The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

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.

We gave you three selections in our Viewer's Choice vote, and this is the show that came out on top.  We have another spinoff show from a popular parent show.  Also, we have another spinoff show that got amazing ratings in its premiere season, which fell off in the second and final season.  In early 1980, audiences were flocking to see Flo.  By 1981, audiences were telling it to kiss their grits.

In 1968, the song Harper Valley PTA was a number one hit for Jeannie C. Riley.  In 1978, the song was the inspiration for a movie with the same title, starring Barbara Eden.  Three years later, this show came into being with Eden at the helm, about the battles Eden's character had with the PTA of a fictional Ohio town called Harper Valley.  

The year is 1989 and the Max Headroom fad, for the most part, has come and gone.  Next up for Matt Frewer is a comedy where laughter is sometimes the best medicine.  Doctor Doctor ran two abbreviated seasons, followed by a full final season.  The show tackled some very sensitive yet timely topics during its run including AIDS and homophobia, but went away quietly after a ratings nosedive.

Today is Halloween, and to commemorate the event, we went back to a very short-lived show. Even nowadays, there have been shows where ghosts inhabit a house but can only be seen by select individuals. NBC tried this in 1989 with Eric Idle. Within a month, Nearly Departed was wholly departed from the network.

The late 80s was an era where the syndicated sitcom ruled the airwaves, primarily on FOX and independent affiliates, also primarily on the weekends.  One such show starred podcast favorite Diana Canova, a single mother who worked at a record label.  Despite being on the air for two seasons, very little of this show exists online.  Maybe viewers didn't have the heart to record and retain Throb?