The Cable Guy
Anyone else remember the absolute thrill of these five words: THE CABLE GUY COMES TODAY. I do certainly do; when we first got cable hooked up to our television back in the early 80s, it was a huge deal. I had experienced the wonders of HBO at my grandparents’ and friends’ houses and finally . . . finally this luxury was coming to my family. It meant that I would finally have all the re-runs of ‘The Munsters’, could watch...
From 80s Soaps to the Big Screen and Beyond
By Julie Anderson Daytime soap operas in the 1980s were nothing but awesome. Vicious catfights, bouts of amnesia, surprise twins, alien abductions, murder plots, fainting spells, and, of course, those rad 80s fashions TOTALLY rocked our worlds. I was an All My Children fan (Cliff and Nina, Erica and Jeremy, and Greg and Jenny, you’re forever in my heart) but my best friend was into Days of Our Lives, and we both liked General...
The Battle of the Boys (in Pretty in Pink)
John Hughes – how do I love thee? Let me count the ways . . . The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – each amazing and so much a part of my 80s teen-hood. But there’s one John Hughes movie that was a standout for me. One that influenced my fashion choices. One that I memorized. One that I went to a theme-party for. One that I saw in the theatre four times. One whose cassette tape soundtrack I still own/play...
The Hunger, 1983
A film commentary by Romy Shiller, PhD ABOUT: The Hunger is a 1983 British romantic horror film directed by Tony Scott. It is the story of a love triangle between a doctor who specializes in sleep and aging research and a vampire couple. The film is a loose adaptation of the 1981 novel of the same name by Whitley Strieber, with a screenplay by Ivan Davis and Michael Thomas. This film stars David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan...
Monchhichis
My husband, like me, is a child of the 80s. I asked him if he remembered Monchhichis, thinking that surely he’d have no idea what I was talking about. But NO! He immediately burst into that commercial jingle. You totally know the first couple of lines at least: Monchhichi, Monchhichi, Oh so soft and cuddly! With a thumb in her mouth she’s really neat. Fun to wiggle his little feet. Yah yah yah yah yah Happy happy monchhichi! I love...
The Facts of Life
By Julie Anderson “The Facts of Life” aired on NBC from 1979-1988, and oh, how I loved it! How could you watch it and NOT want to move in with those girls at Eastland School? I mean, with Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Ray) to take care of you and with friends like Jo (Nancy McKeon), Blair (Lisa Whelchel), Natalie (Mindy Cohn), and Tootie (Kim Fields), boarding school would be nothing but awesome. And sure, Blair was a spoiled brat, but she...
Test Your Eighties Entertainment Knowledge – The Animal Edition
By Julie Anderson That’s right, LT80s readers. This eighties quiz is totally wild. Put on your thinking caps and, like, turn them up to eleven, because you’re about to get challenged with some serious 80s trivia. Pets, pests, and guardian gators: how much do you remember about animals on TV and in the movies? 1. The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985) showed us how those hot Duke boys managed to evade Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane. What was the...
Christmas Vacation, 1989
By Ryan Zimmerman There’s one word that instantly brings to mind the joys and holiday spirit we all look forward to each Christmas season. Just one word personifies family, fun and feasts. That word isn’t “Santa” or “gifts” or “snow.” That word my friends, is “Griswold.” In National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, released on December 1, 1989, mistake-prone patriarch Clark W. Griswold throws caution (and previous family disasters aside)...
Terror Train (1980)
By James Porter “The boys and girls of Sigma Phi, some will live, some will die.” I’ll let you in on a little something—I like trains. I grew up watching Thomas the Tank Engine, I’ve owned three model train sets in my lifetime (one of which I still have the locomotive displayed on my desk), and I’m looking to volunteer at the local railroad museum. So, movies with trains call to me, regardless of the quality. Terror...
Was Jake Ryan a Jerk?
After rewatching “Sixteen Candles” over the weekend, I am left wondering if, despite his insane hunkiness and desirability, Jake Ryan was actually a jerk-in-dreamboat-clothing (never has a sweater vest looked so good). Wait—before you revolt on me, hear me out. I get it that Caroline was not enough for him. She was vacuous, uninteresting, and reckless. If you’re a serious guy looking for something more real in a...
VHS versus Betamax: The Great Format War of Our Time
By Brad Williams Picture yourself at your local video rental shop in 1984 – you know the one, in the local strip mall between the convenience store and the dry cleaners, drab grey carpet and rows of wire shelves filled with propped up cardboard boxes. You head for the new releases to grab something for the weekend and are shocked to see a copy of The Empire Strikes Back, sitting all alone. You instinctively reach for it but stop...
Be Kind Rewind: Back to the Future Double Feature
By Michael Nazarewycz Polish Up That Stainless Steel! Very few people dominated both the big and small screens in the 1980s the way Michael J. Fox did. After small parts and just-misses, the Canadian actor landed the role of young Republican Alex P. Keaton on TV’s Family Ties in 1982. By 1985, the show was the #2 rated comedy in the in US (Behind only The Cosby Show), thanks mostly to Fox’s likeability. That likeability translated...
80s My Little Pony and Today’s Bronies
By Julie Anderson Eighties girls will totally remember My Little Ponies, those hugely popular plastic horse figurines. The first herd of candy-colored toy horses was created in 1981. My Pretty Ponies were significantly bigger than My Little Ponies and were nowhere near as popular. In 1983, Hasbro’s My Little Ponies hit the jackpot with the elementary-age girl crowd. They were perfectly sized for little hands and little purses. We...
Living in a Material World
Madonna had it right. We are indeed living in a material world. It is damn near impossible to watch TV today without hearing your favorite 80s songs as the backdrop to one commercial or another selling everything from candy bars (see PayDay’s use of “Bust a Move”) to insurance (see Liberty Mutual Insurance’s use of “Human” by Human League). How I feel about this trend varies with its use. I don’t have a global position on the issue as...
Manhunter (1986)
By Michael Nazarewycz FBI-man Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina) has a problem. Two Georgia families in two Georgia cities have been brutally murdered. He knows that the two crimes are connected, based on the killer’s modus operandi, and the clincher is that the killings are happening based on the lunar cycle, which leaves Jack only three weeks before the next full moon and before the killer, dubbed “The Tooth Fairy” because of his...
