The Tv Museum

Hop on your turnip truck/transatlantic ship/cherry red Mustang, and meet us in Chicago for a reunion with everyone's favorite mismatched cousins! In this exhibit, Jeffrey and Hannah unveil the Miller Boyett wing of the Museum and reminisce about the now-defunct concept of the branded programming block (thanks, streaming), while exploring a series that is equal parts pro-America 80s pabulum and charming hat tip to the classic slapstick comedy. Is Perfect Strangers perfect for a re-watch today? Tune in to find out! And while you're at it, improve you writing and support the show with a FREE browser extension from our sponsor, Grammarly. Learn more about Balki and Larry than you ever thought you needed to know: Meego opening titles The AV Club's dishy interview with Bronson Pinchot Make your dreams come true with the Perfect Strangers Game And of course, the Dance of Joy  

Snap on your helmets and buckle in, Couch Potatoes, because we're getting LOST IN SPACE! Join Hannah and Jeffrey aboard the Jupiter 2 to discover all the dangers of the solar system and beyond, from menacing cyborgs to vindictive produce. Learn which star recorded history's best novelty song, who was both a Robinson and a Von Trapp, and what Party of Five has to do with all this. We'll also give you our quick take on the new Netflix reboot (a preview of Exhibit 21,378, release date: May 5, 2038). Support the Museum while improving your writing! Download Grammarly's free browser extension today! Get schooled in all things Lost in Space: The history of Lost in Space Explore Jonathan Smith's weird accent Build your own Robot!  

Given the mandate of the Museum, ripped-from-the-headlines topicality is not usually our bag. But in this exhibit we're diving headlong into the phenomenon that is Roseanne, both the first 9 seasons and the new version everyone's been talking about. Tune in to learn... who had more TV biopics in the early 90s, Roseanne Barr or Amy Fisher; how to pronounce Gary Sinise; how your hosts feel about The Big Lebowski; and what exactly was the deal with Roseanne's insane season 9! Don't forget to help your favorite TV history podcast and treat your best friend with a subscription to Bark Box!

“Hi, Bob.” Lie down on the couch, listeners, because we're taking you to America's favorite fictional, Midwestern psychologist! Before there was Newhart, there was The Bob Newhart Show. (And also...The Bob Newhart Show. Are you confused yet? Check out the exhibit, and all will be made clear.) Listen in to learn exciting trivia, such as which two Newhartites voiced seminal cartoon characters! Find out who compared Bob Newhart to a dragon-slaying choirboy! Discover which cast member went "the Full Hesseman" on stage!  Ignoring your dog while watching too much TV? Make it up to Fido with a subscription to Bark Box! Our listeners get a free extra month at www.getbarkbox.com/tvmuseum Become a Newhart expert: Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time Variety interview in which Newhart tries to steal Mike and Carol Brady's place as the first couple to share a bed on TV The AV Club gives props to TBNS Bob Newhart on the Garry Moore Show (This clip will make you question whether comedy had been invented yet i

Join Hannah and Jeffrey deep in the vaults for a peek at a 60s cult hit that still maintains a vigorous fan club. Watch a pre-Bond Roger Moore rub elbows with the rich, larcenous, and murderous as he Robin Hoods his way through high society. Listen in to learn more about the long history of Simon Templar, the most popular pop culture icon you may have never heard of. Find out just how much James Bond echoes the Saint, why George Lazenby got to be Bond, and what Maester Pycelle and the Muppets have to do with all this. Don't forget to start you FREE TRIAL of Audible.com to support the pod and catch up on those 50+ The Saint novels you haven't read... More Saintly Minutiae: How to Pronounce Charteris, by Leslie Charteris "Roger Moore and the Lighter Side of Bond" in The New Yorker Join The Saint Club!  

Grab some cheesecake, pour some OJ, and settle in! Hannah and Jeffrey end their unscheduled hiatus to look back at a groundbreaking stalwart of 80s* Saturday nights. Will the girls hold up thirty years later? Tune in to learn how Golden Girls connects to Mama's Family, what Julio Iglesias has in common with Quentin Tarantino, and just how Jeffrey feels about Park Overall. And while you're at it, be sure to support the show and get great audio content with a free trial from audible.com! Finally, as promised, the greatest artwork you'll ever see: The Birth of Zbornak by Sam Carter  *Do a Google search for 1990-1992 fashion. It was still the 80s.

Hannah and Jeffrey take a look back at the show-about-a-show that helped put HBO on the path to original programming greatness. If you missed Larry Sanders the first time around, start streaming now to see why this single-camera comedy of embarrassment is arguably as influential as The Big S itself.* *Yes, we just made up that nickname for Seinfeld. Listen in to learn whose ear was torn by Rip Torn, what was the other successful Delta Burke vehicle of the mid-late 80s, and which star of Entourage started out in the writers' room of Larry Sanders. Dive deeper: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Shandling's obit in Variety How to Binge Watch The Larry Sanders Show And don't forget to check out Warby Parker for all your fashion-forward but affordable eyewear needs. Get a free at-home try-on and support your favorite podcast! 

