No discussion of Fatso's influence can be complete without seeing his finest hour: taking out the all-mascot "bombing" competition.

You are forgetting the first example par excellence. In 1992, Britain gave itself this for Christmas:

To quote a line I saw on Tumblr:

http://www.youtube.com/watc…

Tru dat.

The 1984 Apple ad wasn't the only Super Bowl ad directed by Ridley Scott. In 1992, he was commissioned to sell Nissans: http://www.youtube.com/watc…

John Oates looks . . . incomplete without his Hall of Fame mo.

I must have missed that episode of Home Improvement.

And going "HAI!" as he does so.

The Internet (when it came along) would notice something like that. It would be one of those things that no amount of fanwank could explain, like how Peter Davison's hair gets longer and shorter through his first season.

If only for Tom's biggest ever line.

In Australia, it was always Get Smart followed by M*A*S*H. Two great shows that go great together.

Hey, maybe one time the Chief wouldn't get blown up by the secret message. You had to keep watching to see that.

Either Saruman or Dracula. Not sure.

I seem to recall one writer castigating Simon and Garfunkel for daring to sing folk songs while not being Bob Dylan.

ROLL TIDE>

Stephen Fry has a lifetime pass for that alone.

PUT THE OTHER HAND UP!

But did the AV Club make it a "taint-tickling Oatestache"?

Was that originally from the AV Club, or did it appear somewhere else first?