A Look at Ten 80s/90s Sitcom Reboots

 

When I was young in the 80s we had reunion movies. Where classic sitcom casts would reunite for one last hurrah in two hour format. Everything from Gillian’s Island to The Brady Bunch to Andy Griffith. But in the last ten years as 90s shows are now old enough for reunions, someone decided “hey why not another run with a series?”

Ok it’s not that strange. In the 90s we had “New Leave it Beaver” and “New Addams Family” and even “New WKRP in Cincinnati” to name a few (we won’t mention “The Brady’s). But thanks to streaming services, Though some were network, we got several reboots. I mentioned a couple before but a lot I’ve never gone over. So now that this trend seems to finally be waning, let’s briefly discuss ten reboots and whether they were worth the reboot.

What I Loved in the 80’s-Toys and Games (repost)

This article is a very special one for me. It’s the very first article I ever posted on Manic Expression. I am sure if I had not done that, and stayed on TGWTG, I would have stopped doing this a loooonnnngg time ago. Certainly when they switched web sites and all their old stuff was deleted! But instead Les worked with me on my concerns, and here I still am. 7 YEARS LATER!! So to celebrate I decided to repost this by changing a few things. Mostly, making it more of a focus on authentic 80’s toys. I mean, they still have action figures today so that isn’t really decade specific. Plus I’ve talked about the various franchises elsewhere. I fixed the pictures which are long gone, and I also took away an insult toward video games of today that I had made which was really unfair. Video games today are AMAZING and I just came off as an old person saying “In my day we didn’t have these things…” I guess wisdom does come with age.

As you know by now, I was a kid of the 80’s. I loved the toys and games we had then! Course who doesn’t fondly remember the toys of their youth. Here is a look at some of the 80’s things I had as a kid, and as usual this list is in no particular order.












Rubik’s Cube

Does anything say 80’s more? It’s such a simple idea, it’s a 3-D puzzle and all you have to do is line up the colors on each side. Easy, right? Frustrating is more like it. I spent hours playing with this thing, it was lots of fun. Everyone had their little ways of cheating, mine was to peel the stickers off and replace them. No wonder I bought them so much. If you think that’s bad, you should have seen what I did to my slinky!

What I Loved in the 80’s-Food and Drinks (re-post)

Last time I promised this year I’d do some re-postings of articles as well as follow ups.  The other day was a follow-up, so let’s try a re-write of an early article which could have been sooo much better. I wrote the original article way back in 2011, and there are lots of things I don’t like about it. The article is limited to five items, for some reason. I didn’t go into a lot for most of them, and the pics are long gone. It’s also a bad title, these are more snacks and junk food. So here is a larger look at this topic. I am leaving off cereal because that is an area I covered more in depth elsewhere.

Every generation has that food item, or items, that we loved as a child and then wondered what the heck happened to it when we grew up. I loved being a child of the 80’s. The TV was great, the movies were great, and the music was great. Heck, even the food was great. The 80’s had a lot of unique foods, some I loved and others were more a curiosity. Here are ten examples from my childhood :



Tab Soda

I always loved the scene in Back to the Future when Marty tries to order a Tab in 1955. Course kids today are probably scratching their heads at that joke, but yes Tab was a think in the 80s. I don’t remember ever trying it, but it was all over the place. Until Diet Coke came along anyway. Oh and yes there was also such a thing as “Pepsi Free”.

Five Lamest Toys I Grew Up With

In the 80’s I loved action figures. Especially, like most kids in that time, the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe lines. Of course there were others too from Super Powers (DC heroes) to Secret Wars (Marvel) to Transformers, G.I.Joe, Thundercats and plenty more. But while these toys were awesome, they weren’t all great. For instance I guess we did have Air Raiders, but I hardly remember them. When I look at the pictures and videos I see why, the vehicles are awesome but the action figures are just pathetic. Unless it’s something really special, like the die-cast Star Wars X-Wing or the unique M.A.S.K. toys, than it’s not gonna work if your action figures are boring because they’re smaller than G.I.Joe’s and have no character at all.

