1980s

"Super bad guys
Try to crush us
Fight for freedom
And for justice."

For some reason, network promos and commercials have been seared in my mind. I remember pretty much all of them, going back to the late 70s. The ABC promo after the jump is completely new to me though. It looks like it's from around 1985 or 86, judging from Richard Dean Anderson's hair and the clips they show of early MacGyver episodes.

But the thing that's interesting about the promo is that they actually use Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." as the promo's theme song! Though it's not Newman singing the song. Listen to the lyrics and you'll see how crazy and lame network promos can be. (The slogan that fall on ABC was "You'll Love It!" Though I'll always have a soft spot for "Still The One!") The announcement that they'll return to The Concorde: Airport '79 is just icing on the cake.

Those of us who grew up in the '80s tend to look at cartoons from that era in two different ways: we remember them fondly because they were a part of our childhood, but at the same time the '80s signified a significant decline in the quality of animation. While toys and games based on cartoon characters were certainly not an '80s invention, many of the cartoons from that era were essentially half-hour toy commercials weighed down by bad animation and stilted dialogue. Some may argue that televised animation never fully recovered from the rote quality that ruled most of the animation from that decade.

Hey, say that headline 5 times real fast.

I was watching Ebert & Roeper this weekend, and the fill-in for Ebert (he should be back in 2007) was actor and director Mario Van Peebles, who most recently won acclaim for directing the movie Baadasssss!, playing Malcolm X in Ali, and as a cast member on the show Rude Awakening a few years back. But back in the late 80s he starred in a really fun Stephen J. Cannell show titled Sonny Spoon, about a con man who helps people (and himself) out of various jams. He used his connections on the street, the help of a bar owner (real-life dad Melvin Van Peebles), and, best of all, several disguises to solve the crime. You don't see that enough on television these days, people using funky disguises. I think some of the heist shows have used them here and there, but it was a major part of Sonny Spoon. And the show was hip without being annoying, and was just really entertaining.

Everyone has to start somewhere, and long before Bill O'Reilly made a name for himself on Fox News cutting mics, gesticulating toward the camera and telling people to shut up, he was the host of Inside Edition and getting to the bottom of this strange new phenomenon called Super Mario Brothers. College Humor has the video, and a very youthful Billy bookmarks the segment. The stuff in between is typical Inside Edition pabulum, though I was actually one of those nerds who would call the Nintendo hotline to figure out how to complete different levels. Nintendo was about as far as I ever went, though. If you were to sit me down in front of a PlayStation or an Xbox I'd probably start crying from not being able to figure anything out.

[via Best Week Ever]

You know, the Web is a great place to find pornography and read the opinions of complete strangers, but for me it's been a place where I can learn about cartoons from my youth that are still just barely clinging to my brain cells as I get older. First, I found out a bit of information on that damn bunny in a suitcase, and recently, after doing this post on Peter Cullen I found out that the cartoon I always thought was called The Wonderful World of Og was actually called The Secret World of Og, about a group of siblings who find an underground world where the only words the inhabitants speak is "og." Now, I remember absolutely nothing about this program, other than it featured little troll-like people, but YouTube has several videos, and a bit of research revealed it was shown as part of the ABC Weekend Special program, and based on a book by the late Canadian writer Pierre Berton. A new version of Og currently airs on CBC in Canada.

So, does anyone else remember this program? Also, do you have any tales of finding information on forgotten TV shows from your youth on this crazy thing called the World Wide InterWeb? Share your stories in the comments.

Amy Heckerling, the woman behind such movies as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Clueless, Johnny Dangerously and the Look Who's Talking films, is developing a series for NBC with the working title of 1985. The series will serve as a sequel to George Orwell's 1984, except it won't, because I'm lying. Actually, the series will focus on a young girl growing up as a teenager during the Reagan era. The sitcom has been picked up as a script by NBC, with Heckerling slated to write, direct and executive produce. The project will also use music from the 80s, which makes sense because using songs from the Civil War would just be confusing. The show will also have a voiceover of the young girl as an adult reflecting back on her childhood. I've always found it interesting how narrators on TV shows can recall every detail of their childhood when I can't remember what I ate for breakfast three days ago. I guess that's the magic of TV for you.

[via tv filter]

Wow, I remember this ad like it was yesterday (though I don't drink coffee, I'm a tea guy), and looking back at it now, it's quite deranged.

It's the "Coffee Achievers" commercial from the mid 80s. It's all about how everyone - including famous celebrities! - can get things done in life by just drinking coffee! The celebrities include David Bowie (he really did look like a fashion mannequin back then, eh?), Kurt Vonnegut, Heart, and...Cicely Tyson? I guess she was one of the top stars of 1984. Or maybe just someone who really likes coffee.

How odd is this ad? Replace the word "coffee" with the word "caffeine" or "speed" and see what you think. It's basically saying, "hey, take this legal stimulent and you'll succeed!"

• Prison Break returns to FOX at 8pm tonight...but it's a repeat. It's followed by a new 24.
• ABC has a new Wife Swap, a new Supernanny, and a new Miracle Workers.
• CBS has a new King of Queens at 8, followed by the premiere of Julia Louis-Dreyfus' new show The New Adventures of Old Christine, a new Two and a Half Men, another new ep of Old Christine, then a new CSI: Miami.
• NBC has another ep of Deal or No Deal (they seem intent on destroying this show like ABC destroyed Millionaire) at 8, then new eps of The Apprentice and Medium.
• The WB has a repeat 7th Heaven, followed by a new Related.
• UPN has repeats of One on One, All of Us, Girlfriends, and Half & Half.
• ABC has a new ep of Wildfire at 8, followed by a new Beautiful People.
• AMC is having an 80s flashback week starting tonight. At 8, it's Sixteen Candles, followed by The Breakfast Club.
  
• Also at 8:a new Monster Garage on Discovery, followed by new eps of American Hot Rod and American Chopper.
• At 9, TLC has two new eps of Little People, Big World.
• USA has a new WWE Monday Night Raw at 9.
• There's a new Unwrapped on Food Network at 9.
• Larry King interviews Tammy Faye Messner on CNN at 9 (repeated at midnight).
• Also at 9: Lifetime has the movie Augusta, Gone, while STARZ has National Treasure and HBO has Along Came Polly.
• At midnight, Showtime has Open Water, the shark movie that promised to do for the water what Blair Witch Project did for the woods. Anyone see it? How was it?