Let's have some fun, are you ready?
I
love throwback Thursdays. It is like a walk down Memory Lane every
week! This week I want to go back to the 80's. Yes, I know, some of you
were not even born! But, I was. This is my year! And if that
doesn't put an age with my face, I don't know what will... (I am still
21 at heart! And I know that no one believes that!)
What are some of your Favorite Shows back from the 1980's?
How
about Alf? I can remember everything about this show, right down to
how the house was staged. It was one of those shows that, as a child, we
never missed. If you don't know who Alf is, Shame on You!!
BACKGROUND on ALF: (from Wikipedia.com)
Unsure
what to do, the Tanners take ALF into their home and hide him from the
Alien Task Force (a part of the U.S. military that specializes in
aliens) and their nosy neighbors Trevor and Raquel Ochmonek (
John LaMotta and
Liz Sheridan),
until he can repair his spacecraft. He generally hides in the kitchen.
It is eventually revealed that ALF's home planet Melmac exploded because
of a catastrophe involving a nuclear war. The alien was an orbit guard
on his planet. In the Season One episode "Pennsylvania 6-5000", ALF
tries to convince the
President of the United States to
stop the nuclear program, as ALF fears that Earth might suffer a fate similar to Melmac's, though miscalculating his words causes the President and
National Security to call the
FBI
to arrest Willie. ALF was off the planet when it was destroyed because
he was part of the Melmac Orbit Guard. ALF (a.k.a. Gordon Shumway) is
homeless, but he is not the last survivor of his species. He becomes a
permanent member of the family, although his
culture shock,
survivor guilt,
general boredom, despair, and loneliness frequently cause difficulty
for the Tanners. Despite the problems and inconveniences his presence
brings into their lives, they grow to love him, though some episodes
make it clear they are also afraid of how their lives would be turned
upside down if word that he has been living with them gets out.
While most of the science fiction of
ALF
was played for comedic value, there were a few references to actual
topics in space exploration; for example, ALF uses a radio signal as a
beacon in the pilot episode. In the episode "Weird Science", ALF told
Brian, who was building a model of the solar system for his science
project, that there were two planets beyond Pluto called "Dave" and
"Alvin" (as in David Seville and Alvin from the
Alvin and the Chipmunks
franchise), which gets Brian in trouble at school. However, after ALF
makes a call to an astronomical organization and states that "Dave"
is known by the organization, Willie comes to believe that "Dave" could have been the planetoid
Chiron,
or "Object Kowal", after its discoverer. ALF then shows Willie exactly
where "Dave" is on an intergalactic map of the universe.
Each
episode dealt with ALF learning about Earth and making new friends both
within and outside of the Tanner family, including Willie's brother Neal
(
Jim J. Bullock), Kate's widowed mother Dorothy (
Anne Meara) with whom ALF has a love-hate relationship, her boyfriend (and later husband) Whizzer (
Paul Dooley), the Ochmoneks' nephew Jake (
Josh Blake), a psychologist named Larry (
Bill Daily),
and a blind woman named Jody (Andrea Covell) who never figures out that
ALF is not human (although she is aware through touch that he is short
and hairy).
Changes occur within the Tanner household over the
course of the series, including the birth of a new child, Eric (the
reason for adding a baby in the series being that Anne Schedeen was
pregnant at the time); ALF's move from his initial quarters in the
laundry room to the attic, which he and Willie converted into an
"apartment", and the death of Lucky the cat in Season Four's "Live and
Let Die"; in this instance, ALF finds that despite his occasional
attempts to catch Lucky with the intention of making the cat a meal, as
cats are the equivalent of cattle on Melmac, he has come to love and
respect the family pet too much to do anything untoward with Lucky's
remains. When ALF acquires a new cat with the intent of eating it, he
actually grows fond of it and allows it to be adopted by the family,
although he admits to the Tanners he has become the worst kind of
Melmackian, a "cat lover".
Growing
Pains and Kirk Cameron... and Leonardo DiCaprio when he joined the
cast. I loved, loved, loved this show and seriously, I cryed when it
ended. I remember being an early teenager and watching re-runs all over
again. Those were the days!