 

I did a whole article awhile back about the lamer Master of the Universe toys that were out there. But there were plenty of others. Here are five toys which were stupid, at least in my opinion. And of course I am going off toys I had as a kid there have been more lines and variations since but I am not a collector and am not familiar with them.





Wonder Woman (Super Powers line)

It’s really hard to sell a female character in a line that is geared more for boys. Now of course you had to have Wonder Woman, she was one of the premiere heroes DC made and was even in Superfriends. But man this figure sucked. Not only was it kinda small, and even fragile, but it didn’t offer much in the way of action. If you pushed Superman’s legs together his fist would punch for instance. What did Wonder Woman do? Oh her arms raised to sow off her deflecting bracelets. Huzzah. The figure was redesigned years later with a lot more articulation. What we had in the 80’s was just bad.

Top 5 Favorite Kenner Toy Lines

           

When you’re a kid you don’t care who is making the cool toys, you just play with them and love them. As I am older now I can’t believe how much I loved Kenner. They sold the best stuff! They were a small Cincinnati company that made Play Doh and Easy Bake Ovens. They came into popularity when they claimed the license to make toys based on a little sci fi movie in 1977 that no one else wanted. But we’ll get back to that. I had tons of there stuff. For instance one of my favorite toys ever (that I wish I still had) was a talking Knight Rider car. Guess who made that?

But that’s not all, here are the five best toy lines from Kenner that I loved as a kid.






#5.M.A.S.K.

Last year I mentioned the TV show and how it was pretty cool, even if it’s been forgotten these days. Usually its the show that get us into the toys but here it was the opposite. The vehicles were the best, being combination vehicles, two in one. For instance my favorite was Condor, a motorcycle which could also be a helicopter. Or Thunderhawk which was a red Chevrolet Camaro, which can transform into a gull-winged fighter jet. And while I never really understood what the Mask’s were supposed to do, they made the otherwise boring action figures look pretty darn cool.

800th Blog Special:Ten Archaic Technology That I Had Growing Up

On January 17th I published my 700th blog.This amazes since when I to 600 I wondered what else I had to talk about. However thanks to the Everybody Loves Raymond episode guide, I have hit 800 blogs before the end of the year. As you may or may not know I always celebrate the milestone of 100 blogs with something special. Either something a little bigger or something I’ve put off, but always something personal. So what am I discussing this time?



As I have approach another birthday and find myself getting even older, I can’t help but look back at awe at the way things have changed since I was a kid. The things we have today and the thing amazing technology from the era that we’ve discarded since. So I decided to list ten pieces of tech that is either nonexistent or just plain outdated today. Now of course, I am not THAT old. You could go back further than the 80’s, but since that is when I was a kid that is the time period I will be comparing to today.





Analog TV’s

Do I even need to get into this one? While I didn’t grow waaayyy back when households only had one TV, and no color, I did grow up in a time when not every TV was wired to cable. Ah, the endless hours desperately trying to pick up a station using antennae! Whatever happened to UHF anyway? When we did watch cable, the choices were a lot more limited than we have today. And of course we didn’t have flatscreen, HI-Def or 3-D Plasma. Remotes were primitive to, basically they changed the channel and that was all!

Ten Kids Magazines I Grew Up With

Ah, nostalgia. I once talked about how much I loved TV Guide, but that wasn’t the only magazine I regularly enjoyed as a kid. Do they still have these in the day of iPad’s and kindel’s? It’s to bad if they don’t because they were a lot of fun. I am of course talking about magazines based on the popular TV, movies, and cartoons that were on. These weren’t usually that remarkable, they would have puzzles and games with the occasional story or comic regarding the product they were advertising for. Because let’s be honest, that’s what these were. Advertisements.

My research suggests that yes these still exist. Some that were around in my day are still around now, but that’s because they were so general they could appeal to kids over the years. For instance, we all know Highlights. If you went do a doctor’s office as a kid in the 80’s, you saw this magazine. It was basically a straight up activity magazine, just without the popular characters. But while it had nothing more substantive than that, it’s been around for ages and is still going strong with phone apps. Ranger Rick, a nature magazine, started in 1967 and is still around. Remember how Doug Walker has said he hates the cartoon Doug because he was made fun of due to the same name? Yeah let’s just say I have similar feelings for this magazine.






