Keith Loria, Jody Schwartz, Anthony Stoeckert
163 episodes listed below
Classic TV memory, fast and friendly.
Don’t Touch That Dial treats classic television like shared family history: theme songs, character arguments, actor detours, and sudden memory checks. The panel moves quickly from tax-day sitcom plots to Bill Bixby, TV neighbors, primetime, and the lost pressure of watching movies before VCRs.
PRESS PLAY
Don’t Touch That Dial is a panel-driven classic television show with a soft spot for the era of antennas, static, laugh tracks, and limited choices. It is quick, chatty, and comfortably nerdy. The conversations often start with a simple assignment, such as tax episodes, TV neighbors, pivotal episodes, movie nights before VCRs, or the career of Bill Bixby. Then the room starts moving. A Batman plot about Egghead can turn into egg prices, Batgirl, Alfred, rare cologne, and whether Pennyworth counts as useful backstory. A Bill Bixby episode can drift through The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Brandon Cruz, Vic Morrow, The Bad News Bears, and a half-remembered green room encounter. That kind of sideways motion is central to the show. It is not trying to sound like a museum guide. It sounds like longtime TV fans working through the shelves in their heads, correcting each other, laughing at the correction, and finding another reference before the first one cools off. The show has a particular affection for how television used to be watched. Movies on TV were not just content; they required homework to be done, parents to cooperate, and everyone to be in front of the set at the right time. The same memory-driven lens shapes its conversations about primetime, All in the Family lyrics, Mary Tyler Moore neighbors, Barney Miller cast changes, and Burt Reynolds birthday chaos. Its strongest moments come when trivia meets lived memory. A name triggers a story. A story triggers a disagreement. The disagreement becomes part of the entertainment. Don’t Touch That Dial suits listeners who like classic TV facts, but it is better for listeners who enjoy hearing those facts passed around by people who clearly enjoy the chase. It is warm without being tidy. It knows the shows mattered, and it also knows half the fun is arguing over why.
Made for: For classic television fans who enjoy sitcom lore, actor trivia, theme-song memories, and old broadcast-era rituals. It especially suits listeners who like panel banter more than formal recaps.
What sets it apart: The show’s edge is its collective memory: details get tested, corrected, and rerouted in real time. It turns classic TV history into lively conversation rather than a prepared lecture.
We look back on classic TV shows and discuss the shows and stars that made watching TV before streaming, DVRs, and VCRs a whole lot of fun.
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
A lively oral history of classic television, built from close recall, affectionate disagreement and the connections between performers, characters and familiar plots.
Don't Touch That Dial turns classic television into an amiable roundtable of recollection, argument and stray association. Anthony Steckert, Jody Schwartz and Keith Luria compare candidates for pivotal episodes, debate who qualifies as a television neighbor and follow tax plots…
Three voices turn a Gotham egg tax into the TV-night argument you wish you'd joined.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Classic-TV tax jokes and memory-led banter make this a lively, unruly listen.
The episode uses tax day as a clean comic hook, pairing IRS trouble, audits, and paperwork with a cheerful run through classic-TV memory. Its sharpest stretches come when the three hosts trade recollections on the fly, then let Batman, Egghead, and the egg-tax gag push the…
A warm Bill Bixby conversation that ranges from early TV credits to The Hulk and Brandon Cruz.
This Bill Bixby conversation has an easygoing, affectionate tone that makes the case for why some classic TV names linger. It moves from Dobie Gillis to My Favorite Martian, Courtship of Eddie's Father, and The Hulk, then widens to Brandon Cruz and The Bad News Bears, so the…
A lively tour of TV neighbors, with a gray-area debate that keeps the conversation moving.
The episode turns TV neighbors into a neat, slightly slippery category, and it lands best when the hosts keep pressing on where that category starts and stops.
A lively classic-TV discussion about the episodes that helped old shows define themselves.
This classic-TV podcast panel turns a mystery prompt into a lively run through pivotal episodes. The strongest stretch comes when the hosts settle on Barney Miller, weighing Fish, Steve, and a short-lived spinoff while teasing out what made the series feel tighter.
Queer sitcom history, lovingly side-eyed.
Lost broadcasts, rebuilt from the evidence.
Horror films retold scene by scene, then a mock curse.
Anthony Stecker, Jody Schwartz, and Keith Loria rank television roommates by imagining daily life with characters from Three's Company, The Odd Couple, Friends, Gilmore Girls, and other sitcoms.
Tax day sets the gag.
Bill Bixby gets the full living-room treatment.
A mystery envelope sets the game: TV neighbors.
What makes a TV episode pivotal?
Hosts reminisce about the experience of watching movies on television before VCRs, focusing on the 1970s and 80s.
Hosts celebrate the start of season three by singing happy birthday to Burt Reynolds and discussing classic TV memories.
The hosts discuss classic TV shows from the 1970s and 1980s, with a breaking news segment about a Muppet Show reboot.
The hosts discuss the classic TV show All in the Family, sharing memories and trivia about its theme song.
The hosts discuss the history and impact of Schoolhouse Rock, an educational cartoon series from the 1970s.
This episode explores Sesame Street's connection to Muppets and discusses the seasonal return of monster cereals with Muppet-themed marketing for Halloween.
The hosts discuss classic TV shows and a new Freaky Friday sequel, reminiscing about the 1976 original film's cast.
The hosts discuss sitcoms with season-ending cliffhangers versus regular finales, using MASH as an example.
The hosts celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jaws and discuss classic TV history including the Thorn Birds and the rural purge.
The hosts remember classic TV shows and discuss recent deaths of actors George Wendt and Loretta Swit.
The hosts discuss classic TV commercials for Broadway shows from the 70s and 80s.
Hosts discuss and analyze the classic MASH episode 'Simply Tuttle' with background and trivia.
Hosts discuss classic TV shows they rarely talk about and interview Josh Radner about his rewatch podcast.
The hosts discuss their favorite TV moms and share personal memories of Mother's Day.