The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

Video Power--is it a video game cartoon or a video game game show?  ¿Porque no los dos?  This might be the only show we will cover which can be classified as a show in two different genres, while keeping the general premise intact.

Video Power contestant interview:  https://lakupo.com/grblitz/video%20power.htm

Password is a timeless classic which came off as dated in 1974.  What's a show to do?  Raise the stakes, upgrade the set, and for a brief while in 1974 and 1975, turn it into a celebrity tournament.  These changes didn't help, as the show was off the air by mid-1975.

20/20 has been a television staple for over four decades. Its start was a different beast than the 20/20 we have seen for years, from a graphic expose to words and their definitions to Claymation animations.

Go was in the death slot of Noon and had a very short life, despite being a exciting, action packed game.  All 3 of us look at how the game was played with the assistance of Funko Pop dolls.  (You wish this episode was a video podcast.)  Also bad impersonations of Johnny Olson.

In May, our first live show was on the Dark Side of the Ring installment about Herb Abrams.  On this episode, we go a bit deeper into this feeble attempt to topple the WWF (now WWE) empire.

14 years after prior installment When Things Were Rotten, Mel Brooks returned to TV with The Nutt House.  It had Mel Brooks behind it.  It had Cloris Leachman.  It had Harvey Korman.  Yet it lasted all of 5 episodes.

Mel Brooks is a legend, both for his work in film and on television.  He had something in Fall 1975 with When Things Were Rotten, but it had rotten luck and a rotten time slot versus two powerhouse shows plus it might have been a little ahead of its time.

This week 40 years ago saw the temporary ends of three game shows, each of which would return to TV by 1987.  That week also saw the birth of a legend, though he made his mark in late night.  We look at the three NBC game show finales of June 20, 1980 and their replacement, The David Letterman Show in this timely installment of the podcast.

Three completely different shows, one title--Break the Bank.  One was good, one was basic, and one was a mess.  And how does one Mrs. Mickey Kennedy Branson play a role in all of this?

We Got It Made was a dog of a show in 1983-84 that NBC tried to get people to watch by having the cast show up on NBC broadcasts.  Yet, it got a second season for the Primetime Starts at 7:30 block in 1987.