So I hate summer and I spend most of the hot and humid days of June, July, and August sitting in front of a fan and drinking Diet Coke (and Diet Pepsi - yes, I like both). And that got me thinking about New Coke.

Remember that? It was the disastrous reformulation of the Coke taste that people didn't really like and it came and went rather quickly in the mid-80s (though you could still get it in some areas as recently as 2002!). Wikipedia has the history of New Coke (long, but very much worth the read), and here are the commercials that introduced it to the world.

I was reading a story over at Entertainment Weekly about whether or not 1984 was the greatest year for movies ever (answer: no). It got me thinking: what's the best year for TV show debuts in history?

There are a lot of choices. In 1994 we saw the premiere of Friends, ER, The Game Show Network, Due South, Touched By An Angel, My So-Called Life, and Inside The Actors Studio. Or how about 2000, which saw the debuts of Survivor, Ed, CSI, and Curb Your Enthusiasm? And 2004 wasn't too shabby either, with the launches of Lost, Rescue Me, Entourage, Veronica Mars, House, and Desperate Housewives.

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]