#137: Guest Tom Hippler — Boxed In, Fanacek & 80s TV Madness

DWO Ep137 welcomes guest Tom Hippler, creator and host of Fanacek and author of Boxed In - Trapped in 80s Television!

This week, the DWO crew climb straight into the glowing CRT and get trapped in the beautiful madness of 70s and 80s television. Tom brings the Fanacek energy with deep TV knowledge, comedy, acting-world perspective, Navy life experience, and a massive love for the shows, actors, forgotten gems, bizarre spin-offs, rerun comfort food, and network decisions that helped shape Gen X memory.

We talk 80s TV as a cultural time machine: ALF, Magnum P.I., Dallas, Three’s Company, The Ropers, TV Guide, latchkey afternoons, strange pilots, shows that should have lasted longer, shows that somehow lasted too long, and the comfort of sitting in front of the television when the television was basically raising half the neighborhood.

Tom’s book, Boxed In - Trapped in 80s Television!, is built for anyone who remembers aluminum foil antennas, Sunday TV Guides, primetime lineups, forgotten actors, weird plot holes, and the unexplainable joy of watching whatever happened to be on.

Find Tom Hippler / Fanacek:

Podcast: https://fanacekpodcast.podbean.com/

Facebook: Real Fanacek

X: @fanacekpodcast

Email: fanacekpodcast@gmail.com

Book: Boxed In - Trapped in 80s Television!

Amazon: https://a.co/d/024MkB8q

This episode closes with an unreleased Auditory Ecstasy track, Cookie Dough, as of 10 July 2026. Cookie Dough is a Glitch Hop x NeuroWave fusion.

Follow Dancing With Ourselves: A Totally RAD 80s Podcast for more Gen X nostalgia, 80s movies, 80s music, vintage TV, comedy, pop culture, and gloriously unhinged memory-lane conversations.