Now these weren’t teen magazines. They were geared for kids. I never read teen magazines since I was never a teenage girl. There were tons of them from Teen Beat to Teen People to Seventeen but that’s another topic. And I added the pic but Nintendo Power is not listed here. Sorry, never read it.

Here are the magazines I remember growing up with :




Sesame Street

This one has been around for ages and has left and come back a few times. And it’s harmless thought not very memorable. I remember the Little Golden Books better than these. These are meant for very little kids.

Five Forgotten 80’s Franchises I Grew Up With

As I was discussing He-Man the other day it made think of all the cartoon franchises from the 80’s that are still around. TMNT, My Little Pony, Transformers, and even JEM and G.I.Joe are still kicking ass with lousy movies. He-Man and Thundercats are even still around, though these days mostly in comic books.

But what about the cartoons of the 80’s that didn’t make it? Those franchises which had potential nut have instead disappeared. Here are some examples of what I mean. There are toys I played and/or shows I watched, and yet noting ever came from them. And since I’ve gotten into trouble before, let me say while the word forgotten is in the title I am sure many remember these franchises very fondly.



Before I get to the five, I was going to mention Popples until I realized that this franchise has been rebooted on Netflix. This was a cute toy and harmless little cartoon show. And of course a comic book. But since I love sharing things that people can never forget, here is the opening intro which is a real earworm:

Brave Starr

From Filmation,  who gave us He-Man, we have Brave Starr! It’s a western show about cowboys… on an alien planet. Called New Texas. With robot horses. What? Yeah, at least Cowboys of Moo Mesa made sense. But the toys were cool and thanks to my brother I had a few of them.

Top 10 Favorite Episodes of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Because I’m so timely here is my celebration of the 30th anniversary of He-man and the Masters of the Universe..about four years to late. Oops.

 

When I was a kid in the 80’s I adored He-Man. I watched it religiously every day. I went to see the “Secret of the Sword” movie which introduced She-Ra. I had as many of the action figures, vehicles, and playsets that I could. I even went to at least one “live” show they had a local mall. I simply adored this show. I know today it gets made fun from the corny opening intro to the lame PSA’s at the end, the lack of violence due to the rules at the time (Just once I wanted to see He-Man PUNCH Skeletor), the fact that it existed to sell toys, and of course the idiotic innuendo that some insist on forcing on to this character. This show gets a bad rep, but man was it awesome!

It was part of my childhood and I loved it. However one thing I have noticed is that thirty-three years later, I don’t remember a lot of it. 130 episodes and only a handful stand out. Oh sure there are bits and pieces I may recall. For instance, I talked before how I remember Dree Elle’s song from “Dree Elle’s Return” but I had no clue for years what episode that was in or that Dree Elle was singing. Because the song was an earworm but the episode was meh. I guess it’s fair to say that a lot of episodes weren’t high art. Skeletor did something, and He-Man eventually stopped it. So I guess that it makes sense that many of the episode wouldn’t stand out. Some of the goofy stuff was really silly too. For years I forgot Cringer and/or Battlecat talked. Why did they talk??

But that doesn’t mean some of the episodes didn’t rise above the rest and stand out as either well told stories or really exciting fun. Here are ten episodes I never forgot, not all are probably the best episodes though many are. And of course this is all opinion, feel free to disagree.





#10.”Diamond Ray of Disappearance” (Season 1)

Kind of cheating a little here but I figured the best way to start this was with the pilot. And it’s a damn good pilot! It introduces the characters, has high stakes, and gives us some great action. In fact we see more of Skeletor’s evil minions than just Beast Man and Trap Jaw, which was rare. Skeletor had discovered the titular diamond ray which makes people disappear just by looking at it. Skeletor almost gets into Greyskull before He-Man can get the diamond and crush it. And kudos, it isn’t easy! He-Man isn’t often given limits it’s nice to see when he is.

