NBC broadcasts.  Yet, it got a second season for the Primetime Starts at 7:30 block in 1987.

Everybody loves the action and fun on Supermarket Sweep.  The show we know and love was quite different in its first season, a bare bones version with some odd additions that didn't last long.  Come for the caviar, stay for Mr. Yuk.

This show was brought to our attention by Greg, as he stumbled across a cameo in the 4th episode.  Open All Night is not a bad show, just short-lived because it aired on Saturday nights.  But that theme song.

1975 was an amazing year for game shows, good and gimmicky.  One of the gimmicky games involved people running around a giant maze, trying to win cash and prizes.  It sounds corny but The Moneymaze is a fun show to watch.

We're back with our second live show, this time while watching the second season premiere of Press Your Luck.

It seems Tony Randall was known for two shows--first and foremost, The Odd Couple, and then Love, Sidney.  We make the case that it was mishandled from the start by NBC but also that some subject matter might have been material not designed for an early 80s home audience.

In the Fall 1987 television season, NBC tried starting primetime half an hour earlier than normal.  The results were generally bad sitcoms and reverting to an 8 PM start time for primetime starting in Fall 1988.  We look at why this block failed and Mike talks about a personal connection with someone from one of the five comedies from this block.

What was Greg's dive down a rabbit hole after recording a few months ago became this very experimental episode.  The Maury staff sure comes up with different ways to describe their DNA and lie detector shows.

Brew up some coffee and enjoy this look at Jim Henson ads from the late 50s and early 60s.  The commercials were to-the-point and were effective.  Sixty years later, they are a blast to watch.

Second Chance had a different premise but was low-rated and given a second chance.  It was stripped of its premise and turned into an average teenage boy sitcom called Boys Will Be Boys.  After 12 episodes of this retooled show, it was cancelled and not given a third chance.

A sitcom with Jim Carrey!  It can't fail...can it?  (Isn't that why we're here?)  The Duck Factory was a comedy about the animation industry with very few animations, a young not-so irreverent Jim Carrey, and an established cast of characters.  What went wrong?

For now, we wrap up our look at pilots with a very bizarre one from 1990, where a dead cop's soul enters the body of a bulldog.  Poochinski is a weird pilot you have to see at least once.  You can view the complete pilot at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LytgLZDzzAY .

This is our first live, unedited show.  For weeks, we have talked about Herb Abrams and the UWF.  We have been anticipating this episode of Dark Side of the Ring so much that we wanted to devote a live episode to the topic.  Obviously, it is best if you watch this show while listening to this podcast.  There is some minor language used in this show since it was recorded live and is unedited.

Considered by some to be the best show which never made it to TV, Lookwell is a brilliant cop show spoof done by Lorne Michaels, Robert Smigel, and a young Conan O'Brien.  You can view this pilot at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQ3HbB0c8Y .

This is exhibit A on why classic shows should not be rebooted.  Mr. Ed was piloted in 2004 for FOX but like almost anything on FOX, this show had an edgy FOX twist.  Also, the computer graphics in this show were horrible, even for 2004.  You can see this pilot at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze5IBEMoUR0 .

We continue our look at pilots with the NBC entry from 1990, Where's Rodney?, where Rodney Dangerfield plays a confused teenager's confidant.  You can see this pilot with commercials at https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6kk335.

Next up in our cavalcade of unsold pilots is a sci-fi show not unlike previous installment Automan.  A pre-Quantum Leap Scott Bakula is merged with a probe to become Infiltrator.

In honor of 420, we present you with submission #420.  The High Court with Doug Benson was like any other court show with a marijuana twist.  Blink and you missed it because it went up in smoke fast.

Combine wrestling with a cop show and what do you get?  You get a show which almost made ABC's lineup in the early 90s, Tag Team.  You can watch the episode at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Gf3gXvZ-k and follow along with this installment.  We even included commentary about the commercials.

In an episode which is sort of timely with Easter just happening, we look at a world where puppets and humans coexist on Greg the Bunny.

What happens when you mix Alex Trebek and a crudely animated sidekick?  You get the unaired pilot Malcolm, a show done for NBC in 1983.  This is a short show because there's not much meat on this bone.

Remember 1997, when the Internet was exciting, new, and informational?  We do, as do the Jamison family.  The Jamison kids share all the cool things you can do on the VHS cassette Kids Guide to the Internet.