Cheap Seats (2004)
Cheap Seats without Ron Parker, commonly shortened to Cheap Seats, is a television program broadcast on ESPN Classic hosted by brothers Randy and Jason Sklar. The brothers appear as fictional ESPN tape librarians who amuse themselves by watching old, campy sports broadcasts and wisecracking about them. Cheap Seats debuted on February 4, 2004, with an episode that showed ESPN sportscaster "Ron Parker" getting buried under a shelf full of tapes, forcing the Sklars to fill in, as they were behind Parker on the "hosting depth chart". The founding production team behind "Cheap Seats" included Mark Shapiro, Showrunner, Todd Pellegrino, James Cohen and Joseph Maar. Cheap Seats was originally an hour-long program. There were about 10 one hour-long episodes in the first season, all of which were subsequently cut down to fit a 30 minute time slot.
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Episode 1 - Mid South Wrestling 1980
Release Date: 2004-02-04Randy and Jason delve into the bygone era of Pro-Wrestling, when a pair of Speedos and a potbelly virtually guaranteed you a spot on the show. The Iron Sheik headlines the Main Event. Guest appearances by: Jon Benjamin, Ian Roberts and Michael Showalter.
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Episode 2 - Stanford-Cal: The 1982 Big Game
Release Date: 2004-01-01Witness the startling similarities uncovered between the 1982 Stanford-Cal college football game featuring 'The Play' and the 1984 screen epic, 'Revenge of the Nerds.' John Elway and Ted McGinley are more alike than you think.
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Episode 3 - Wide World: Part 1
Release Date: 2004-01-01Globe-hop with legendary announcers Keith Jackson and Al Michaels in ABC's Wide World of Sports. It's Cliff Diving from Acapulco, Wrist-Wrestling from Petaluma and Ice Boat Racing from some frozen lake somewhere.
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Episode 4 - Garvey/Bonilla Celebrity Night
Release Date: 2004-01-01It's Steve Garvey's Celebrity Billfish Tournament and Bobby Bonilla's Celebrity Bowling Tournament. Find out which not-quite-Hall-of-Famer gets the bigger stars, and who abuses the term ""benefit"" as a facade for a free vacation.
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Episode 5 - 1997 Spelling Bee
Release Date: 2003-01-01Check out the most memorable Bee in recent history as 13-year old Rebecca Sealfon takes the Spelling community by storm as she battles youngsters from across these United States for the much-coveted title.
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Episode 6 - Roller Derby
Release Date: 2004-04-07It’s the once-great sport of Roller Derby reduced to a place where divorced dads can bring their kids on the weekend and get drunk.
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Episode 7 - Superdogs! Superjocks!
Release Date: 2004-01-01It's the second ever World's Strongest Man competition. From Universal Studios, see events like the Girl Lift and the Tram Pull. Featuring NFL players, Olympic power lifters, and the legendary Polish Hammer Ivan Putski, it turns into a battle of Good vs. Evil.
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Episode 8 - Superstars 1978
Release Date: 2004-01-01Travel back to the Golden Age of 1994 when ESPN aired this most breathtaking of sports hybrids. Witness the searing drama when three former Olympic Gold medalists join forces with the canine superstars of their day. Quite possibly the most important event held at Marine World in Vallejo, CA.
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Episode 9 - Wide World, Part 2: Real Men
Release Date: 2004-02-01It's the event that inspired Battle of the Network Stars. Randy and Jason watch the biggest sports stars of their day—Steve Garvey, Deacon Jones, Dwight Stones, and Wayne Grimditch (that's right, Wayne Grimditch!)—as they battle for a cash purse equivalent to A-Rod's dry cleaning bill.
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Episode 10 - 1994 World Series of Poker
Release Date: 2004-01-01What makes a real man? Cheap Seats turns to the Wide World of Sports archives in search of true masculinity. Is it the he-men of the 1971 World Weightlifting Championships? Is it Arnold Schwarzenegger and the muscle-men of the 1975 Mister Olympia Competition. Or is it fearless NBA Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy? Find out on Cheap Seats.
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Episode 11 - 1979 Oilers vs. Redwings
Release Date: 2004-01-01Cheap Seats heads to Binion's Horseshoe in Vegas for the Silver Anniversary of the World Series of Poker. The competition heats up as the winner of this tournament takes home his weight in silver in addition to the $1 million plus prize. Pass the cheese-fries!
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Episode 12 - 1979 Oilers vs Redwings
Release Date: 2004-06-24Party Canadian-style as Cheap Seats features Wayne Gretzky's second NHL game ever and the first NHL game played in Edmonton. You'll also meet the man who Gretzky replaced in the starting lineup. Guest appearances by: Mike Bleiden.