Top 10 80’s Masters of the Universe Toys I Just Hated!

When a new product comes along and is a new hit, it’s only natural for the creators to want to expand that line to make more money. This has always been especially true when it comes to kid properties. From Teenage Mutant Turtles to Batman to Pokemon to whatever else you can think of. The problem is that after awhile, you start to run out of ideas, and your audience starts to fade because of competition from other properties. So in the attempt to compete and to keep your audience,  you begin coming up with things that either make no sense..or are just plain dumb!

      

In the 80’s the Masters of Universe toys were all the rage. I had more than a bunch of them and wish I still did. And the vehicles and the Castle Gresyskull and Snake Mountain playsets. Of course there was a little TV show at the time called He-Man and the Masters of the Universe which helped the action figures sell even bigger! Problem was as the series went new ideas were harder to come up with. Here are ten of the worst. And for the record,  I am judging based only on the original 80’s toy line and am not including how the character appeared in any animated or comic versions.

Ok now for my the stupidest…


#10.Prince Adam

The Prince Adam toy was lame because, well, what the hell were you supposed to do with him exactly??? Yes I had one, for some reason.

#9.Faker

A lot of people hated Faker but he never bothered me. He was supposed to be an evil version of He-Man created by Skeletor. Though you do have to wonder, why was he blue? And why did he wear an orange version of Skeletor’s armor?

A Look at Roseanne Halloween Episodes

Last year I took a look at the Thanksgiving episodes Roseanne has done. But when it comes to Halloween, this show went above and beyond. No show pulled out the stops the way this one did (well, except maybe The Simpsons) in creating annual Halloween classics every single year.


But, were they all classics? Today for the 31 Days of Halloween I am going to do a run down of these memorable episodes and discuss them for better, and for worst!










Apparently there was no Halloween episode that first year, so instead let’s dive right into season two.



“BOO!” (1989)
    
The Connor’s host a haunted while Roseanne and Dan compete to decide which is the master prankster

While not my favorite (we’ll get to it) this episode is probably a close second place for me. This is such a fantastic Halloween episode that it’s a freaking classic. one reason because it is before Roseanne got bogged down in social commentary (more on that later). This episode is just  the family having fun, as the Connor’s set up a  haunted house while Dan and Roseanne play pranks on each other. The haunted house is just amazing, and the costumes are fantastic including Roseanne as a witch. The best part comes at the end. I still remember laughing the first time at how Roseanne finally wins their little competition, it’s a moment of pure brilliance. If you’ve never seen it check it out!

Five 80's Personalities (I Haven't Mentioned Yet)

Been a sad week so I decided I needed to talk about something fun and diverting. For me there is only thing that is guaranteed to bring a smile to my face-80's nostalgia! So that's what I am doing today. I have done many articles but there are some things that I still haven't gotten around to touching upon (or only briefly touched upon).

I wanted to talk about five 80's  personalities or characters who are just a part of the 80's culture and always will be. Not to say some of these people didn't make news beyond the 80's, it's just that they are most remembered for that time period. So this may seem like a odd mix but that is the whole point. Today, five people who epitomized the 80's....that I just haven't gotten around to yet.



#5.Larry Bird

I am not a big sports fan. And that's especially true for basketball. It just gets so boring. But even I had to admire Larry Bird growing up. Especially since I was lucky enough to live in the Boston area, and I think I got to see him play once. The Boston Celtics were pure awesomeness in the 80's and while there was plenty of talent on that team, Bird just stood out among the pack. And in the interest of fairness I should mention that Magic Johnson was pretty good too, he played for the Lakers.

Top 5 Favorite TV/Movie Car's

I have been putting this off because others have done this and probably better than I. But I finally decided the time had come for me to talk about this, so here we go.The vehicle in a series can often be the most important part. The car or truck has to be sleek and memorable in a way that makes our heroes even cooler than they already are. While truck's are awesome I always love a cool car. And here the five I love the most. 