Hannah and Jeffrey are finally taking on Star Trek!  In this exhibit we cover (in semi-exhaustive detail) the folks behind the scenes and in front of the camera on TV's most influential sci-fi series. Beam in to learn which cast member's bar mitzvah prompted a return engagement, which star did unspeakable (fictional) things to Angie Dickinson, and who got career advice from MLK, Jr. himself. Keep listening to find out which TV legends (more than one!) had a hand in getting Star Trek to air, and decide for yourself which TOS cast member had the most "distinctive" recording career. To learn more, check out... Spock's Jewish roots Evil Facial Hair on TV A comparison of pre- and post-remastering of TOS's visual effects And if you love the Museum, please visit our sponsor, Audible.com. We suggest you use your FREE trial to get your ears on Fifty Year Mission: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years by Edward Gross and Mark Altman. Just be sure to use our link.

Travel back with us to a time when men were men, the beach parking scene was laid back, and the cars were brown....1970s Los Angeles, where $200 a day (plus expenses) could get you the best private eye in town. Tune in as we assess the Rockford Files, a stalwart of syndication with a loyal following. Listen carefully and you'll learn ingenious tricks to avoid paying royalties, star James Garner's unfortunate birth name, and who had a battle of words with good ol' Newt Minow! Extra! Extra! Read more on Rockford and check out trivia from the exhibit: Garner: Why Steve McQueen Was Like My Brother The AV Club looks at "Sleight of Hand" Instrumentals That Cracked the Billboard Top 20 Off the Minnesota Strip promo

Sometimes you want go...watch one of the 80s' defining sitcoms! In this Season Two opener of the Museum, we turn back to NBC's legendary Thursday night line-up for a look at Cheers. Like its namesake watering hole, this show feels like home to almost anyone who watched TV between 1982 and 1993. Though Cheers is surely familiar to most listeners, in this episode Jeffrey and Hannah seek to uncover new information about a classic. Questions which may be answered include: Which cast member's sister wrote for the show? Where did creator James Burrows get his start? Who is more of a poncy blowhard, Sumner Sloan or Frasier Crane? How great is Bebe Neuwirth? (spoiler: very) How did Cheers inspire the best Halloween costume ever? Learn more:  Long list of Cheers's awards and nominations Opening credits of Once Upon a Spy The Ted Danson sandwich THR interview with James Burrows George Wendt hoofs it in Hairspray Terrifying Norm and Cliff robots BEST HALLOWEEN COSTUME EVER Kelsey Grammer falls off a stage

We are heartbroken about the loss of the singular Mary Tyler Moore, whom our listeners know we revere and respect both as on-camera talent and as a force behind the scenes.  We simply can't imagine TV without her incalculable contributions. In memorial, we are reposting our episode from December 2015 covering Mary Tyler Moore, and its hourlong spinoff, Lou Grant, and featuring our interview with the legendary Ed Asner. We join you in mourning Mary. Let's remember her together. 

To celebrate both the holiday of Thanksgiving and the august tradition of special Thanksgiving episodes, we look back at two shows we covered in previous exhibits, watching holiday-themed episodes we skipped in the first go-round. Both A Different World and Third Rock From the Sun tackled everyone's favorite family-and-food holiday in their own unique way. Do they hold up as great TV? Do they capture the hallmarks of their respective shows? Is Whitley a classy drunk? Does Jan Hooks smear gravy in her cleavage (spoiler: yes)? And most importantly, can these eps hold a candle to WKRP's classic "Turkeys Away"? Episodes we watched: A Different World, "If You Like Pilgrim Coladas", Season 2 Ep 6 Third Rock From the Sun, "Gobble, Gobble, Dick, Dick", Season 2 Ep 10  

As we go on a brief hiatus to welcome the tater tot, we invite you to join us for a look back on the highs and lows of the first 20+ exhibits of the TV Museum Podcast! And, we give you a preview of what's to come when we return for Season Two in October!

