Partially an oral history of obscure TV shows, partially an oral version of MST3K, and partially a thorough episode guide, It Was a Thing on TV is an anthology podcast about obscure, forgotten, and odd TV shows, commercials, televised events, and almost anyone and anything else that was on television. For the most part, the subjects we cover are from the United States and Canada. We’re just three guys with a love for television. New episodes are generally every Monday and Thursday, sometimes more often.
NBC might have made a big comeback in the mid-1980s, but there was one huge weakness for them--Friday nights at 9 PM against shows like Benson and Dallas. Half Nelson was another Friday at 9 victim, succumbing after a month and a half. But it had a lot of big names!
In honor of the start of High School and College Football, Greg and Chico look at the Pilot episode of "Friday Night Lights" from 2006 as they look at and examine the cast of characters that surround the Dillon Panthers football team.
Also, we're here for that Mack Brown cameo in the middle of the episode with Coach Taylor.
This is it! We have reached another milestone, this time looking back at the show covered in the second half of episode 3. Unlike the first time, Chico is with us this time and thankfully can make the trip with us to Zippers?!?! Also, Greg has a major announcement which is truly a game changer. What is the major announcement? You have to listen to Episode 300 and find out!
In our second 'revisited' episode, we go back to the first half of episode 3 and take a second look at the short-lived NBC perennial bomb Manimal. We get deeper into the show, the guests, and we have Chico present this time around.
In anticipation of the upcoming Amazon Prime series, this episode takes a look at the "blink and you'll miss it" television version of one of the breakout movie hits of 1992. A League of Their Own had a handful of characters reprising their roles in one-off appearances and its TV fate may have been set in stone by a certain organization.
In our second of two entries related to the upcoming Thor movie release, this episode looks at a TV movie from 1988 where Thor appears in the same universe as The Incredible Hulk...but that's not the Thor we know or remember. Listener discretion is advised, as this was treated like a live watch.
Another Marvel movie will be released soon as we celebrate the return of Thor, so it's time for more entries related to actors and actresses in the MCU. We go back to 1980 for Stephen J. Cannell's first series, with Jeff Goldblum and Ben Vereen playing detectives in the short-lived but fondly remembered Tenspeed and Brown Shoe.
It's another police procedural from the 80s, but this one's different; it has a female lead. And a very big gun. And she wasn't afraid to use it. Lady Blue was one of the most violent shows on TV at that time. Alas, it ran for 14 episodes amongst tough competition.
It's 1985. NBC has a little show called Knight Rider and CBS has Airwolf, while ABC has neither. Give an LAPD cop a high-powered motorcycle during his time off-the-clock and he's ABC's response--Street Hawk, another show that was more popular overseas than domestically.
NBC is on a slow rebound in 1980, after all the catastrophes we have talked about during 1979. The powers that be decided imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, creating their own show similar to the Benji franchise from that era. Here's Boomer was an anthology about a dog crossing the country, helping people in need. While very family-friendly, the show didn't get enough eyes to see this show.
