The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

In memory of Lou Gossett Jr. we bring you our latest "Best of" the time we looked at the 1982-83 NBC show "The Powers of Matthew Star"

It was a show so bad that it almost brought one of us to near tears. Also in what other episode of "It Was a Thing on TV" will you hear us bring up Tommy Heinsohn?

In our annual episode where you pick the topic, we gave you 3 shows from which to choose.  The show with the most votes was this one, a one-season classic about an Old West bounty hunter avenging his father's death, with science fiction and steampunk elements.

Our mini-tribute to the new Aquaman cinematic release comes to an end with this series which was marine-adjacent about the last survivor from an underwater civilization.  Four TV movies were made, with decent enough ratings to merit a series, one that lasted an additional 13 entries.

In theaters soon is a new Aquaman movie and in honor of its release, we have two special episodes dedicated to it.  First, we start with a pilot which should have made it to air but the timing may have been horrible, plus the price tag on the pilot was astronomical.  Greg spent his hard-earned money to see this pilot and offers up a thorough recap.

It's the final voyage with the OG Trek crew as the Federation and Klingon Empire are close to intergalactic peace. However, Kirk and the Enterprise crew must deal with Klingon Christopher Plummer and a potential traitor on board the ship. Join Greg and Chico as they head second star to the left and straight on til morning.

The first of the three Doctor Who specials for the 60th Anniversary aired on the BBC and Disney+ this past weekend. Chico watched the first of the specials and pops on in this Instant Reaction about the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate to the TARDIS. Did RTD's first episode back as Executive Producer of Doctor Who recapture the magic from his first stint? You'll have to listen to find out. Meep, Meep.

We cap our celebration of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary with a look at “The Curse of Fatal Death”, a Red Nose Day special from 1999. The Doctor’s looking to settle down but can’t stop regenerating, the Master is rebuilt with Dalek spare parts, and it’s all going down on a planet with a special form of communication. The BBC got some amazing talent for this one-off that foresaw a lot of things.

"Doctor Who" has had a storied history these past 60 years, but thanks to the economics of television at the time, it - much like that of any TV show at the time - is sketchy at best. But recently, the BBC has ramped up efforts to find and restore episodes long lost to tape wiping by any means necessary. We look at how this piece of TV history is being preserved and what is still missing media.

By the mid 1980s, Doctor Who had emerged as one of the BBC’s longest-running brands, but even then it was getting long in the tooth. In 1986, they tried something big - a season-long arc, resulting in “The Trial of a Time Lord”. Will the Doctor be brought to justice? Will audiences be brought to watch?

Vincent Price wanted to bring Doctor Who to the States, with an American version.  When that failed, he decided to make his own version aboard a train.  Time Express was a limited series, starting while Supertrain was still airing.  Both shows got derailed in May 1979.