BACKGROUND on Growing Pains: (from Wikipedia.com)
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in
Huntington,
Long Island, New York,
[1] with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on
ABC from September 24, 1985, to April 25, 1992.
The show's premise is based on the fictional Seaver family, who reside at 15 Robin Hood Lane in
Huntington,
Long Island, New York,
[2] Dr. Jason Seaver (
Alan Thicke), a
psychiatrist, works from home because his wife, Maggie (
Joanna Kerns), has gone back to work as a
reporter. Jason has to take care of the kids: troublemaker Mike (
Kirk Cameron),
honors student Carol (
Tracey Gold), and rambunctious Ben (
Jeremy Miller).
A fourth child, Chrissy Seaver, was born in 1988. She was played in her
infant stage by twins Kristen and Kelsey Dohring (who alternated in the
role). Beginning in the fall of 1990, Chrissy's
age was advanced to six years old, whereupon
Ashley Johnson took over the role.
Cast:
- Alan Thicke as Dr. Jason Roland Seaver
- Joanna Kerns
as Margaret Katherine "Maggie" Seaver (she used her maiden name
"Malone" when she got a TV reporter job, but was known as Maggie Seaver
at home and her previous newspaper job)
- Kirk Cameron as Michael Aaron "Mike" Seaver
- Tracey Gold as Carol Anne Seaver (1985–1992) (Gold replaced Elizabeth Ward after the pilot.)
- Jeremy Miller as Benjamin Hubert Horatio Humphrey "Ben" Seaver
- Ashley Johnson as Christine Ellen "Chrissy" Seaver (1990–1992)
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Luke Brower (1991–1992)[3]
The
Wonder Years.. I loved this show too. Winnie Cooper was my idol. I
think that this was the pre-quell to my late 90's -early 2000 favorite
show. (That 70's Show).
BACKGROUND on The Wonder Years: (from Wikipedia.com)
The
series depicts the social and family life of a boy in a typical
American suburb from 1968 to 1973, covering his ages of 12 through 17.
Each fictional year in the series takes place exactly twenty years
before airing (1988 to 1993).
The show's plot centers on Kevin
Arnold, son of Jack and Norma Arnold. Kevin's dad holds a management job
at NORCOM, a defense contractor, while his mother is a homemaker. Kevin
also has an older brother, Wayne, and an older sister, Karen. Two of
Kevin's age peers and neighbors are prominently featured throughout the
series: his best friend, Paul Pfeiffer, and his crush-turned-girlfriend
Gwendolyn "Winnie" Cooper. Story lines are told through Kevin's
reflections as an adult in his mid-30s, voiced by narrator
Daniel Stern.
In the pilot episode, Winnie's older brother Brian, whom Kevin admires, is killed in action in
Vietnam
in 1968. Kevin meets Winnie in a nearby wooded area called Harpers
Woods, and they end up sharing their first kiss. This unsaid
relationship between Winnie and Kevin remains dormant for a long while,
with Winnie starting to date a popular 8th grader named Kirk McCray, and
Kevin briefly going steady with Becky Slater (played by
Crystal McKellar—Danica's
sister). After Kevin breaks up with Becky due to his feelings for
Winnie, Becky becomes a recurring nuisance for Kevin. Winnie eventually
dumps Kirk as well, and Kevin and Winnie share a second kiss at the
start of the 1969 summer vacation. Around
Valentine's Day
1970, Winnie temporarily dates Paul, who has broken up with his
girlfriend Carla. Winnie and Kevin start dating each other soon after.
Just
before the summer break, Winnie and her family move to a house four
miles away. Although Winnie attends a new school, Lincoln Junior High,
she and Kevin decide to remain together and maintain a successful long
distance relationship. A beautiful new student named Madeline Adams
joins Kevin's school and quickly catches Kevin's eye, but it is Winnie
who breaks up with Kevin after meeting Roger, a
typical jock-type
at her new school. Neither relationship lasts long, but Winnie and
Kevin don't reunite until she is injured in a car accident. After
graduating from Junior High, Kevin and Winnie both go to McKinley High
and Paul attends a prep school. Paul would later transfer to McKinley
High and join Kevin and Winnie.
