The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

Happy holidays!  Our gift to you this holiday season is a television movie from 1977, which was a carbon copy of the Christmastime favorite It's a Wonderful Life, but gender-swapped.  Included in the cast is one of our favorite names, as well as the person Warren Beatty said is the best in Hollywood at something.

A Longhorn Network tradition becomes an It Was a Thing on TV holiday tradition as we watch the University of Texas' live mascot, Bevo, in his natural habitat to muzak of songs from the holiday season. We also share some fun facts about Bevo and the University of Texas while watching Bevo.

You can follow along with us at the following link from the Longhorn Network website. - https://watch.longhornnetwork.com/video/651299

The Little Rascals shorts were very popular in syndication during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, to the extent that NBC ordered an animated Christmas special based on the shorts in 1979. Spanky and Porky have to retrieve a coat that their mother sold with the help of the gang, but all sorts of hilarity ensue. Can the gang get Spanky and Porky's mother's coat back in time for Christmas?

You have had your Thanksgiving dinner.  Now it's time for dessert, the final Thanksgiving parade of the 1980s.  As always, highlights of pop culture from the year make appearances, as well as ads for the must-have items for the holiday season.  In 1989, we also get a weird appearance from The Joker (no Cesar Romero and his orange wedges) plus a troupe of dancing chickens.

Way back when, in the first year of the Podcast back in 2019, we covered the 1983 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Episode 9, and we've done the following year's edition every year since. Given we've now had a set formula for covering these parades since, we decided this year to do a "Revisited" for the 1983 edition.

We got Shirt Tales, Jon Bauman, Yogi Bear, Charley Pride, the Superman balloon that hides in the corner depressed, Woody Woodpecker, a drunken Bullwinkle, Leonard Frey, and Mr. Smith!

Plus, we also get some hot Atari 2600 commercials and some early info on buying VCRs for Black Friday 1983 during the parade! The second part of our Thanksgiving Day Parade Extravaganza will be posted at 12 Noon later today when we discuss The 1989 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Happy Thanksgiving!  (For those outside of the United States, happy Thursday.)  For this holiday, we jump back 43 years to 1981.  What was the hotness that year?  A version of Strawberry Shortcake which was reminiscent to the technology used in Malcolm, for one.  The video game surge started, though it wasn't represented in the parade.  As you prepare to do Black Friday shopping, remember to go to the AT&T phone store and get a Garfield phone.

As we do around these parts for Thanksgiving, we look at at least one Thanksgiving Day parade.  This time, we go back to 1988, to see what were the big shows on Broadway, to see what TV stars would appear on floats, to see what the big gifts of 1988 were, to see what headwear Willard Scott was donning, and to see the grand ending of the parade--Santa Claus!

Every year when we celebrate the United States' birthday, we offer up a patriotic show.  This Independence Day is no different, except the event covered in this episode happened in September 1987, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution.  This parade didn't offer much in terms of celebrities, but it gave viewers a look at how things were done in 1787.

The holiday tradition at the podcast now starts its trek going back in time, starting with the 1982 edition of The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  How does it compare to what we have seen from later in the 80s and why are so many kids expressing their emotions?

It's an It Was a Thing on TV tradition like no other.  Every year since 2019, we have looked at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in chronological order, starting with the 1983 parade.  We're up to the 1987 parade.  What characters will star in this parade?  What products will advertisers shove down our throats?  And did Charlie Brown ever get a growth spurt!