Wrapping up our trifecta of alien-in-the-living room sitcoms, we set the time machine for “not that long ago” and took a look at 3rd Rock from the Sun, which left the airwaves in 2001, just making our 15-year cut-off. Would this show outshine its predecessors, or would it be yet another out-of-this-world dud? Listen in to learn which star made history behind a newsdesk, find out who is the American John Cleese, and discover what double-entendre episode titles make Jeffrey and Hannah snicker like fourth graders.   Dig deeper: French Stewart takes on Hollywood legend Buster Keaton 10 other roles from early in Joseph-Gordon Levitt’s career Kristen Johnston’s struggle with depression and drugs

In this exhibit we continue our foray into the world of high-concept sitcoms, specifically of the alien-in-the-livingroom subgenre. Where My Favorite Martian portrayed the visitor as a font of wisdom and experience, Mork and Mindy substituted zany naivete in the form of white-hot superstar Robin Williams. Can a show succeed for four seasons on the back of a comedic genius in rainbow suspenders? Listen in to learn about the show's unlikely genesis in the brain of grade schooler, discover who popped out of an egg in the final season, and find out what David Letterman was up to pre-Late Show.  Can't get enough Mork from Ork? Read more: Gizmodo calls M&M an "Unlikely Miracle" Thirteen Out-of-This-World Facts About Mork & Mind Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters Take Over The Tonight Show   Don't spend the summer squinting! Check out super affordable and fashionable prescription sunglasses from Warby Parker and support The TV Museum. Go to warbyparkertrial.com/tvmuseum .

Join us to look back at a prime example of one of the strangest trends of the 60s: the scifi/fantasy sitcom. In the course of this exhibit we unearthed a treasure trove of TV trivia. Learn what a first-class time slot can do, find out about the connection between MFM and The Beatles, discover what happens if you turn a squirrel into a man, be amazed by the longevity of Lassie, and find out which star of MFM went on to appear in an 80s classic and which had to settle for a movie called Steambath.  And for more fun, check out producer Jack Chertok's Oscar-winning (really) short: How to Sleep. Don't forget to shop our new and exciting sponsor Loot Crate! Enter promo code bridge10 to get 10% off your subscription of awesome geek gear.    

If, like Hannah, you have ever bought a lot of Agatha Christie paperbacks off eBay, we have the show for you! Not just another 70s police procedural, Columbo turns the detective genre upside down, as we start each episode watching the killer commit the crime. How will everyone's favorite soft-spoken, disheveled sleuth unravel the mystery? But more importantly, is Columbo worth your TV time?  Learn much (MUCH) more about one of TV's most memorable icons:  The Ultimate Columbo Site Get the rights to Prescription: Murder! Relive every episode with two Scottish guys   And if you like The TV Museum, please support us by supporting  our sponsor, Audible.com! Get a FREE 30-day trial with a FREE audiobook of your choice of over 180,000 selections at www.audibletrial.com/tvmuseum.   

If old Hollywood, 90s topical humor, and general zaniness are your cup of tea, then you're likely already acquainted with the topic of this week's exhibit. Animaniacs introduced a new generation to the wacky, highbrow-meets-lowbrow aesthetic of the Looney Tunes, and it's now available on Netflix.  "Toon" in to learn which movie parodies zinged and which fell flat, who were the best and worst of the huge cast of characters, and what was the dirtiest joke those three kooky Warner siblings ever got past network censors. Chicago Tribune review from 1993 Way More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Animaniacs (Mentalfloss) Tom Ruegger on Reddit A compilation of racy jokes from Animaniacs  Can't get enough TV history? Sign up for a FREE TRIAL of Audible.com to access titles like Steven Spielberg: A Biography by Joseph McBride.

By popular request, we've tackled a classic from the early 90s, a show that brought the world one of the top ten most distinctive southern accents, an Aretha Franklin-sung theme song, and the greatest (pre-Warby Parker) development in stylish eyewear. This Cosby spin-off came into its own when it ditched the Huxtable element, embraced a large cast, and took on the social issues of the day.  Learn more: Jezebel's The Muse rewatches ADW 14 Things You Might Not Know About A Different World Learn How to Wave, Whitley Style

"Holy amazing guest, Batman!"  We're joined by NPR critic, author, Pop Culture Happy Hour panelist, and one of our favorite voices on culture, Glen Weldon, to discuss his new book, The Caped Crusade: Batman & The Rise of Nerd Culture, and the two major TV series featuring the not-always-so Dark Knight.  How did the character change from the comic page to the TV screen with the garish campiness of the live action series that ran on ABC in the mid-1960s? Did fans reclaim their hero with the darkly faithful animated series that aired on Fox in the 1990s? Tune in to find out!   On this episode:   Batman (1966):  "The Bookworm Turns/As Gotham Burns" (S1 Eps. 29-30)   Batman: The Animated Series (1992):   "Heart of Ice" (S1 E14) "The Joker's Favor"  (S1 E22) "Legends of the Dark Knight"  (S4 E19)     The Real Comic Book Origins of the Batman '66 TV Series The AV Club picks the 10 campiest Batman episodes Complex picks the 25 best eps of The Animated Series   Don't forget to check out Glen's book! You can get