Earlier seasons of the show tended
to focus on plots involving events within the Arnold household and
Kevin's academic struggles, whereas later seasons focused much more on
plots involving dating and Kevin's friends.
Kevin has several
brief flings during the summer of 1971 and the 1971/72 academic year.
After Kevin's grandfather gets his driver's license revoked, he sells
his car to Kevin for a dollar. Paul transfers to McKinley High after his
first semester at prep school when his father runs into financial
troubles. Winnie and Kevin are reunited when they go on a double date to
a school dance and find themselves more attracted to each other than
their respective partners. Facing peer pressure in the episode "White
Lies", Kevin implies to his friends that he has had sex with Winnie, but
the spreading rumor causes Kevin and Winnie to break up for a few
episodes. In late 1972, Kevin's older brother Wayne starts working at
NORCOM, and dates his co-worker Bonnie, a divorcée with a son, but the
relationship does not last. Kevin's dad quits NORCOM, and buys a
furniture manufacturing business.
THE FINAL EPISODE (yes, this is how important this one was to me!)
In
the finale double episode, Winnie decides to take a job for the summer
of 1973 as a lifeguard at a resort. Kevin, anxious to experience a taste
of adult life, plans a cross-country trip with his friends. Kevin's
dad, Jack, vehemently objects to Kevin's plan and ultimately Kevin
abandons his planned trip. Kevin returns to his job at his father's
furniture factory and telephones Winnie, who by all accounts is distant
and seems to be enjoying her time away from Kevin. Eventually, Kevin and
his father fight and Kevin announces that he is leaving, reasoning that
he needs to "find himself." Kevin hops in his car and heads to the
resort where Winnie is working, hopeful that she can secure him a job
and they can spend the rest of the summer together.
[11][12]
Much
to Kevin's chagrin, Winnie does not appear too pleased with Kevin's
arrival and maintains her distance. Kevin is finally able to secure a
job at the resort's restaurant and resides in the bus boys' dorm.
Feeling confused and frustrated over Winnie's behavior, Kevin searches
out other activities to occupy his time. Kevin decides to play poker
with the resort's in-house band members. Kevin wins big (by bluffing
while only holding a pair of 2s) and goes searching for Winnie, anxious
to share the tale of his good fortune. When Kevin finds her, Winnie is
engaged in a passionate kiss with a male lifeguard.
The next day,
Kevin confronts Winnie about her actions, and they fight. The fallout
with Winnie leads Kevin to play another round of poker with the band.
This time Kevin ends up losing everything, including his car. Desperate,
Kevin confronts Winnie and her new beau at the restaurant and ends up
punching him in the face. Kevin then leaves the resort on foot.
On
a desolate stretch of highway, Kevin decides to begin hitchhiking. He
finally gets picked up by an elderly couple and much to his surprise he
finds Winnie in the backseat. Winnie was fired over the fight Kevin
instigated at the resort. Kevin and Winnie begin to argue and the
elderly couple gets fed up and kicks them out of the car. A flash rain
storm begins and Kevin and Winnie search for shelter. They find a barn
and discuss how much things are changing and the prospects for the
future. At first Winnie tells Kevin that she doesn't see them ending up
together but quickly recants, telling Kevin "I don't want it to end."
Kevin moves over to Winnie's side as she extends her blanket to Kevin
and they share a passionate kiss. The adult Kevin narrates that night
they made a promise to always be together and "it was a promise full of
passion."
They soon find their way back to their hometown and
arrive hand-in-hand to a Fourth of July parade. During this parade, the
adult Kevin (
Daniel Stern)
describes the fate of the show's main characters: Kevin makes up with
his father, graduates from high school in 1974 and leaves for college
and later becomes a writer. Paul studies law at Harvard. Karen, Kevin's
sister, gives birth to a son in September 1973. Kevin's mother becomes a
businesswoman and corporate board chairwoman. Kevin's father dies in
1975, and Wayne takes over his father's furniture business. Winnie
studies art history in Paris while Kevin stays in the United States.
