The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

This week 40 years ago saw the temporary ends of three game shows, each of which would return to TV by 1987.  That week also saw the birth of a legend, though he made his mark in late night.  We look at the three NBC game show finales of June 20, 1980 and their replacement, The David Letterman Show in this timely installment of the podcast.

We Got It Made was a dog of a show in 1983-84 that NBC tried to get people to watch by having the cast show up on NBC broadcasts.  Yet, it got a second season for the Primetime Starts at 7:30 block in 1987.

This show was brought to our attention by Greg, as he stumbled across a cameo in the 4th episode.  Open All Night is not a bad show, just short-lived because it aired on Saturday nights.  But that theme song.

It seems Tony Randall was known for two shows--first and foremost, The Odd Couple, and then Love, Sidney.  We make the case that it was mishandled from the start by NBC but also that some subject matter might have been material not designed for an early 80s home audience.

In the Fall 1987 television season, NBC tried starting primetime half an hour earlier than normal.  The results were generally bad sitcoms and reverting to an 8 PM start time for primetime starting in Fall 1988.  We look at why this block failed and Mike talks about a personal connection with someone from one of the five comedies from this block.

Second Chance had a different premise but was low-rated and given a second chance.  It was stripped of its premise and turned into an average teenage boy sitcom called Boys Will Be Boys.  After 12 episodes of this retooled show, it was cancelled and not given a third chance.

A sitcom with Jim Carrey!  It can't fail...can it?  (Isn't that why we're here?)  The Duck Factory was a comedy about the animation industry with very few animations, a young not-so irreverent Jim Carrey, and an established cast of characters.  What went wrong?

For now, we wrap up our look at pilots with a very bizarre one from 1990, where a dead cop's soul enters the body of a bulldog.  Poochinski is a weird pilot you have to see at least once.  You can view the complete pilot at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LytgLZDzzAY.

Considered by some to be the best show which never made it to TV, Lookwell is a brilliant cop show spoof done by Lorne Michaels, Robert Smigel, and a young Conan O'Brien.  You can view this pilot at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQ3HbB0c8Y.

This is exhibit A on why classic shows should not be rebooted.  Mr. Ed was piloted in 2004 for FOX but like almost anything on FOX, this show had an edgy FOX twist.  Also, the computer graphics in this show were horrible, even for 2004.  You can see this pilot at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze5IBEMoUR0.