Hello, we lived through good times!

I know it was on HBO, showtime, VHS in the 80s but I don't think it had any kind of mass following until TBS/TNT got exclusive TV rights in the early 90s, starting showing it every christmas day and the annual all-day marathon in late 90s. That's when I remember it just blowing up with ralphie shirts, christmas ornaments and leg lamps everywhere.

edit: https://theretronetwork.com/a-brief-history-of-the-24-hours-of-a-christmas-story-marathon/

But in all seriousness, I do think that did have a lot to do with it. Kind of like how TBS created the Christmas Story cult. It was a bomb and in the 80s almost no one had ever heard of it until the mid to late 90s when it was on TV constantly. Then everyone was suddenly like "oh that was my favorite christmas movie always".

Simple. Flash Gordon bombed in the theater, then HBO picked up the rights and played it (and Beastmaster) 24/7 nonstop from 1980-1984. (That's how it seemed to me at least). This was right during the formative years for a lot of nerdy GenXers like me and we watched it over and over and over until it became burned in our consciousnesses. 'Flash Ahaaaaah!" is like a subconscious trigger word to bring me back to those carefree days of sitting on shag carpeting in front of the console TV.

As others said I can't imagine any reason you need the cabinet other than to hide the appliances... I suppose in theory the cabinet could keep them from tipping from vibration or if the leveling is off. But I would have some concern about heat, leaks or accessing the vent.

Thanks, yeah, but I've learned to be wary of poorly maintained hotel hot tubs...

I just watched the episode of "Lore" about that yesterday. My grandmother and aunt died of tuberculosis back before WWII.

I had hot tub lung that lasted 6 months and that sucked too.