Winnie and Kevin end up writing to each other once a week for the next
eight years. When Winnie returns to the United States in 1982, Kevin
meets her at the airport with his wife and eight-month-old son.
The
final sounds, voice-over narration, and dialogue of the episode and
series is that of Kevin (voice of Daniel Stern), with children heard in
the background:
Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One
day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of
childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a
house, like a lot of houses. A yard like a lot of other yards. On a
street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these
years, I still look back... with wonder.
A little boy
(Stern's real life son) can be heard asking his dad to come out and
play catch during a break in the final narration. Kevin's narrative
responds, "I'll be right there" as the episode closes.
<<<<so sad..tear!>>>>
Saturday
Morning Saved by the Bell. I feel sad because my Girls will never know
about Saved by the Bell. I loved waking up, having my bowl of ceral and
sitting down in my pajamas, eating and watching my Saturday Morning TV
shows!
BACKGROUND on Saved by the Bell: (from Wikipedia.com)
Saved by the Bell is an American television
sitcom that aired on
NBC from 1989 to 1993. The series was a retool of the
Disney Channel series
Good Morning, Miss Bliss. The show follows the exploits of a group of friends and their
principal,
and although the series primarily showcases light-hearted comedic
situations, it occasionally touches on serious social issues, such as
drug use,
driving under the influence,
homelessness,
divorce,
death, and
environmental issues. This made
Saved by the Bell a precursor to later shows (such as
Beverly Hills, 90210,
Dawson's Creek, and
The O.C.) that introduce young audiences to critical moral dilemmas.
Saved by the Bell stars
Mark-Paul Gosselaar,
Dustin Diamond,
Lark Voorhies,
Dennis Haskins,
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen,
Elizabeth Berkley, and
Mario Lopez.
[1]
Saved by the Bell was named one of the "20 Best School Shows of All Time" by
AOL TV.
[2] The show's popularity spawned two spin-off series to follow:
Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993–94), a prime time series that follows several of the original characters to college, and
Saved by the Bell: The New Class (1993–2000), a Saturday morning series that follows a new group of students at Bayside High School.
[3] The series also spawned two TV movies and a short-lived comic book series.
[citation needed] Saved by the Bell also aired in Australia on
Channel Seven, and from 1990 until 2004 on
Nickelodeon. Reruns have aired in local syndication and on
MTV2 and
E!
Moonlighting..
I know this one is weird for a young girl to watch, but my Mom would
watch it all the time and I think this is where I got my obsession for
Crime TV. I went on to love CSI!
BACKGROUND on Moonlighting: (from Wikipedia.com)
The
series revolved around cases investigated by the Blue Moon Detective
Agency and its two partners, Madelyn "Maddie" Hayes (Shepherd) and David
Addison Jr. (Willis). The show, with a mix of mystery, sharp dialogue,
and sexual tension between its two leads, introduced Bruce Willis to the
world and brought Cybill Shepherd back into the spotlight after a
nearly decade-long absence. The characters were introduced in a two-hour
pilot episode that preceded the series proper.
The show's
storyline begins with the reversal of fortune of Maddie Hayes, a former
model who finds herself bankrupt after her accountant embezzles all of
her liquid assets. She is left saddled with several failing businesses
formerly maintained as tax write-offs, one of which is the City of
Angels Detective Agency, helmed by the carefree David Addison. Between
the pilot and the first one-hour episode, David persuades Maddie to keep
the business and run it as a partnership. The agency is renamed Blue
Moon Investigations because Maddie was most famous for being the
spokesmodel for the (fictitious) Blue Moon Shampoo Company. In many
episodes she was recognized as "the Blue Moon shampoo girl," if not by
name.
In his audio commentary for the season-three DVD, creator
Glenn Gordon Caron says that the inspiration for the series was a production of
The Taming of the Shrew he saw in
Central Park starring
Meryl Streep and
Raúl Juliá. The show would parody this Shakespeare play in the season-three episode
Atomic Shakespeare.
[7]
Of course the Bundy's! Crazy my Mom let us watch this, but a classic in my opinion!