Five "WTF??" 80's Music Videos

I grew up in the 80's, and I loved my MTV! Remember when they played music videos on there? ALL DAY?? I would sit and watch. My  favorite VJ was Martha Quinn, whatever happened to her? Anyway, while I loved music videos I have to admit there were some which were freaky. Even scary, as young as I was back then. These are the videos I am talking about today. The ones that freaked me out and made me say "WTF???"

As you know I am not a major music fan, as you can tell since I have done three whole articles on music and only one was just about music that I like (this needs to be rectified!), so I may be missing more obvious ones. Also these are from when I was a kid and as I have discussed before, things that bug as a kid don't bother us the same was when we are grown up.

#5."You Might Think" by The Cars

This is an example of a cool WTF moment, because it never scared me but man was this video cool! The Cars may not have had to many great hits, but who doesn't love this video with, at the time, state of the art special effects. It's real hard to describe here but there are all kinds of weird images in this. It almost makes me forget that the video is about a guy stalking a girl.

Top 5 Underappreciated 80's Sitcoms

We all know the classic sitcoms of the 80s. Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who's The Boss, Alf, Cheers, and even Full House are a part of television history and in some cases our very culture. But what about those other shows that were popular when they were on, but have kind of been forgotten in the passage of time? No one ever seems to mention them, re-runs and in some cases dvd’s are unheard of,  and these shows exist the memories of the fans who did once enjoy them.  Here are five examples of what I mean.

#5.Head of the Class-I have already talked about this show a bit in another article so I will keep this short and sweet. I loved this show, its one show I truly miss. I am so glad I have some on tape because it is never re-run and I think I will be stunned if it gets a DVD release. I don't know what it is, but this show just worked for me. Howard Hesseman is not the most likable guy, but his portrayal of Charlie Moore was really good here.  The students were all well cast, especially the first incarnation of the cast. I started watching this show in re-runs and became a fan of it when it was paired with Growing Pains for a couple years. For some reason those two shows really worked well together. Not going to suggest every episode was perfect but this definitely a show I would love to see on DVD someday. Oh, and what about that last season with Billy Connolly? Awful.

#4.Wings-Why wasn't this show a bigger hit? It was created by the same people who created Cheers and Frasier, it had a real solid cast including Tim Daly and Crystal Bernard, and it had a time slot after Cheers (the same time slot that Seinfeld started in). Despite all of these things, this show is not considered a huge hit. True, they had the time slow behind Cheers only a part of the time. In fact I think this show had has many as eight different time slots during its run. This is the same thing that killed Dear John which also wasn't that bad. To be honest I was one of the many who never really gave this show a chance, only watching it when the time slot was convenient. I guess as funny as the show could be it just didn't have that special something that forces people to tune in day in and day out, no matter where the show is scheduled.

#3. Webster. I have heard horror stories about the production of this show. Maybe that is why it has kind of quietly gone away. Emmanuel Lewis’s character is left in the care of Alex Karas and Susan Clark (who were married in real life). The background of the behind the scenes of this could fill a whole article. In the original version it was just supposed to be Alex Karas and Susan Clark, but someone decided to add a cute kid ala Diff’rent Strokes so Webster was born (and that’s the short version). The cast did finally come together and created a really clever little show. Webster was nothing fancy, just a story about a kid being raised by a foster family after his parents are killed in a horrible accident. One thing this show is remembered for is that Webster always called Susan Clark’s character ma’am. Why did he do that? Because it sounded like “mom”. Awww, you gotta love that. One episode I always remember was when “ma’am”’s mother died, I don’t think I have ever seen a sitcom deal with grief and loss of a parent so bluntly. This show was one of the first to be cancelled by a network and survive in first run syndication. Anyway, before this becomes a ramble, this was a decent show which does not get the proper attention it deserves.

