"99"

Episode #99

The boys are back in town! Sidekicks - quick, name your top four! Joseph and Mike surprise each other with theirs in this episode's installment of "Mt. Retromore" as they also talk about what makes a sidekick (among other things) and then it's time to hit the main topic which was inspired by the episode number. Yep, it's the old "100 bottles of beer on the wall" topic. No? How about the number of times Mike says "Uhm"? Not buying that either, huh? Would you believe it's a discussion about the TV show "Get Smart"? From Agent 99 herself to Hymie the robot and shoe phones, the guys lift the cone of silence and share their affection for this classic sitcom. And most importantly, maybe we'll find out just why Siegfried was pretending to be a doctor on 'The Love Boat'.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/whenitwascool/UBW099.mp3

"Meet Me Half Way"

Episode #98.5

The podcast gods have once again foiled the best laid plans of mice, men, and Mike and Joseph, so it's time for a very special episode - a "one half" episode. That's right - this is episode 98 and a half! Mike talks a little about the successful "Fist of Justice" Kickstarter, we listen to a few old commercials, and Joseph updates everyone on his living conditions before providing an addendum to his recently posted article on the UBW web page as well as a bit of teaser for the upcoming second article. You are checking out the website at ubwpodcast.com, right? Things will be back to normal in the next week or two when episode #99 rolls around and then it's time for the big one - number 100! So until then, please enjoy this sample-sized episode (little plastic cup and toothpick not included).

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/whenitwascool/UBW98.5.mp3

8 From the 80s - Underappreciated Sitcoms

 

Each installment Mike will look back to the decade of decadence and provide a list of eight things – from movies to music to memorable moments and everything in-between.  Keep in mind, this isn’t a TOP 8 list and any numerical notations are included to merely designate one item from another. Because, frankly, how can you rate one thing over another when it comes from a decade as totally tubular as the 80s?

While it could be argued that the seventies had a better class of sitcoms, the eighties were no slouch in the “filmed before a live studio audience” department either.  From The Cosby Show, to Cheers, Diff’rent Strokes and Family Ties, there were numerous sitcoms that ran for a number of years and had millions of viewers.  But for every Growing Pains, there was a Charles in Charge. But not every “bad” sitcom was bad, some just never caught on.  Here are eight of them.

8. Head of the Class (ABC, 1986-1991)

This Howard Hesseman vehicle is one of the two more well-known of these eight.  In it, Hesseman played Charlie Moore, a substitute teacher who oversaw the kids in the school’s Individualized Honors Program (IHP).  The kids covered a wide spectrum of high school archetypes and a lot of what was “learned” was that people aren’t all that different from one another.

Bands That Deserved Better, Part 1

 

Five Hard Rock Acts of the Seventies

By Joseph W. Perry

For every Kiss, Cheap Trick, Rush, or AC/DC that the 1970s gave us, there were dozens of bands signed to major labels that had equally good or sometimes better material, yet those acts didn’t find wide recognition. In this article, I will recommend four (technically, five, if you look closely) 1970s hard rock groups that should have been huge and one that did become quite successful, but only after a name change. If you like wailing guitars, power chords, and thunderous bottom in your rock, I hope you find some new discoveries or remember some old favorites as you read on.

We're Still Here!

Things have been a bit of a mess the past couple of weeks.

As you might know, Joseph lives and teaches in South Korea, while Mike lives on the East Coast of the United States - that's something like a 13 hour time difference! As if it wasn't trouble enough to arrange a time to record, Joseph has been without Internet access for the past couple of weeks while the dormitory he lives in is being renovated.  Meanwhile, Mike has been dealing with work, working on Fist of Justice related stuff, and dealing with what seems to be a half foot of snow every week.

Suffice it to say there hasn't been a time to record episode #99 yet and for that we apologize.

We WILL have a new episode soon, we promise.  Until then, we're going to crack the whip on Bingo the helper monkey and ensure that we at least have some fresh content here on the site for you.

 

FTV - More!

Here's another partial episode of the long-lost FTV syndicated comedy-parody-sketch show.

This one is a bit unfortunate because it cuts off right in the middle of the skit with Dokken.  But still you can get a feel for what this show was (and what it was wasn't too good).

FTV

Back in 1985 there was a short lived, syndicated TV show called "FTV".  To some, memories of this may invoke feelings of the "Mandela Effect" - the distinct memory of something that didn't really exist.  However, in this case those memories are real and Joseph and Mike have briefly talked about it on the show.  Though details of this MTV parody, sketch-comedy show are scarce (for now!), some clips have been unearthed.  The quality ranges from practically unwatchable to "this is a VHS-rip, right?", but it's all there is.

Hopefully one day this stuff will be unearthed in a more watchable format, but for now - dig on this: