#ThrowbackThursday: How a 1991 Local Newscast Foreshadowed My TV Guide Tenure

I think I've well-established that I was obsessed with television as a kid... and really obsessed with TV Guide Magazine. (As in, I collected TV Guides. Created my own version. Programmed my own imaginary TV station. I could go on.)

Back in Honolulu, one of the weird things I would do was actually contact the local news stations. I interviewed several anchors for a school project (that's me above on the news set of KGMB in 1989 or 1990)... and I would sometimes send them goofy things in an attempt to get on the air. I especially bothered local ABC affiliate KITV--particularly its weather and sports folks, since they were pretty loose on the air and open to goofiness.

One day, while reading TV Guide, I saw an ad featuring a model who looked suspiciously like one of KITV's anchors. I sent it to the station... which ended up having some fun with it on air. Watch the clip below; toward the end of the clip, Dan Cooke namechecks me and even notes that I am a "future journalist and avid TV Guide reader." So true. Fast forward 25 years, and here I am at the magazine. It was meant to be!

Watch below (the namecheck is at the end):

Throwback Thursday: Gordon Jump Creeps Out Gary Coleman on "Diff'rent Strokes"

Pizza.. then wine... then Mr. Horton wants to take some pics of Arnold and Dudley. From 1983 (season 5), the "Bicycle Man" two-parter. (Read the A.V. Club's retrospective here.) Oh, it's the creepiest episode of "Diff'rent Strokes," and probably one of the most memorable (besides the time Kimberly's hair turned green or Mr. Drummond got amnesia). Above, the TV Guide Magazine close up from the episode, and below, highlights from the storyline.

Don't Let Thanksgiving Go By Without Watching This Classic "WKRP In Cincinnati" Episode

Best Thanksgiving episode ever? No doubt. An annual Thanksgiving tradition: The "Turkeys Away" episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati."

"As God Is My Witness, I Thought Turkeys Could Fly!"

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Throwback Thursday: A Difficult Bill Cosby in 1984's TV Guide Magazine

Beyond the ever-growing mountain of allegations of sexual assault against Bill Cosby, it's also no secret that he's just not that pleasant of a person to interview. That's quickly obvious in this 1984 TV Guide Magazine profile of Bill Cosby -- at the height of his popularity -- when reporter Kathleen Fury couldn't help but describe her miserable experience interviewing the star. ("Our interview was unpleasant," she bluntly writes.) Read on:

Throwback Thursday: My 1989 Screening Pass to Weird Al Yankovic's "UHF"

In time for the 25th anniversary of "Weird Al" Yankovic's cult classic feature "UHF," the movie was finally released this week on Blu-Ray. Above, here's the screening pass I won in 1989 from Honolulu radio station KQMQ to see the movie at the Marina Twin theater. KQMQ is gone. The Marina Twin is gone. But Weird Al carries on -- as does "UHF"!