BACKGROUND on Married... with Children: (from Wikipedia.com)
The show follows the lives of
Al Bundy, a once glorious
high school football
player turned hard-luck women's shoe salesman; his obnoxious wife,
Peggy; their attractive, promiscuous, and dim daughter, Kelly; and their
girl-crazy, wisecracking son, Bud (who will become the only Bundy to
attend college). Their neighbors are the upwardly-mobile Steve Rhoades
and his wife Marcy, who later gets remarried to Jefferson D'Arcy, a
white-collar criminal who becomes her "trophy husband" and Al's
sidekick. Most storylines involve Al's schemes being foiled by his own
cartoonish dim wit and bad luck. His rivalry with and loathing for Marcy
play a significant role in most episodes.
********
Of
course there are a ton more that I am not even digging into! I have
come to the conclusion, we watched A LOT of TV back in the 80's. It is
funny because we would watch the same things that our Parent's watched.
Yes, Cheers, Facts of Life, and so many more!
ooh,
what about My two Dads? Crazy to think that in today's day and age
that is a reality! And the Dad's were not even "together"!
BACKGROUND on My Two Dads: (from Wikipedia.com)
The MAIN CAST:
The show begins when Marcy Bradford (
Emma Samms),
the mother of twelve-year-old Nicole Bradford (Keanan), dies. The two
men who had competed for the woman's affections before Nicole was born —
Michael Taylor (Reiser), a successful financial advisor; and struggling
artist Joey Harris (Evigan), former friends who hated one another
because of their mutual interest in Marcy — are awarded joint custody of
Nicole.
The mix-ups of two single men raising a teenage daughter provided the story each week. Judge Margaret W. Wilbur (
Florence Stanley),
a family court judge who awarded custody of Nicole to Michael and Joey,
would frequently visit the new family and served as Nicole's mentor.
This was because she had bought the building in which Joey lived and was
now the live-in landlord. Michael had originally had his own condo
uptown, but had been evicted from it, due to Joey's painting of the
walls, and as such, moved into Joey's artist's loft.
Nicole's
actual paternity was never revealed on the show. In the episode "Pop,
the Question", Michael and Joey — after a falling out — had a
DNA test
run to determine which of them was Nicole's biological father. The test
was conducted against Nicole's wishes, who destroyed the results before
opening them since she was happier not knowing who the father was.
Michael and Joey later resolve their differences and reconcile. Judge
Wilbur looked at the results, but threw them away without revealing them
to the audience.
The series came to an end (in the episode called
"See You in September?") when Joey reconnected with a former girlfriend
named Sarah and eventually moved to San Francisco to live with her and
her daughter, Grace. He keeps in contact with Nicole, Michael and Judge
Wilbur, all of whom remained in New York. Nicole made reference to her
coming out to San Francisco and visiting him, then she ended her letter
to Joey by saying that no matter what or where he was or who he was
with, he would always be one of her two dads.
The Love INTERESTS:
The series regularly featured
Giovanni Ribisi and
Chad Allen
as two boys (Cory Kupkus and Zach Nichols, respectively) who competed
for Nicole's affections just as her two dads had done for her mother's.
Florence Stanley
appeared as Judge Margaret Wilbur, who was responsible for assigning
Nicole's custody, and who regularly looked over the family; she was also
their landlady, being the resident owner of the apartment building
where the family lived. Amy Hathaway played Nicole's worldly best
friend, Shelby Haskell. The cast was rounded by former
football player
Dick Butkus,
who managed the cafe in the building's first floor. The cafe
(Klawicki's) was the second spot in the show where the plot usually
revolved; the first being the family's apartment. In the third season,
when Dick Butkus left the series, the diner was then run by cook Julian
(Don Yesso), but there was no explanation as to what happened to Ed
Klawicki. Ownership of the diner was explained to have been taken over
by Judge Wilbur at this point, and it was renamed The Judge's Court
Cafe.
*******
I
have great memories of my childhood and teenage years. I loved all the
shows that I watched. They obviously left an impact in my life as I walk
down Memory Lane.
What
were some of your favorite shows or some that you remember so vividly. I
can recall bits and pieces of the Wonder Years, like I lived them!!!
Happy ThrowBack Thursday everyone!
#TBT #Lifeatgraygables
~KEL~
