It Was a Thing on TV: Episodes 343 & 344 - Lotsa Luck!/Free Spirit

This week on It Was a Thing on TV a witch becomes our nanny while hilarity ensues with Dom DeLuise.
 
First, A comedy starring Dom DeLuise and created, in part, by Carl Reiner?  Sounds like a winner to us!  But it's going up against a strong police procedural and a stalwart from the early days of television?  All we say is Lotsa Luck!
 
Then, Free Spirit got its first exposure on the premiere of the TGIF block.  It was then placed on another night, where it was replaced by a show which has been on for over 30 years.  Was this show with a witch cursed?  Possibly.  But it gave us one of our favorites, Alyson Hannigan.
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Timestamps
0:30 - Lotsa Luck!
1:13:58 - Free Spirit

It Was a Thing on TV: Episode 342 - Tic Tac Dough Without Wink Martindale

This Week on It Was a Thing on TV we talk about the less memorable versions of one of the most popular quiz shows of all-time.
 
One of the most beloved games of the late 70s through the mid-80s was Tic Tac Dough.  The show had lives before and after that halcyon period.  Unfortunately, it was rigged, hosted by an imbecile, then hosted by a bigger imbecile, and recently went to pilot, but did not get picked up.
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It Was a Thing on TV: Episodes 340 & 341 + Minisode 24 - Sirota’s Court/Double Trouble/Morgan & Morgan Metaverse Commercial

This week on It Was a Thing on TV, prepare for trouble and make it double as we go to the courtroom!
 
First, a long awaited reboot of Night Court will debut.  In honor of the event, we are going back to a show which could be considered the inspiration for the original Night Court.  Sirota's Court has a similar feel, but it only lasted several months in 1976 and 1977.  There were reasons, including a controversial plot line and going up against the biggest miniseries ever. 
 
Next, Chico's birthday is coming up and he's playing his Money in the Bank on this gem from the 1980s with twins.  One is good and the other is troublesome...at least in the first season.  Also, Greg comes up with an idea for a prequel for Jake and the Fatman.
 
Finally, Greg saw this commercial one day and felt it was deserving of a minisode. Did you ever feel the Metaverse deserved it's own law firm? We didn't either.
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Timestamps
1:32 - Sirota’s Court
50:14 - Double Trouble
1:49:30 - The Morgan & Morgan Metaverse Commercial

It Was a Thing on TV: Live Show 32 - The Star Wars Holiday Special Live!

Discussed back in Episode 16 of It Was a Thing on TV, Greg and Chico give The Star Wars Holiday Special it's due by revisiting it in a special live show.
We cover everything from Itchy's holographic boner to Art Carney to Jefferson Starship to the Boba Fett cartoon. We even cover that Flying High commercial where Pam had that great layover with Bobby Sherman!
May the Force be with you and Happy Life Day!

It Was a Thing on TV - Episodes 337, 338 & 339 - 1/3/83 in Game Shows/Hey! Spring of Trivia/Scorch

This week on It Was a Thing on TV, we present to you our first three episodes to start the new year in 2023!
 
First, 40 years ago on 1/3/83, there were four landmark events on daytime television in a two-hour span.  Three game shows (Sale of the Century, Hit Man, and Just Men!) premiered and what is undoubtedly The Price is Right's most famous pricing game, Plinko, debuted.
 
Next, January 4 was National Trivia Day.  In honor of the event, we look at a Japanese show which made the translation to American television about weird and wonderful trivia.  Give a listen to Hey! Spring of Trivia and there may be some melon bread in it for you, and the melon bread is shaped like a brain.
 
Finally, there have been a variety of shows with puppets which have been successful--The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, ALF, Thunderbirds, and Fraggle Rock, to name a few.  CBS tried their hand with a puppet-centric show with Scorch, about a dragon who slept for 100 years before waking up in 1992 Connecticut.
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Timestamps
1:33 - January 3, 1983 in Game Shows
1:19:45 - Hey! Spring of Triviai
1:52:09 - Scorch

It Was a Thing on TV: Episode 336 - 2022 Year in Review

This week on It Was a Thing on TV, we bring you the annual year in review show. We look at the worst in TV in 2022, the big TV stories of the year, our favorite shows in 2022, those shows we lost and these beloved entertainers who passed on in 2022.
 