#2. Gimmee A Break! Nell Carter was a very popular singer when she came along with this silly NBC sitcom. The premise was she moved into a household to take care of a family after her friend passed away. Like Webster, Nell was a very opinionated black woman running a white suburban household. The first season was actually kind of lousy, with way to many serious stories. As the show developed it got lighter. Also like Webster, there were lots of turmoil behind the scenes. This is one time when adding a child actually helped the show, when Joey Lawrence came in around the 3^rd season. I always remember this show kind of disappearing from the schedule, and was too young to realize that the show sucked and was cancelled. With Dolph Sweet (who had played The Chief) passed away and the daughters old and moving on, the show struggled to find an identity those last couple years. However the earlier years were really funny with good episodes, including a rare live episode, and the show was a staple of NBC’s line-up with good reason.

#1. One Day at a Time-The forgotten sitcom that Norman Lear developed. This one is so underappreciated even I never appreciated it. This show came on in the late 70's so it almost doesn't qualify for this list, but it was on until 1984 so I will let it go. This show ran for nine years and had some great people in the cast including Bonnie Franklin (playing a divorced single mother, almost unheard of), a catchy theme song, and some very strong episodes. It also featured a real great recurring character; Scheider was Kramer years before Seinfeld ever came around. So, why is this show not remembered as fondly as the other shows of the time? Maybe it was the problems off set, especially with Mackenzie Phillips (who is a true Hollywood success story by the way considering her troubled past). Maybe it was the time slots; I know I was never really exposed to this show. Maybe the subject matter was a little to dramatic, I know I generally do not enjoy Norman Lear sitcoms for this reason. This show did finally get some attention this last April on the TV Land Awards, and if you wonder how a silly show like The TV Land Awards could be one every year, that is a perfect example why right there.

Lots of honorable mentions. I didn’t talk about The Hogan Family because I already have in other articles, and I don’t think that show was ever a real hit when it was on. It had a comfortable time slot behind Alf which brings back some fond memories. There was My Two Dads (which had a premise which still does not work for me), Coach, 227, and Just The Ten of Us which was the Growing Pain spin-off which everyone forgets.

Top 5 Things I Got to Experience by Being an 80's Kid

Last week I talked about five things I kind of missed by being an 80’s kid. Today I wanted to touch on a few things I was lucky enough to experience.

#5.MTV

I know it's hard to believe, but there was a time when MTV actually showed music videos! All day! I used to sit there for hours watching, and they even had "v-j's" to introduce the songs. My favorite was Martha Quinn, man did I like her. I know when they dumped that format it was still decent; they had Remote Control and Beavis and Buthead among other things. Still, I miss the good old days. Then VH1 came along and went the same route. What on Earth do these networks show now? I can’t remember the last time I turned either on.

#4. Birth of Syndicated Cartoons

Until the mid-80's programmers didn't believe that new cartoons would work during the week, so kids were stuck with reruns of Saturday morning stuff. That was until the mid-80's when a little show premiered called He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Not only was this watched, it was a mega-hit. Yes, I watched it every day for a while twice a day if memory serves. The success led to other first run cartoons during the week including G.J.Joe, Transformers, She-Ra, Thundercats, DuckTales, and later on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman: The Animated Series and the X-Men cartoon I never watched. But He-Man was the first, and I enjoyed every second of it. Yes some people say these shows were just thirty minute commercials for toys, but I never understood the problem with that. Don't kids play with toys? Are there people who really thought kids had no interest in the toy area of stores until these shows came along? And even if it’s true, it's still the parents responsibility to decide what they are going to purchase, isn't it? These shows were awesome, how awesome? Well, there’s a reason why Hollywood keeps trying to revive them as movies. Transfoerms and G.I.Joe sucked, maybe a Master of the Universe movie will work (oh wait, they did that in the 80’s…) The cartoons were awesome, 'nuff said.

Top 5 Things I Missed Out on by Being an 80's Kid

I loved growing up in the 80's. We had Pac-Man, Masters of the Universe, and Transformers when it was cool and awesome! However, despite how much I loved that decade I still feel I missed something not being born a decade or so earlier. What exactly? Here's a look.

