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

As we have said in the past, Jay Wolpert is the master of the overly complex but unique game show format.  In this show, two people build a team of players with the end goal of winning that captain $10,000 and making some fast friends.  Apparently, NBC passed this up for a show that John Davidson predicted would be on for a very long time.

1982 was a time of flux at NBC in the daytime.  Game shows were out earlier that year minus Wheel of Fortune, replaced with soaps and sitcom reruns.  NBC had a pilot that was part-game, part-psychological analysis with Let's Get Personal, hosted by a familiar face to NBC game show watchers, but also with an acting troupe of three big names around these parts.  

In 1998, the variety show as we know it had been a dead format for close to 20 years.  However, what if you could revive one of the greatest variety shows ever with a host who had been deceased for nearly a quarter century?  That was attempted by UPN with a virtual Ed Sullivan, voiced by John Byner.  The result was this one-off pilot which was reminiscent of a more recent format, and with star power packing arenas to this day.

One of the amazing technological marvels of the mid-1980s was the story telling teddy bear Teddy Ruxpin.  A cartoon was later created around the world of Teddy Ruxpin but before that, a live-action pilot was created.  Coincidentally, this pilot aired in two parts in late 1985, just in time to purchase Teddy Ruxpin as a holiday gift.

View the pilot and follow along at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAyeKcKC4Xs

It's a western!  It's a comedy!  It has legends including Joel Higgins, Meeno Peluce, and Leonard Frey!  And occasionally Christopher Lloyd!  It can't fail!  There is one small problem--half the nation didn't see its first episode because of football.  Maybe it would have truly been the Best of the West if the western half of the country saw it.

In our newest "Best of" we go back to the Summer of 2020 when we looked at a trio of television shows that looked to capitalize on the popularity of "Animal House". All three shows would premiere around the same time in Early 1979 and would all be canceled by the end of the season.

Let's look back at when we talked about "Delta House", "Brothers and Sisters (1979)", and "Co-Ed Fever".

It’s a classic story: member of the 1% needs an image makeover and decides to adopt not one, but six…err, five… girls. The audiences loved them on Sunday, but NBC thought they’d love them even more on Friday. It’s a classic “Rags to Riches” story… that lasted only 20 musically tinged episodes.

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.