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Episode 13 - 1990 Dog Show-1990 Cheerleading
Release Date: 2004-07-08Which bitch barks the loudest? You be the judge when our nation's finest canines go at it at the International Kennel Club of Chicago Dog Show and our nation's finest universities sic their cheerleading squads on each other.
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Episode 14 - Bowling-Running of the Bulls
Release Date: 2004-07-28Bowling? Sure, have a few drinks. Running from a thousand pounds of angry bovine? You're probably better off with a Shirley Temple. Will the contestants in this episode agree?
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Episode 15 - Wide World of Sports- Part 3
Release Date: 2004-08-04It makes perfect sense—horses speeding around tight curves… on a sheet of solid ice. Plus Jim McKay, doing his best Sherlock Holmes impression—tooling around England in a car older than he is and chicks ramming each other.
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Episode 16 - 1995- Strongman-Ms. Galaxy
Release Date: 2004-08-19Watch abstract events determine concrete titles. It's a show where successfully pulling a fire truck with a harness attached to your chest improves your chances of being deemed world's strongest man, and scaling a net in a skimpy outfit makes you worthy of being the sole Ms. for a galaxy. Some consider this the best episode in the solar system.
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Episode 17 - NFL Billiards & Darts
Release Date: 2004-08-26What happens when you try to spice up two sports that should only be played and never watched? You get NFL players teamed up with Billiards players they could swallow and a young Berman calling a sport he learned during the telecast, Darts.
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Episode 18 - Wide World of Sports- Part 4
Release Date: 2004-09-02In their 4th installment of this ABC Sports staple, Randy and Jason delve into the worlds of Lumberjacking and Cyclo Ball. Chopping, oiling, log rolling, and a little tree-climbing mixed with a touch of soccer on bicycles ... on a basketball court? Guest appearances by: Eric Slovin and Leo Allen.
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Episode 19 - Putt-Putt
Release Date: 2004-01-01"Putt-Putt" Would you believe that professional mini-golf players can make over a million dollars a year? If so, then you're gullible because they can't; although that doesn't stop them from pursuing their dreams. Join commentators Jay Johnston and former Putt-Putt champion Judy Ward as they take this event far more seriously than anyone every should. Guest appearances by Kerii Kinney-Silver and Jerry Minor.
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Episode 20 - 1973 Superstars
Release Date: 2004-09-23Join the sports superstars of their day, and Joe Frazier, in chilly Rotonda, Florida, as they battle each other in such extreme sports as golf, bowling, and ping pong in a bid to be named 1973's most super superstar. With Johnny Bench, Evlin Hayes, Johnny Unitas and many more.
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Episode 21 - Bullriding-Lawn Mower Racing
Release Date: 2004-09-30Just eight seconds to glory—that's all Luke Perry ever asked for. Take the bumpy ride with Randy and Jason at the George Paul Superstar Bullriding Classic. Then we bring it waaaaaaaay down for some Lawnmower racing, where eight seconds can feel like a lifetime.
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Episode 22 - 1994 Spelling Bee
Release Date: 2004-10-21They're young, they're awkward, they're geeky. In short, easy targets. So join us as we shamelessly take aim at some of the smartest kids in the world as they compete in the 1994 National Spelling Bee.
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Episode 23 - High School Cheerleading
Release Date: 2004-10-28In this episode, the guys watch women compete in a sport that began as an activity to root on the men. Watch as high school students shake their pom poms in an effort to get the big trophy.
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Episode 24 - ICW Wrestling
Release Date: 2004-11-04Yeah, it's fake, but it's how they fake it that matters. Join a bunch of out-of-shape middle-aged men that include Dick "the Bulldog" Brower and "Tex" McKenzie as they struggle with body hair, identity crises, and irrelevance on the world stage known as International Championship Wrestling.
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Episode 25 - Roller Derby 1986
Release Date: 2004-11-11It’s the once-great sport of Roller Derby reduced to a place where divorced dads can bring their kids on the weekend and get drunk. Join 110-year-old Ralphie Valladeras as he and the LA T-Birds battle the Golden State Bombers in a fight to the end of the match. Guest appearances by A.D. Miles and Ed Helms.
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Episode 26 - Utilityman: The Quest for Cooperstown
Release Date: 2004-08-16Randy and Jason Sklar, hosts of the ESPN Classic series "Cheap Seats" and die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fans, meet Jose Oquendo, the man they wish to see enshrined forever among baseball's greatest players. Having secured his blessing, the Sklar brothers' journey to a number of cities to compile research in support of their quest.