The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

We have honored TV celebrities in the past.  This episode, we pay tribute to an icon from the 80s and 90s, Larry "Bud" Melman.  Not only was he a comic foil on Letterman's shows, he had bit parts in other TV shows and movies, he was a writer, he was a spokesman, and he even had his own workout video...sort of.  Grab your Toast on a Stick and enjoy this installment of It Was a Thing on TV.

We're back after just one episode last week.  We offer you this epic episode about the 1980s time traveling cult favorite Voyagers!  This could have lasted more than a season, but NBC did a boneheaded move in 1983.  You can hear more about that decision in this episode.

Everybody had a variety show in the 70s, or at least it seemed that way.  Telly Savalas was no exception, starring in this one-off special with Diahann Carroll, Barbara Eden, and Cloris Leachman.  Grab a sucker and contemplate the question, "Who loves ya, Baby?"

The butt of many a joke in its day and even into the 21st century, The Bicentennial Minute was an occasionally bland but also occasionally interesting minute-long segment delivered by a celebrity about what happened in U.S. history 200 years ago that day.  Celebrate your Fourth of July holiday listening about this patriotic throwback to the 70s.

"Lucy's Bicentennial Minute" - https://papermoonloveslucy.tumblr.com/post/175503525253/lucys-bicentennial-minute

Betty Ford Bicentennial Minute Materials (Gerald Ford Presidential Library and Museum): - https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0126/1489543.pdf

Press Release for Congressman Butler Derrick's (D-SC) appearance on the Bicentennial Minute on November 12, 1975 (University of South Carolina Library) - https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/derrick/id/89/

August 24, 1975: Congresswoman Bella Abzug (D-NY) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsnFrd63j4k

August 31, 1975: Jessica Tandy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUoto1lsX50

January 8, 1976: Laurence Luckinbill - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir6pabr4CD0

January 22, 1976: Gary Lockwood - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hai2OxMwl9w

March 9, 1976: Jim Hutton - https://youtu.be/zgwiC4TT9aM?t=499

March 18, 1976: Val Avery - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93s5mXL0WZk

May 7, 1976: Otto Preminger - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1HwX6TdHbk

May 12, 1976: Mitchell Ryan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TpBK7tZc2k

May 20, 1976: Zubin Mehta - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7bt3SNBOrw

May 27, 1976: Garson Kanin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgxOYH7fHX4

June 4, 1976: Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHDXxzuXBok

July 22, 1976: Will Rogers Jr. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfG8LHyRlNY

December 20, 1976: Emlyn Williams - https://youtu.be/8nUKzWGVWe4?t=1671

December 31, 1976: President Gerald Ford (Last 42 Seconds) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0TB76tc5Tg

We're showing off our patriotic side this week as we near the United States' 245th birthday with a look at some of the best and the worst renditions of The Star Spangled Banner.  The good are iconic.  Some of the bad are iconic as well, for all the wrong reasons.  Stay to the end for a little rant about an episode from last week.

Pat Morita was a star in the late 80s, thanks to two Karate Kid movies.  He got the title role in this ABC police procedural.  Ultimately, Ohara got his butt kicked by, in part, 4 old ladies who lived in Miami.

1995 was a tough time for baseball, in the middle of a strike and using replacement players in spring training.  Andy Richter lightened the mood by visiting the Mets in Port St. Lucie, FL, interviewing replacement players, informing people about the real St. Lucie, and visiting Butterfly World.

Also, we meet, the man, the myth, the legend, DIESEL!

Our tribute to Conan O'Brien continues with his rough and all too brief era hosting The Tonight Show back in 2009. We look at some of the memorible moments of this era of Conan from the Twitter Tracker to Shatner recites Palin to In The Year 3000.

All in all, Jeff Zucker did Conan real dirty, all because of a certain Mr. Black (Not THAT one, the OTHER one). You all know who we're talking about.

Houston's NBC affiliate did Conan real dirty, airing his show at 2:40 AM local time for a period.  Conan went deep in the heart of Texas to see it for himself, and encountered some interesting characters in the process.

Complete segment:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQs_oRJtcno

In 1997, Conan O'Brien had an audience of just kids.  What kind of mayhem could happen?  Just don't end up in Naughty Land and don't awaken the Boredom Monster.

Complete episode on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFHKnq5MQb0