TODAY on Battle of the Network Shows!

This week the winner of our "workplace sitcom" listener poll gets its spotlight. Slap that bass, folks, and get a cup of coffee because it's time for Barney Miller!

Click right here to go to our official website or get the episode wherever you find your podcasts. Don't you dare miss it!

Today on Battle of the Network Shows!

Just looking out of the window, hearing the podcast show...

That's right it's Good Times on this week's pod!  The Evanses vs. The Haters! James vs. Easy Money! Jimmie Walker vs. John Amos!

Click right here to go to our website, or you can grab the episode wherever you get podcasts. Don't you dare miss it!

Today on Battle of the Network Shows!

Our ongoing exploration of the TV of the past takes us on a journey into the future as we discuss Buck Rogers in the 25th Century!

Buck faces not just a vampire, but a SPACE VAMPIRE in this memorable episode. Click right here to go to our official page, or you can find it wherever you get your podcasts. Don't ya dare miss it!

10 Things I Loved in 2018

Don't consider this a top 10, but consider it...a 10. Don't consider this a Bo Derek 10, but consider it...Ah, you get the idea. Here are 10 things I loved in 2017. I recommend you check these out, love them, and create your own list of 10 including these exact things at the end of 2018. Just please try to change the wording a bit.

*The Lego Batman Movie: I didn't see all of the superhero movies that came out this year, or hardly any of them, but you'll have a hard time convincing me any of them are better than Lego Batman. It's so good that I am willing to endure 10 more Will Arnett live-action sitcoms (the idea of them, not actually watching them).

*The Terrible Podcast: Minute for minute, kilobyte for kilobyte (OK, I don't know what I'm talking about), no sports podcast--maybe no podcast, period--gave me more joy in 2017 than this Pittsburgh Stillers show, "just a couple of Daves talking Steeler football." In season, they do 3 shows, almost always an hour apiece, and with absolutely no ads or ad reads. It may be the best bargain in 'Burgh sports (insert Mike Hilton comment). Even when my enthusiasm for football dims, I look forward to this podcast.

*The Honeymooners on Blu-Ray: One of my favorite presents last Christmas brought me all kinds of entertainment throughout the year and continues to do so. I remain both delighted it was so cheap on Amazon and also sort of offended that it was.

*Comic Book Fever: See my review here of George Khoury's delightful exploration of seemingly 50% of everything I loved as a kid.

*Eight Is Enough on Warner Archive Instant: This comfort food is the TV equivalent of eating an old sock. Wait, I think I screwed that up. WAI deserves criticism for, uh, not doing anything for months on end, but as long as it has all 5 seasons of EIE, I'm there.

*800 Words on Acorn TV: I signed up for Acorn to watch Doc Martin, but I stayed because of this charming, simple dramedy about an Aussie family that moves to New Zealand. Well, actually I didn't stay, but I will be back eventually. It's also a fun comfort-food kind of show.

*Burger with fried egg: I tried this for the first time this summer and loved it. The truffle fries didn't hurt, either. I had another one recently at a different location, and while I now acknowledge the legitimacy of egg on burger as a concept, it was really the specific location that made the meal so awesome. Plus there was undoubtedly some kind of fattening sauce, butter, and, what, two different kinds of cheese. Dag, I'm hungry now.

*MLB.TV: The Pirates looked awful at times, but this was the first season I had MLB.TV and access to all of the games (well, almost all; let's not get into the inane blackout rules right now) for a whole season, and it was splendid, even if I get sick of seeing the same commercials over and over and over again.

*Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond: I said after I watched this that either Jim Carrey is one messed-up dude or he is a fantastic and pretentious BS artist. Probably a little of both. This documentary showed up late in the year on Netflix and mesmerized me with its combination of Hollywood history, Hollywood ego, Hollywood nuttiness, Andy Kaufman, pro wrestling, and, yes, maybe even a little bit of the human condition.

*SeanMC's YouTube Channel: I love, love, love, old TV promos--I launched a recurring feature devoted to sharing them on the blog this year--and Sean Mc is a reliable uploader of great vintage 1970s/1980s content, much of it absurd hype jobs voiced by legends like Danny Dark, Ernie Anderson, and Casey Kasem. Opening YT and seeing Sean posted a batch of fresh vids is like--uh, I'm out of strained similies, but it's awesome.

Shameless self-promotion: Podcast update

Hey, everyone! Just a quick note to remind you that we are in the middle of our third season of Battle of the Network Shows, the podcast on which my friend Mike and I discuss television of the 1970s and 1980s. As Mike explains in this post, our episodes are now available on YouTube!

This episode from our first season looks at the original In Search Of's treatment of Amelia Earhart and the Loch Ness Monster. This season, we've covered Super Friends, Three's Company, Celebrity Bowling, Knight Rider, and more, and there's more to come!

So just remember, in case I forget to bother--uh, remind you each week, new episodes premiere each Thursday wherever you get podcasts, but you can always find us at www.battleofthenetworkshows.com

BOTNS returns!

