The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

We're celebrating another of our birthdays!  Greg's getting a year older, and he wants to cover a show we have talked about for years but there was little footage of it in English until recently.  We're finally covering 18 Wheels of Justice. Can a man in the witness protection program avenge the loss of his wife and daughter by taking down organized crime and G. Gordon Liddy with the help of his big-wheeled truck?

NOTE: Chico used a new microphone for this and the next episode so his audio may drop in and out at points. It should be corrected by next week.

A decade before The Paul Lynde Show (see episode 103), a pilot for CBS was done which was reminiscent of the latter show.  Lynde plays the father-in-law to his new son-in-law, the "smartest man in the room though he's actually the dumbest" Howie.

On the surface, Call Her Mom is reminiscent of a certain movie which would be a big hit 6 years later, but with a "den mother" caring for the fraternity.  This wasn't just a ratings hit once, but twice.  How did it not make it as a regular series?

Batman was a big TV success in 1966.  Why not follow it up with a pilot of a similar comic book staple?  Dick Tracy was a cut-and-paste job from the Batman playbook, down to the script, the scenery, and even the baddie of the week.  Just remember:  Dick Tracy, he's a good cop.

After a long, long, long wait, The Cube is finally back for a second season on TBS. In the premiere of Season 2, Gabrielle Union and La-La Anthony try to tackle The Cube which has a whole lot of new challenges for the contestants.

One of the big comics in the mid-to-late 80s was Richard Lewis, known for his neurotic schtick.  Two years before a career-defining role in Anything But Love, Lewis starred in this pilot as a doorman at a New York City apartment building.

The 2023 XFL has made it farther than its second incarnation by making it to the Championship Game! Can the title game fare better than the original XFL's 2001 Championship Game? Greg and Chico live watch the 2023 Championship between DC and Arlington from the Alamodome as they smell what The Rock is cooking.

As we have mentioned previously, ESP was popular in the 60s and 70s.  What happens when a racecar driver starts having psychic visions?  Lots of stuff in England, enough to make the casual viewer feel Baffled!

In 1977, Andy Kaufman was an up and coming comic.  ABC cast him as a robot servant in the year 2055 with a distinct voice, one which would become associated with Kaufman on another ABC show a year later, Taxi.  Why didn't this work?  We blame the mood synthesizers, AKA the "ass toasters."

Today, May 9th, marks 40 years since David Letterman dedicated an entire day to an assistant sound engineer on his show.  We go back and relive that day with a beer, a BLT, and another beer.