The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

We first talked about this series 472 episodes ago.  (Do the math.)  We felt it was worth a revisit since it can now be seen every Saturday night on Catchy Comedy.

In short, this show is the beta version of Robin Hood: Men in Tights, also from the brilliant mind of Mel Brooks.  It couldn't be too bad since it has rerun on A&E, TV Land, Decades, and now Catchy Comedy.  Thus, When Things Were Rotten is hardly a thing that is rotten.

In a podcast first, we found a premise so flimsy that it almost broke the three of us...and this was deemed as okay to air during the family hour (and later on TGIF) on ABC?!  This was a vehicle for the Smolletts, six kids in all, including that one.  The less said about this train wreck, the better.

As we have said time and time again, a good format for a TV show never really dies, it goes away for a time and returns with a new twist.  In this case, the timeless Neil Simon play The Odd Couple went from the Broadway stage to the big screen, then to the small screen with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.  Less than a decade later, it returned in this form, with Ron Glass and Demond Wilson playing the lead roles.

The show covered in this episode shares many of the same traits as episode 531, Bridget Loves Bernie--the trials and tribulations of an interfaith couple, the good ratings, but also the swift cancellation.  Social mores changed quite a bit from 1972 to 1989, meaning this show didn't get the criticism from religious leaders.  What happened?  You'll have to dive into this heaping serving of Chicken Soup to find out.

Falling in love and becoming a couple have long been a staple of television series.  In 1972, CBS, after the overwhelming success of a controversial sitcom in All in the Family, added this show, another controversial entry which was about an interfaith relationship.  Despite superb ratings, the series lasted one year due to said controversy.

When The WB started out, it had two hours on Wednesday night with three funny favorites, but there was a need for a fourth comedy.  It needed something the pushed boundaries but also felt familiar.  It needed something with gags and a storyline.  The WB muscled up to the plate with this 13 episode and done wonder.

Once upon a time, a television network aired a show about Snow White and Prince Charming living in comtemporary times, complete with a family and a magic mirror.  Alas, the enemy in this fairy tale come true was the counter-programming and the absurd premise.  After about a year, the show bit the poison apple and was sent to television heaven.  The end.

The military has long been a staple of comedic television, see The Phil Silvers Show, McHale's Navy, and M*A*S*H.  In late 1976, NBC joined the fray with an insulting, caustic chief petty officer running the ship, portrayed by the most insulting and most caustic comedian playing the role.  

We have seen this time and time again--a network reboots a series which ran for a considerable amount of time, only for it to flop badly.  This time, the victim is Family Affair, which The WB felt was worthy of rebooting over 30 years after the original show ended.  Against tough competition, this version quietly whimpered away after a half year.

It took over 500 episodes, but we are finally talking about what many consider to be the worst television show of all-time.  A man's deceased mother gets reincarnated into a 1928 automobile, communicating with her son through the radio.  That's the premise.  Jerry Van Dyke passed up being Gilligan for this.  If all the above isn't unbelieveable enough, one of the world's biggest entertainers did a cover version of the theme song.