The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

In our previous episode we discussed Paul Lynde's self-titled sitcom at ABC in 1972-73. After another failed sitcom with Paul in a starring role at ABC, Paul did various guest spots on shows to fulfill his contract with the network. In 1976, Fred Silverman decided to give Paul his own primetime special for Halloween and in true Paul Lynde fashion he made it his own.

Listen as Paul is trapped in a haunted mansion with The Wicked Witch of the West and Wilhemina W. Witchiepoo while having to battle with Tim Conway. Also it's got KISS, Betty White, Billy Barty and Florence Henderson singing disco, how can you go wrong?

In honor of the World Series, we look back at a classic baseball episode of one our favorite shows on the podcast. In 1984, the Chicago Cubs went to their first postseason in almost 40 years and a new NBC sitcom set in the Windy City capitalized on Cubs Fever. In this classic episode of Punky Brewster, Henry has to battle crazed fans, radio call-in contests and scalpers all in an effort to get Punky to see the Cubbies in the playoffs. Also how does someone from one our previous entries get involved in all of this?

It Was a Thing on TV proudly celebrates it's 100th episode! In honor of this occasion we're going back to where it all started as we revisit The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour. We know more about this topic from the reruns on BUZZR than we did around this time a year ago when we started. We look at the different celebrities that appeared on the show, the contestants and many memorable moments over the show's nine months on the air. Also, we've sprinkled many fun audio easter eggs over the course of the 100th show. Thanks to everyone for your support over the last year of this podcast.

Doctor Who has had many memorable characters in it's almost 60-year history on the BBC. However, not every character can be Sarah Jane Smith, Amy Pond or even K-9. Meet Kamelion, a robot who's apparently not a robot. A character so bad he only appeared in two televised Doctor Who serials but has since appeared in many spin-off Doctor Who books and audio dramas in which some of the plots of them will leave you confused.

On a serious note, our co-host Mike recently had a serious trip to the hospital which we address in the cold open of the episode. To help out with his medical expenses a GoFundMe has been set-up which you can donate to at tinyurl.com/klaussiestrong.

Every bad show has a bad season, it seems.  We will cover such bad seasons in future episodes.  For now, we are dedicating an entire show to one such season, Saturday Night Live's 6th season.  Almost nothing from the show's 5th season carried over, and it showed.

Before returning you to your regular universe, we have two more visits in the Sanford and Son family--the very short-lived series which replaced the parent show, titled Sanford Arms, and an early 80s attempt to revive the franchise in Sanford.

Over the next two episodes, we will explore the three spinoffs of Sanford and Son, as well as the show which caused Sanford and Son to end.  In part one, we look at the first spinoff, Grady, as well as the show which effectively killed the mothership, The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour.

This episode and the next may have low volumes.  Some of our microphones acted really weird when we recorded.  We're sorry about that.

When late 80s family sitcoms and wrestling overlap, the end result is the short-lived Canadian entry Learning the Ropes, starring Lyle Alzado.  We also determine the Canadian equivalents of TV shows it seems everything goes back to.

M*A*S*H is one of television's most popular shows ever, yet its spinoff AfterMASH lasted less than a season and a half.  Was it too derivative from the parent show's plot?  Did it just run its course?

We're going back to school with three shows from early 1979, which tried capitalizing off the success of Animal House.  All three were busts, though each show produced quality future talent.  Also in this show, Mr. Whipple typecasting and ZIPPER?!