80s TV – Then and Now . . .
Whoever said “What comes around, goes around” can “KISS MY GRITS!” Most of today’s popular TV shows are clearly attempting replication of the glory days of television – the 1980s.
But in the end, they are simply poor substitutes for the veritable feast of legendary television we enjoyed 20 years ago. CSI? Give me Crockett and Tubbs any day . . . everyone knows that real men wear hot pink blazers and white pants. X-Files was clearly a spin-off from ALF . . . the goofiest ‘Alternate Life Form” we all knew and loved. The O.C.? You have got to be joking . . . with Dallas, people around the world came together to ponder “Who Shot JR!” No comparison. Where is the originality? Where’s the next “Greatest American Hero” to save us from the current television doldrums? Who knew we were once in the presence of TV greatness when spending a night with Alex P. Keaton, Norm and Cliff, Gopher and Doc or Larry, Darryl, and Darryl?
Today’s TV lacks the kind of heroes we enjoyed in the 80s.
Everything and everyone else simply dulls in comparison. And latent memories from 80s TV shows will still sneak up on me when I least expect it. When I had my first real kiss in 7th grade, I kept thinking “this is not nearly as romantic as Kevin and Winnie’s.” When I bought my first car, it was less than 24 hours before I discreetly tried to get in and out using the window instead of the door. When I went to college, I just figured my parents did not pay the extra money to get me a big dorm room like Whitley Gilbert’s.
Recently, I was enduring an impossibly dull dinner date, when I suddenly whispered into my watch, “KIT, where are you? Meet me outside in ten minutes.” And if you are a girl-child of the 80s, you must confess that at one time or another, you and your girlfriends have seriously discussed the question of who is “Blanche,” who is “Dorothy” and who is “Rose?”
My point is that these shows do not simply represent the pinnacle of television history; they are ingrained in the very souls of every fortunate child of the 80s . . . and don’t even get me started on zerberts. I gave one to my 5-year nephew last week and he looked at my like I was crazy . . . so I offered him some J-E-L-L-O instead.
