The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

In this episode, we get proof that there is no positive correlation between the cost of a series and the ratings received.  An amazing amount of star power and promotion couldn't save this animated series about Siegfried and Roy's white tigers and lions, and their (obviously) made-up adventures.

We're down to the final two pilots of Pilot Month 2026.  Sending us down the home stretch is an animated version of a beloved sitcom from the mid-60s, but with its characters a smidge older, plus two cousins are introduced to the show's canon.  Some shows should left untouched, so efforts like this cannot sully the legacy of the original show.

It's 1993.  Video games are the newest form of entertainment.  The landscape already has cartoons of Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, and the Mega Man cartoon will bow in the following year.  What other video game characters have the popularity to drive a cartoon?  Bubsy?!  A pilot aired around Thanksgiving 1993.  What could possibly go wrong?  What COULDN'T go wrong?

Mike's birthday happened earlier in the week.  As is tradition around these parts, during birthday time, each host picks an episode they want to cover as their Money in the Bank.  Mike chose this cartoon which was critical of the times in the 70s during season 1, but reverted to an animated sitcom with no controversial bite in subsequent seasons.

The Little Rascals shorts were very popular in syndication during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, to the extent that NBC ordered an animated Christmas special based on the shorts in 1979. Spanky and Porky have to retrieve a coat that their mother sold with the help of the gang, but all sorts of hilarity ensue. Can the gang get Spanky and Porky's mother's coat back in time for Christmas?

Over the last 30 plus years, MTV has had some decent cartoons, most notably Beavis and Butthead and Daria.  3-South isn't on that list, but it holds a place in the heart of at least one of us.  Goofy and stupid but with some notable contemporary voice talents, this show might be best known as one of the gigs Brian Dunkleman took after the first season of American Idol.

Yesterday, May the Fourth have been with you.  Because of the unofficial holiday, this installment will cover a facet of the Star Trek universe.  (How many of you checked out after that intentional faux pas?)  The Ewoks were the breakout stars of the 3rd released movie of the Star Wars franchise, while droids were a big part of the series from the start.  Combine the two in separate Saturday morning cartoon franchises, and that means kids will want the toys, adding gobs of money into several coffers.  The cartoons themselves?  Typical disposable Saturday morning fare.

Arcade games exploded onto the scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with several shows, animated or otherwise, airing on TV.  Jump ahead to the 1990s and video games left the arcade, going to living rooms everywhere.  One popular franchise, still popular to this day, was and is Mega Man, which had an animated show from the masters of adapting video games to television, Ruby-Spears, the minds behind cartoons like Pac-Man, Saturday Supercade, and Dragon's Lair.

Numerous successful scripted television shows made their way to Saturday mornings in the mid-70s, like I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, and Star Trek.  The Partridge Family got the same treatment in 1974, but with a catch--it's set over 200 years in the future.  Also, some key components in the Partridge Family universe were missing.  If you see the show image, it looks awfully similar to a venerable Hanna-Barbera series, and for good reason.

Kevin Smith gave us "Clerks", a cult classic indie film from 1994. "Clerks" gave us Jay & Silent Bob. Jay & Silent Bob gave us a lot of laughs.... so ABC gave an order for an animated follow-up. Then America gave it a shot... and ABC gave up after a pair of eps, only for the show to become... a cult classic. Join us as we travel the full circle to the Quick Stop.