''The Way It Was'' is a 1974 to 1978 PBS television series featuring athletes reminiscing about a particular sporting event from the past. Hosted by

Curt Gowdy Curtis Edward Gowdy (July 31, 1919 – February 20, 2006) was an American sportscaster. He called Boston Red Sox games on radio and TV for 15 years, and then covered many nationally televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports and ABC S ...

, the bulk of the 30-minute broadcast was dedicated to rebroadcasting the game, uninterrupted but in edited form, with a short 5-minute discussion segment at the end of the show. The show is also notable for its computer animated intro with the song "

Happy Days Are Here Again "Happy Days Are Here Again" is a 1929 song with music by Milton Ager and lyrics by Jack Yellen. The song is a standard that has been interpreted by various artists. It appeared in the 1930 film '' Chasing Rainbows'' and was the campaign song for ...

". Gerry Gross, who created '' Sports Challenge'', produced the show in association with

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. PBS aired the show from October 3, 1974 to 1978. Mobil Corporation provided major funding for the series, and had also released a 1975 book on the series, as a tie-in with the show's first season. In 1976, the show was nominated for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in the category of "Outstanding Edited Sports Series." Reruns currently air on

ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%). The channel was originally la ...

, occasionally under banner titles such as ''

NFL's Greatest Games ''NFL's Greatest Games'' is a series of television programs that air on NFL Network, ESPN and related networks. They are condensed versions of some of the most famous games in the history of the National Football League, using footage and sound ca ...

'' or ''Classic World Series Film''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Way It Was PBS original programming Sports programming on PBS 1974 American television series debuts 1978 American television series endings American sports television series