Season 3 of Battle of the Network Shows premieres today! Head on over and download this episode, in which Mike and I discuss the season two finale of Eight Is Enough!

You'll laugh! You'll cry! You'll see yet another failed attempt at replicating the "Who's on First?" routine!

And you can see what THIS is all about:

Battleofthenetworkshows.comwww.battleofthenetworkshows.com is the place, and stick around each Thursday for new episodes of chat about TV of the 1970s and 1980s!

TODAY on Battle of the Network Shows!

Season two is here, friends, and it's here NOW! Don't you dare miss it!

This Week in DVD and Instant Watching EXTRA

You know, folks, I forgot to mention the Warner Archive DVD releases this week, and it was an interesting slate of new titles, so let me rectify my oversight:

Show Boat (1936): Long-awaited classic makes it to DVD. It's not the Howard Keel/Ava Gardner full-on musical, but the black-and-white James Whale version. Hey, Ava Gardner was 14 in 1936. What are you, some kind of pervert?

Winner Take All: This disc gives us two things of which there can never be enough on DVD: Jimmy Cagney and old boxing movies.

Here Comes the Navy: Pre-WWII service film with Cagney (wait, I think I smell a trend this week), Pat O'Brien, and of course the most charismatic Warner Brothers star of them all, Frank McHugh. It features the "Arizona," one of the battleships lost in the attack on Pearl Harbor, so there's something cool for you history buffs (as if Frank McHugh weren't enough).

The Oklahoma Kid: Not only can we always use more Cagney on DVD, we can always use more Bogey. In fact, it should already be a law that no Humphrey Bogart movie should be unavailable on home video at any given time. I know we don't normally associate these guys with Westerns, but it's still odd that if not for showings on TCM, most people would only know this from that scene in "Goodfellas" where Joe Pesci shoots Michael Imperioli in the foot. "Hey, I'm the Oklahoma Kid!"

The FBI Season 7: I am not a fan of the series, but it is impressive that WA is cranking these out, and apparently the show is doing well for them. It was on for about 10 years and over 200 episodes, yet I never saw any trace of it until American Life (or whatever it was called at the time) showed some reruns a few years ago, and then these DVDs came along.

Speaking of Warner Archive, let's get some Instant Watching into this post. George Feltenstein, grand poobah of the Archve program and a true friend to cinephiles everywhere, made a good point when discussing why titles rotate in and out of the Instant Archive. He said that some movies need to be removed as they are made available for other windows--presumably things like pay cable. I admit I hadn't thought about that. Perhaps they want to protect a partner that buys rights to air a package of old movies. OK, I'll buy that. He also specifically said that those titles would then come back, but in the meantime they always strive to have new ones coming in so that there would always be something fresh to watch on the service. Sounds great, but it's been slow the last few weeks...

One last thing: The Warner Archive Podcast is a great 40 minutes or so of listening pleasure each week. Feltenstein and his two co-hosts run down the week's new releases, give Instant Archive recommendations, and answer viewer mail. The love they have of movies and the joy they take in presenting the material is infectious and makes for a delightful experience. You can't help but want to go watch a bunch of classic movies after listening to these guys. Oh, and this week's episode also explains in detail why the 1936 version of "Show Boat" is now available but not the other two famous movie versions. I was too busy making dumb Ava Gardner jokes, but the podcast give a great explanation.

(NOTE: I linked to the no-frills XML feed so that you can download the MP3s directly without worrying about iTunes)

Something weird is going on at ESPN

ESPN, which could credibly be called ESPNFL, used to run a "Football Today" podcast--not nearly often enough to satisfy its loyal listeners (I was one of them), but it was a regular part of the network's web presence even during the offseason.

A few months ago, host Ross Tucker's contract expired, and he left the network and the show. A similar thing happened last year, with Tucker in limbo as negotiations went on, but he then returned. Not so this time, however; in fact, ex-OL Tucker, a sharp guy who takes the sport seriously but keeps it in perspective, while never taking HIMSELF too seriously,  has started the aptly named "Ross Tucker Football Podcast," with a similar tone, similar features, even some of the same sponsors. Furthermore, he's doing his show 3 times a week, in stark contrast to ESPN's former once-a-week offseason schedule.

Of course, Tucker's show (which has already proved to be an excellent source of insight for the serious football fan) stands in even starker contrast to "Football Today's" current ZERO times a week schedule. After Tucker's departure, longtime show guest and co-host Matt Williamson, a former scout, took over hosting duties for several episodes until suddenly it was announced he was leaving and the show was on hiatus. I'm not sure what happened here, but who knows what ESPN is thinking? It revamped its baseball podcast this year, too, handing it over to Buster Olney, and perhaps it wanted on-air talent to be on the podcast that covered its signature sport. That makes sense. Not having any kind of NFL podcast during the draft season makes zero sense.

Does anybody know what's going on here? Why would a sports media empire that loves to push all things NFL all the time go silent with one of its flagship podcasts? Surely it has some kind of  plan, but then again, I can't imagine any kind of solid plan would allow the show to go dark for several weeks during such a high-profile stretch for the league.