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Timestamps
0:30 - Year in Review, Part 1
2:15:00 - Year in Review, Part 2

It Was a Thing on TV: Live Show 29 - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

We reach the conclusion of the Trek Trilogy as Greg and Chico make the voyage to 1986 San Francisco with the Enterprise crew as they look for some humpback whales and get into all sorts of crazy shenanigans in the past.

It Was a Thing on TV: Episodes 333, 334 & 335 - Three’s a Crowd (1984)/Atari 2600 Commercials/Santabear’s High Flying Adventure

This week on It Was a Thing on TV, 3’s a crowd as we’re recovering from a high flying adventure bringing kids in 1982 some Atari 2600 games.
 
First, when a character in a series is popular, networks want to ride that character's popularity as long as possible.  When ABC canceled Three's Company, the network retained Jack Tripper, but placed him in a new series with a new love...and her father.  Hilarity tried to ensue.
 
Next, We have brought you shows on Hulk Hogan commercials, Ric Flair commercials, and three separate installments of Hometown Commercials.  Our early Christmas present to you is a look at ads for something everybody wanted under the tree from 1979 to 1982--the Atari 2600 VCS, and games for the system.
 
Finally, What started in 1985 as a popular Christmas toy tradition at a midwest department store, Santabear became so popular that two years later, CBS gave him his own primetime special on Christmas Eve 1987.
Santabear must help the residents of the South Pole discover the magic of Christmas while facing off with Santa's former helper Bullybear. With the help of a lady bear named Missy, Santabear goes on a high flying adventure to save Christmas for everyone before Bullybear can destroy all the presents.
 
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Seriously, who hires a bear who calls himself Bullybear?
  
Timestamps
0:30 - Three’s A Crowd (1984)
1:05:41 - Atari 2600 Commercials
2:24:17 - Santabear’s High Flying Adventure

It Was a Thing on TV: Episodes 331 & 332 + Live Show 28 - The Facts of Life, Season 1/The Joker’s Wild (1990)/Werewolf by Night

This week on It Was a Thing on TV we take the good and we take the bad from what we got at the slot machine.
 
First, The Facts of Life is one of NBC's big hits from the 1980s and a true sitcom classic. But there was a time where not only was it unbelievably different, it was in danger of being canceled after the first four episodes! Join the guys as they talk about the first season and how & why half of the cast were forced out of Eastland Academy.
 
Then, traditional daytime TV shows were on the decline in the early 1990s, in an era ushered by Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, and Jenny Jones.  The Joker's Wild in 1990 tried to rejuvenate a show which showed its age in the mid-80s, in an era where it was handily beaten by Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!  The core of the game drastically changed but kind of reverted to its original format, but it was too late.
 
Finally, we present the second of our two live shows that we did back in October as Greg and Chico look at the MCU special presentation of Werewolf by Night on Disney+.
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Timestamps
0:30 - The Facts of Life, Season 1
1:01:07 - The Joker’s Wild (1990)
1:45:05 - Werewolf by Night

It Was a Thing on TV: Episodes 329 & 330 + Live Show 27 - Time Machine/MacGruder and Loud/Beyond Belief Live Show 3

This week on It Was a Thing on TV we’ve got a secret that’s beyond belief. We plan to be here for a very long time.
 
First, Reg Grundy was on a hot streak in the mid-1980s with Sale of the Century and Scrabble.  (See what we did there?)  NBC took a chance on a third Grundy show, which was a blatant ripoff of The Price is Right with history.  After 16 weeks, 2 different formats, and 3 versions of the final round, this show, like its subject matter, became history.  But we did get John Davidson's first game show hosting gig.
 
Then, it's 1985 and ABC wants to capitalize on Cagney & Lacey and Hill Street Blues, which were big hits on other networks...but let's make them married!  MacGruder and Loud premiered after "The Big Game" in 1985, but barely made it to Spring 1985.
 