#5.Early Saturday Night Live

I missed the glory days of SNL, when it was the Not Ready for Prime Time cast which included Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase. Sure, I've seen the clips but it's just not the same. I actually didn't start getting into SNL until very late, so late I even missed a majority of the Dana Carvey/Phil Hartman era. I would have loved the see the show in its prime, before it became the empty shell it is today.

#4. Saturday Morning Cartoons

Yeah, I got to experience some of the glory days of Saturday mornings when it was actually worth getting up and watching cartoons all morning. However, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had gotten to experience Saturday morning in the 70's. I missed when it was really popular. They had the silliest shows, many based on popular sitcoms of the time (I would like those? Who's surprised?). Ah, the shows I missed (not The Brady Kids, I hated that!). Fonzie and The Happy Days Gang, Laverne and Shirley Join the Army, and the early days of Superfriends which I managed to experience in syndication. That's only scratching the surface of course.

#3. Commercials

He likes it! Mickey likes it! I wonder who remembers that classic ad from Life cereal ad which ran so long that Mickey was an adult when it finally faded from the airways. 70's commercials were unique, while not as theatrical as the golden age of television there was also real care put to those ads. One of the most famous Christmas ads ever was the classic Coca-Cola one which simply has people singing. Unlike the noisy crap that fills the airways today, back in the 70's and 80's the clever ads were simple, straightforward, and as much a part of watching TV as the program itself.Today commercials are something that give our dvr's some exercise as it fast forwards by them, which is a shame.

#2.Tonight Show with Johnny Carson

I was too young for almost all of Carson's reign as the king of late night. I was familiar with him of course; in fact his cameo in an episode of Night Court was one of my favorite moments on that show. By the time I was old enough to watch, he was on his way out and Jay Leno was on his way in. While I loved Jay and was kind of happy he was taking over, I still feel like I missed something never getting the chance to see classic Carson in his prime. He was the quintessential entertainer. He could tell jokes, do sketches, and carry one a heck of an entertaining interview. He interviewed celebrities and regular people, and it's no wonder he reigned for thirty years wiping out any competition who dared to air against him. I did get to see his final episode, and that was one very moving hour of television.

#1.Variety (Carol Burnett Show)

I'm not kidding making this #1; it kills me that I missed out on the variety era. I know I would have loved it. Sony and Cher, The Smother's Bros, Donny and Marie, The Brady Bunch (well, ok maybe they weren't all good. Thank heavens I missed that disaster). However, as much I regret missing these there is one that I truly regret more than any other, one show I know I would have cherished and loved every second of. Which show? Let's talked about The Carol Burnett Show.

I have a memory of being a kid and see the closing credits to some strange show; the credits had a cartoon lady dressed as a maid watching the scroll of names. I wondered, what the heck show was this? A few years later I discovered Carol Burnett and Friends (a syndicated version of the variety show), and learned to love the crazy characters and performers. The brilliant family sketches, Nora Desmond, Mr.TuddBall, and even the famous Gone with the Wind spoof which was great even though I never saw the movie. It was gold, and I still haven't seen so many of the moments because only the sketches were syndicated not the music numbers and other stuff.

Name a celebrity from that era; they were on the show at least once. The cast included Carol Burnett, of course, as well as Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Wagoner. This show was an institution, and if there is one thing that I wish I had seen when it was originally on, this was it. I could go on and one talking about the sketches and music numbers. If you're not familiar the show than check the show out on dvd and there are clips on YouTube.

Well, there you have it. Five things I missed being and 80’s kid. Until next time when I discuss the things that I did get to experience being an 80’s kid.

What I Loved in the 80's-Top 5 Favorite Music Videos

I consider myself lucky. I grew up in the era when MTV, believe it or not, played music videos! I used to sit in front of the TV for hours just watching, and I loved the MTV V-J’s they had including Martha Quinn. Here now are my favorite videos from that decade. I am not suggesting the songs are the greatest; this list is more about the videos. I am also not suggesting there aren't better videos out there; these are just my personal favorites.

