The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

In this installment, we look at shows we believe lasted one season too long.  (Your mileage may vary.)  Mostly, we cover comedies which lasted a year too long.  Continuing a trend from last week, Greg continues his basketball coach namedropping streak.

The last NBC daytime game show was a good one, a true challenge.  Caesar's Challenge had Ahmad Rashad, gladiators, and a rotating cage of letters.  Also in this episode, the guys rattle off the name of everyone in Arizona in 1993 they can think of.

Who knew racism could be so funny...?!  Carter Country somehow ran two seasons, despite a character who was an out-and-out racist.  Only one of us three could make it through an entire episode, and for good reason.  File this one under "doesn't age well."

The Undertaker wasn't the only person who celebrated the 30th anniversary of their debut in WWE this past week. At the 1990 WWF Survivor Series a heavily overhyped giant egg was set to hatch and out of it came ....... a man in a turkey suit. Listen as The Gobbledy Gooker and Mean Gene Okerlund try to excite a bored crowd in Hartford by dancing to Turkey in the Straw.

It's a tradition unlike any other here at It Was a Thing on TV.  Last year, we looked at the 1983 Thanksgiving Day parade.  This year, we jump to 1984, a time with Avril the Eccentric, creepy Cabbage Patch Kids, and a Fraggle with permanent sex face.

Rankin-Bass' first holiday cartoon was this highly fictitious take on the traditional and now-highly outdated take on the first Thanksgiving, involving a mouse who saves everything with a printing press?!  All the talent in the world couldn't save this antiquated relic, given what we know now.

A personal favorite of ours, what happens when you combine a Christmas episode with a naive teenager, then sprinkle in two of the goofiest mafiosos you'll ever meet?  You'll get a very special episode with one heck of a takeout business.

It's another show from the late 70s which tried capitalizing on the disco craze.  Unfortunately, timing is everything.  Makin' It even had a Travolta, just not that one.  Also this installment, we return to full strength.

1-900 numbers were a staple of television advertising back in the 1980's and 1990's. It seems you couldn't go one half-hour back in the day without seeing a commercial for a 1-900 number. Chico and Greg go through some of the best(?) of these ads for you in this episode.

 

Freak Phone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq97QAYDDoI

Elvis Hotline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBhLWiU4rSs

Boglins Hotline Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21OJlhs0Obg

Dial an Insult - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fMTGImPh-8

Hot Hints - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxfeaUHCHWI

Mac and Me Hotline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IELT_qAuyw

1-900 Spell It Hotline Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvWcHXHP3Zw

1-900 Cry - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRiNuB_Y1qY

Corey Hotline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk2CKwJ3hGo

MC Hammer Hotline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWg-BTIUFDg

Tiffany 1-900 Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kERC9t9BOiw

Fresh Prince Hotline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o932cAf3t1U

KISS 1988 Hotline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExQ09g7I82g

Twin Peaks Hotline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrpfProfqbM

Let’s Make a Deal Hotline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBrUJ6nfiFg

Santa’s Rap Hotline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeS9TBzEkfs

Grandpa Munster’s Junior Vampires of America - https://youtu.be/KjQKkUaVOVY

Freddy Krueger Hotline - https://youtu.be/lZpiCSrEtgI

Captain Lou Hotline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkcaYw_Y8DE

Rhonda’s Private Fun Line - https://youtu.be/Z0OalcRlAeg

Mean Gene Hotline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs-hdGYUycI

 

In honor of the upcoming reboot on Peacock, we look at the time the Bayside gang spent their summer vacation for a nice relaxing trip to Hawaii at Kelly's grandfather's hotel. Over the course of the trip they encounter Hawaiian natives, greedy hotel owners, shady lawyers and yes Mr. Belding. Also, Zack Morris being trash tries to hook up with a women who works at the rival hotel. You won't believe what happens.