Finally, released back in Halloween, we make our third journey to the world of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. Is one man actually being haunted by a meddling trick or treater who's pretending to be the grim reaper on Halloween night? Can a mysterious drifter help Roy from The Office find love with his wife? Is it possible that two people who are about to be married can turn out to be seperated at birth? These mysteries will be answered as we once again go Beyond Belief!
 
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Timestamps
0:30 - Time Machine
43:39 - MacGruder and Loud
1:39:33 - Beyond Belief Live Show 3

It Was a Thing on TV: Episodes 327 & 328 - Hot Potato/E/R (1984 CBS comedy)

This week on It Was a Thing on TV we’re passing the Hot Potato while stopping at the Emergency Room.
 
First, Hot Potato was a Family Feud ripoff, but with better technology and the dean of hosts.  Unfortunately, this potato's shelf life was very short, becoming a celebrity show in 13 weeks, with outright cancellation a few months later.
 
Then, not to be confused with its slashless namesake, E/R had two people in common with the more popular show, including a young George Clooney.  The cast was diverse and talented, but this wonder lasted just a season after much early promise.  You can't blame George for this one.
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Timestamps
0:30 - Hot Potato
50:44 - E/R (1984 CBS comedy)

It Was a Thing on TV: Live Show 26 - The Kissing Booth

This past summer on It Was a Thing on TV, we encountered through IMDB in one of our episodes this Netflix teen romantic comedy based on a YA book.
Greg and Chico sit through the movie that started an era that both of them had no idea even was an era.
Can young Elle end up with her best friend Lee's hot brother? Can Greg and Chico make it through this movie in one piece?
Follow the rulebook as Greg and Chico enter the The Kissing Booth.

It Was a Thing on TV: Episodes 325 & 326 - ’86 Thanksgiving Day Parade/Alan King’s Thanksgiving Special

This week on It Was a Thing on TV we’re giving you the leftover from our 2022 Thanksgiving as we bring you this year’s editions for Turkey Day!
 
First, It's an It Was a Thing annual tradition!  For the 4th straight year, we're celebrating Thanksgiving by watching balloons down Broadway, Pat Sajak & Stepfanie Kramer calling the action from Herald Square, and guests including Phyllis Diller and the Lawrence Brothers.
 
Superman!  What happened to you this year?
Then, for our second Thanksgiving episode this year, we watch this NBC special hosted by comedian Alan King from 1980. Alan along with Dick Van Patten, McLean Stevenson and Angie Dickinson try to help us answer the question that's on our minds this season "what have we got to be thankful for?"
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Timestamps
0:30 - The 1986 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
1:39:05 - Alan King’s Thanksgiving Special

It Was a Thing on TV: Episodes 323 & 324 - Infomercials from the 1990’s/Hollywood Squares derivatives

This week on It Was a Thing on TV we can give you this puzzle board and if you act now we will throw in a set of triangles absolutely free!
 
First, they’re a staple on TV today, specifically in the overnight hours.  Half-hour infomercials came on the scene in the early 90s, filling holes in television schedules at all hours of the day.  In this installment, we look back at 9 such infomercials from the 1990s and talk about how cheesy they were and memories we had watching them.
 
Then, Merrill Heatter found his greatest success with Hollywood Squares.  After it was cancelled in 1980 (see episode 68), Heatter tried the Squares format, but with some twists.  In this show, we briefly cover 4 titles--Battlestars, The New Battlestars, All-Star Blitz, and the unsold 1993 pilot Hollywood Teasers.
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Timestamps
0:30 - Infomercials from the 1990’s
1:57:34 - Hollywood Squares derivatives

It Was a Thing on TV: Live Show 25 - Mac and Me

For the 25th Live Show, Greg and Mike look at the 1988 ET ripoff "Mac and Me". A little alien is stranded on Earth away from his family where he befriends a little boy (does this look like anything?). Also, he and his family need Coke to live for some reason.
 
But yes, folks nothing about this movie would be complete without talking about Paul Rudd's favorite scene. Grab a Big Mac and listen to Greg and Mike watch the cinematic masterpiece that is "Mac and Me"