#5. Say, Say, Say By Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson

Ok, this one is hard to watch today. You remember how Michael Jackson turned out. You remember what happened with the Paul McCartney/Michael Jackson relationship. You remember how awesome Linda McCartney was, and how said it is she died so young. You see Latoya...and enough said. However, if you push all that aside you're left with one entertaining video. They wrap the song around a storyline and it is fun to watch.

#4 Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper

Does any song scream 80's the way this one does? Cyndi Lauper had some good songs (Time After Time is a personal favorite) but this one will be her legacy. Why? Because the video is just so darn fun to watch! Even though I am not a girl I still like this. You can see the work she is putting into it, and that is what makes it fun to watch.

#3. You Might Thing By The Cars

It amazes me how a song about stalking someone could be a big hit. But hey, everyone loves "Every Breath She Takes" and that's even worse than this one (why would you play that at your wedding??)  Anyway, the memorable part of this was the amazing video. Using (then) state of the art special effects, the video has so many strange images that you can't help but be drawn into it. This is the kind of thing missing from MTV today.

#2. Jump by Van Halen

 Who needs flashy special effects and a storyline you need to pay attention to? Just show the band singing and dancing, that's all you need. I am not really a Van Halen fan, but this song and video always makes me feel good. It's such a simple song, and the video by all rights should boring, and yet somehow they both work.

#1. Beat it by Michael Jackson

Ok, let the jokes begin. Here is the fact; he was never convicted of anything. I know people will laugh and make fun, but in the 80's I loved listening to his music and NO ONE can take that away from me. Not saying he didn't get weird because he did, but his music is a part of my childhood forever. I am so tired of being embarrassed to say this, I loved his music, and this video, and I still enjoy watching it. The song would have been his biggest hit but Thriller was of course the chart topper. For those wondering why I didn't include that, it was a little long and scared me as a kid. Billie Jean is good on to, but this is the one I love.

Ah, 80’s music.I considered Karma Chameleon by Culture Club and Simply Irresistible by Robert Palmer. Land of Confusion by Genesis is generally considered one of the best videos of that decade, but it scared the crap out of me as a kid!

Finally, in honor of Whitney Houston who made amazing music, and that will always be her legacy:

What I Loved in the 80's-Toys and Games

As you know by now, I was a kid of the 80's. I loved the toys and games we had then, they were so much more fun than the mindless video games kids play today. It’s funny, when I was a kid adults would comment on how much better the toys they had were, and now I am saying it. Weird. Here is a look at some of the 80’s things I had as a kid, and as usual this list is in no particular order.

Action Figures.

 

Honestly, I could do a whole article just on action figures. These were the things I loved more than anything. I loved making up stories and acting them out, so to speak. I had Masters of the Universe, Star Wars, G.I.Joe, Secret Wars (Marvel), Super Powers (DC), Transformers, MASK, and many others. Unfortunately, I no longer have any of these. The only memories I have are the mini comic books which came with many of the figures. Lots of great memories with these toys though, not to mention the awesome vehicles and play sets. The Hall of Justice was the best, and Snake Mountain was pretty fun too. It even had a microphone so you could change your voice! I know, lame. It gets worst, I had so many Star Wars figures that I had the Darth Vadar shaped case to store them all!

 

What I Loved in the 80's-Game Shows!

I consider myself lucky, when I was a kid in the 80’s; talk shows had yet to dominate the daytime schedule. Instead when I was home during the week I got to watch awesome game shows! I loved these shows, they were fun to watch and even the theme songs are amazing. They are much more fun than the trashy talk shows that are on now. So, here is a look at some of my favorites from that great era. 

The Price is Right

The granddaddy of all game shows. It amazes me that this show has been on the air, every weekday at 11:00am, since two years before I was born! If I was home from school, than this show was part of my morning. Bob Barker may be the best emcee in the world, and those beauties weren't bad to lack at either. I guess the appeal is simple, bid on merchandise and if you get it right (or close enough), you win cool prizes! I could do a whole article just on this show, you know all the games, the fast money round, the famous “Come on down!” This show as pure fun, however I stopped watching when Drew Carey took over, I can't stand him.