Raised on Television

“Tonight, a very special presentation…”

Before bingeing was a thing and long before streaming was even a twinkle in the internet’s eye, there was the mighty miniseries, a multi-night television event so important, your parents made popcorn and told you to sit still or go to bed. And this week, we're celebrating the golden age of those limited-run epics that hijacked the weeknight schedule and the cultural conversation.

We’re ...

This Week on Raised on Television: Perry Mason Loses?!

This week, we’re throwing it way back again ... this time to 1966, Season 7 of Perry Mason.

The courtroom legend himself finally takes an “L”… sort of. In this rare twist, Perry is actually foiled! Not by the prosecution, not by a surprise witness, but by his own client, who decides to play keep-away with critical evidence. Bad move. Guilty verdict. Cue the dramatic org...

Episode 52 – Phil Silvers Takes the Island: Hecuba and Hamlet on Gilligan’s Island

We’re marshalling right along to number 56 with a back-to-back Phil Silvers double feature! This week, Silvers swaps out his stripes from The Phil Silvers Show to guest star as egotistical Hollywood producer Harold Hecuba on Gilligan’s Island.

After Hecuba’s plane crash-lands on the most conveniently hard-to-find island in the Pacific, he’s not...

This week on Raised on Television…

It’s 1955, and we’re diving fork-first into one of the earliest sitcom classics: The Phil Silvers Show!

In this episode, Company B—perpetual underdogs in everything from inspections to softball—finally sees a glimmer of hope in an unlikely arena: an eating contest.

Their secret weapon? The legendary Ed "The Stomach" Honnegan, a man whose appetite is as bottomless as his stomach is boundless.

But w...

Sooooo ... sometimes relationships are complicated. Sometimes our friends let us down. Sometimes we have to remember the "before we found some things out" time. Not talking about anything in particular, just saying.

Today our hosts dive head first into the 1980's! The then-wildy popular Cosby Show was a prime time juggernaut for NBC and helped to raise ratings for the shows around it. This particular episode, number three o...

It’s a two-fer kind of week, and we’re serving it up retro-style!

First on the lineup: a show you probably haven’t heard of—heck, even we hadn’t. It’s On the Air, a delightfully oddball ABC sitcom from the summer of ’92 that ran for a grand total of seven episodes—four of which didn’t even air in the U.S. (which feels like the TV equivalent of being ghosted mid-season).

Then we hit rewind for something truly timeless: The Bu...

It's a two-fer! So we've been off for a few weeks as Spring has been blowing us around, but we're back and with a vengence. Okay, so there's no vengence, just a gentleman farmer, two pigs (okay, one pig and one slob), a particularly prickly housemate, and Eva Gabor for comic relief!

So sit down, tune in, and see if one, both, or neither of these shows should be on the list!

And guess what? NEXT WEEK IS A TWO-FER, TOO, s...

We’re back — and hitting number 60 on the list with a bang:

After a short break, we return with Murder One, Steven Bochco’s ambitious legal drama that broke the mold with

its single-season arc centered around the high-profile murder of a 15-year-old girl.

While each episode sprinkles in standalone legal cases, the real hook was the slow-burn, week-to-week unraveling of the

central mystery — and episode one wastes no time bui...

If you've ever wondered where entry #100 was on the TV Guide list of the 100 Best Episodes of Television, it actually premiered on aNodPod as a back door pilot waaaay back in May of 2023. And while we had a lot of fun with aNodPod, one of our first podcasts, it's run its course but Raised on Television hasn't - so, you've asked for it and we've delivered ... ENTRY NUMBER 100 IS FINALLY HERE - so enjoy your midweek respite and list...

The precinct gets a fresh batch of rookies, straight from the top of the class, and Lt. Cushman decides they should ride along with veteran cops for some real-world experience. Sounds reasonable—until genius-level rookie Reginald Corrigan gets assigned to ride with Toody and Muldoon. Captain Block tries to intervene ... because, let's face it, this pairing has disaster written all over it!

The always entertaining (and very much ...

Come and listen to my story 'bout a Pod named Raised on Television ... okay, so that doesn't really work with Flatt and Scruggs but you have to admit that this theme song is a bit of an earworm!

This week's entry is number 62 on the TV Guide list and this particular episode pits the Clamplet clan against Mr. Drysdale as the Jed and family help help Hedda Hopper save Mammouth Studios while Drysdale is working hard to end it ... ...

First appearing in a season one episode conducting the sham marriage of Latka to a call girl, Christopher Lloyd reprises his role of Reverend Jim Ignatowsi in this season two episode where he becomes a series regular. The cab crew runs into the sixties leftover at a cafe and decide to help him get a job at Sunshine Cab but they first have to convince the never sunny Louie (but always funny Danny DeVito) to hire him.

For all you...

Dobie Gillis has a plan—become the snazziest dresser in town and watch the ladies flock to him like moths to a very plaid flame. But when his fashion-forward aspirations clash with reality (and his dad’s wallet), so he finds another way to thread the needle (really bad pun intended!) to battle wealthy Milton for young Thalia's gold-digging love.

Does it belong on the list? Hit play and find out what our hosts think! And be sur...

After an unintential holiday hiatius we're back and we hope your holidays were great and for some, still ongoing! Though this ep was recorded last year we're kicking off the New Year with a special episode all about those shows we watched when we were home from school because we were sick. From morning shows to afternoon talk shows, soaps and reruns to early evening news, we cover it all.

Hit play and settle in for a trip do...

We hope everyone in the USA had a nice Thanksgiving and is ready for a healthy slice of the full moon as it hits Cicely and causes things get Northern Exposure-ly weird: Ruth-Anne eats steak for breakfast, Chris tapes his show to sculpt "Aurora Borealis," and Joel meets Adam—a grumpy gourmet chef in the woods that may, or may not be green-headed. Meanwhile, a Harley-riding stranger named Bernard shows up, bonds with Chris over Jung...

A new show blows into Springfield and takes on Krusty -- Arthur Crandall and his dummy Gabbo, and they're met with great success. So much so that Krusty the Clown's show is cancelled ... which is odd as there doesn't appear to be an abundance of programming in fictional Springfield, buy anyway ... Bart and Lisa are soon on the task of helping Krusty get his show back with a comback special.

The Simpsons, currently in its 36th s...

A classic from the not so distant (okay, kind of distant <<sigh>>) past, Get Smart makes an entrance on the list week! This 1968 episode from season three of the campy spy show starring the slap-sticky Don Adams as Agent 86 and Barbara Feldon as the always on top of it Agent 99, deals with a maniacal guru trying to control the minds of teens ... of course this pure fantasy as anyone whose raised teenagers knows you can...

This particular episode, a two-parter airing first on March 12, 1987, tackles death when Alex processes through the loss of his friend Greg and the guilt he feels because he should have been in the car. This episode takes an unconventional narrative approach, with Alex interacting with memories and his subconscious in almost dream-like vignettes, revealing layers of his personality and insecurities. This shift from the usual sitco...