The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

The Olympic Triplecast wasn't the only big flop in 1992.  Reebok ran an ad campaign with two highly touted athletes, only for one to not make it to Barcelona. One ended up eventually winning gold four years later though and hey at least it sold a lot of Reebok Pump's.

Our games continue with men battling bears in bear-themed competition.  That's it.  We talk about other things like Bil Dwyer and Matt Vasgersian because...it's just men battling bears.  Did you know Honey Bump is a bear?  IMDb says so!

The Olympic Games have started, and we start our games by bringing you athletes and normal people competing against animals in two FOX specials--Man vs. Beast.  Come for Olympic runners going against jungle animals, stay for little people battling an elephant in a test of strength.

Our Olympic extravaganza continues with a look into the life and loves of Ryan Lochte, the semi-quotable and infamous star of the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympic games.  The first half of the show is about What Would Ryan Lochte Do?, while the second half is mostly about Lochte's wit and wis-dumb including interviews and quotes said by the man himself.  Jeah!

Ryan Lochte is Good at Interviews:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dlyCTswYH0

Over the next 2+ weeks, we will cover Olympic-themed topics.  Starting off our coverage is one of the biggest flops of all time.  Three channels of 24/7 Olympic coverage for $125 in 1992?  What's the catch?  There are a few.  At least those who bought in to the Olympic Triplecast have a Triplecast remote control which likely doesn't do anything nowadays.

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.