It Was a Thing on TV: An Anthology on Forgotten Television

In the newest "Best of" we go back to one of our early episodes from January of 2020.

What do you get when you have the king of the wacky Game Show produce a spoof of beauty contests? You get Rip Taylor, barrels of confetti, and a $1.98. Take a journey back as we look at "The $1.98 Beauty Show".

In honor of the 80th birthday of Canadian TV personality and host of former entry To Tell the Truth from 1980 (episode 139), we present another show hosted by Robin Ward, one which looked incredibly dated, plus had a miniscule budget.  Guess what the answer is and you might take home hundreds of dollars Canadian on Guess What!

Today is the 112th Anniversary of the Titanic hitting the iceberg and as is tradition at "It Was a Thing on TV" we honor this event as only we can ...... by talking about a rapping dog.

This Italian animated movie tries to tell the story of the Titanic while also ripping off multiple Disney and Don Bluth animated movies.

Hilarity ensues? Possibly? Join Greg and Chico as it's PARTY TIME!

Baseball season started a few weeks ago.  In honor of the start of a new season of America's pastime, we look back at sports-related edutainment from four decades ago, starring a Hall of Fame backstop, who was joined by a Hall of Fame manager and an iconic character from the game.  We have a hunch you'll enjoy The Baseball Bunch.

In memory of Lou Gossett Jr. we bring you our latest "Best of" the time we looked at the 1982-83 NBC show "The Powers of Matthew Star"

It was a show so bad that it almost brought one of us to near tears. Also in what other episode of "It Was a Thing on TV" will you hear us bring up Tommy Heinsohn?

It's our third Hall of Fame show here at "It Was a Thing on TV" and we are inducting 17 new members into the Hall. They include some TV legends, some show favorites, and some legendary guys from "that thing".

In honor of the 60th anniversary of Jeopardy! this past Saturday, we talk about how one of the greatest players in the show's history almost didn't happen.  A somewhat lenient response and a rule change allowed Ken Jennings to become the show's all-time wins leader and eventually the host of the show.

With WrestleMania XL coming up this weekend in Philadelphia, we are happy to bring to you in this week's "best of" one of our favorite shows we covered in our first Pilot Month back in 2020.

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Jesse "The Body" Ventura play a pair of ex-wrestlers turned cops in an hour of action-packed mayhem! We almost got this as a series if not for financial issues involving the studio that produced this pilot (sigh).

The merged league that has come out of the USFL and XFL is finally here! Mike and Greg watch some of the action from the new United Football League's first day while finding out about various things like what a former Penn State QB is doing now in 2024, Denver Nuggets Super Mascot Rocky, and Brown Energy!

Don't ask about the Brown Energy.

Earlier in March, the movie Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire hit theaters.  To mark the occasion, we re-released episode 216, about the unrelated show The Ghost Busters from 1975, earlier this week.  In addition, this episode is about the unrelated to the hit movie franchise yet also a continuation of the original TV series (Filmation's) Ghostbusters, where the two main characters' kids continue their dads' business.

This year's Lost in Translation block concludes with an import from the UK about a police detective who was hit by a car in 2008, but ends up in 1973 after regaining his consciousness.  Life on Mars was part of a powerful ABC Thursday night line-up, but lasted only one season.

In the newest edition of It Was a Thing on TV Presents, Greg goes over his NCAA Tournament bracket and makes his choices for this year's Final Four.

Afterward, we go to before the recording of this week's episode where the gang talks about Messi the Dog, Minor League promotions, and the return of Joey Gallo on an MLB roster in 2024.

Starting on Mondays during the one-a-week's until August we will be airing some of our best episodes from our back catalog.

We look back in this "Best of" on when we met Mr. Bogus and hilarity ensued. Seriously how did this show last three seasons?!?!

In the late 90s and early 2000s, one of the surprise cult classic hit TV shows was the original Iron Chef from Japan.  Naturally, an American network had to take their stab at a domestic version.  The end result was two episodes where William Shatner got more screen time than the food itself.  Unfortunately, the charm of the original version was lost in translation when it originally went across the Pacific.

The annual Lost in Translation episodes start with another British adaptation of a beloved American sitcom.  Despite American scripts being localized for a UK audience, Days Like These didn't click.  Maybe it needed a catchy phrase in its opening like "Hello Luton!"

Hugh Wilson and Loni Anderson worked together on a popular series in the late 70s and early 80s, WKRP in Cincinnati.  They tried to parlay that magic into another series four years after WKRP's end, one where a former showgirl, played by Anderson, married her wealthy husband, who died.  When you're battling family members who want that money, life isn't so easy on Easy Street.

Mike's birthday is this weekend and he played his Money in the Bank on this short-lived cartoon that, while absolutely hilarious, aired at the wrong time slot and/or aired either a few years early or a few years late.  Celebrate Mike's birthday by getting completely mental with Ed Grimley and those in his universe.