The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

Hot off the heels of How I Met Your Mother’s finale—and 8 years before appearing on Hulu—CBS & Fox began work on the next chapter, involving original creators Carter Bays & Craig Thomas, a future Oscar-nominated writer, a Golden Globe-nominated actress, a night of hard partying, a blue typewriter, and a girl named Cricket.

It's Greg's 40th birthday and to celebrate the occasion, Greg has chosen the short-lived comedy from 1983 about a guy who buys a lamp which has a genie in it, who causes all sorts of mischief.  Maybe it was Just Our Luck that this show ran for only 13 episodes.

This episode is uncensored.  Listener discretion is advised.

During last year's pilot month, we covered the 1992 Red Dwarf pilot for NBC in Episode 375.  A second pilot, of sorts, was done shortly after.  Running a mere 11 minutes long including previews of two episodes, this ambitious endeavor looked like it was shot in a broom closet, and that was before the lackluster quality of the video available online.

It's a western!  It's a comedy!  It has legends including Joel Higgins, Meeno Peluce, and Leonard Frey!  And occasionally Christopher Lloyd!  It can't fail!  There is one small problem--half the nation didn't see its first episode because of football.  Maybe it would have truly been the Best of the West if the western half of the country saw it.

In our newest "Best of" we go back to the Summer of 2020 when we looked at a trio of television shows that looked to capitalize on the popularity of "Animal House". All three shows would premiere around the same time in Early 1979 and would all be canceled by the end of the season.

Let's look back at when we talked about "Delta House", "Brothers and Sisters (1979)", and "Co-Ed Fever".

Earlier in March, the movie Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire hit theaters.  To mark the occasion, we re-released episode 216, about the unrelated show The Ghost Busters from 1975, earlier this week.  In addition, this episode is about the unrelated to the hit movie franchise yet also a continuation of the original TV series (Filmation's) Ghostbusters, where the two main characters' kids continue their dads' business.

The annual Lost in Translation episodes start with another British adaptation of a beloved American sitcom.  Despite American scripts being localized for a UK audience, Days Like These didn't click.  Maybe it needed a catchy phrase in its opening like "Hello Luton!"

Hugh Wilson and Loni Anderson worked together on a popular series in the late 70s and early 80s, WKRP in Cincinnati.  They tried to parlay that magic into another series four years after WKRP's end, one where a former showgirl, played by Anderson, married her wealthy husband, who died.  When you're battling family members who want that money, life isn't so easy on Easy Street.

Mike's birthday is this weekend and he played his Money in the Bank on this short-lived cartoon that, while absolutely hilarious, aired at the wrong time slot and/or aired either a few years early or a few years late.  Celebrate Mike's birthday by getting completely mental with Ed Grimley and those in his universe.

Black History Month 2024 concludes with a comedy starring a comedic legend, trying to capitalize on the success of a similar show on another network.  Despite pulling the stops to make it popular including adding a familiar face later in its sole season, Charlie & Company is just a footnote in history.