Like Totally 80s TV Catchphrases Quiz
By Julie Anderson Watch a little television in the 80s, did you? Remember some of the choice catchphrases from your fave shows? TV in the eighties was, like, FULL of memorable phrases that worked their way into our cultural lexicon. Take our Like Totally 80s quiz to see just how much you remember from those bitchin’ 80s shows, and then click on the answers’ links to hear the phrases in action. 1. At the end of the animated show G.I....
Taking the Plunge
By Julie Anderson The NESTEA plunge, that is. The hugely successful Take the Plunge commercial campaign for Nestea began in the 70s, so our older siblings and cousins knew all about it. (Random trivia – from 1978-1980, Six Flags St. Louis’s Log Flume ride was called the Nestea Plunge!) However, we 80s kids sure loved it as well. Taking the Nestea plunge was a favorite pool and lake game when I was growing up. The commercial campaign’s...
1980s Movie Mt. Rushmore Part IV: The Slashers
By Michael Nazarewycz This is the fourth article of a 4-part series that will look at those people most influential on movies in the 1980s. Click here to read Part I: John Hughes, Part II: The Brat Pack and Part III: Kenny Loggins. The slasher film as we know it today was not born in the 1980s, but rather in 1974 with director Bob Clark’s Black Christmas. (Yes, the same Bob Clark who brought us such ’80s gems as...
Be Part of Something Special! Get Corey Haim a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Many people remember Corey Haim with a smile. Those that recall the teen beat craze of the two Corey’s on the top of the world may have shed a secret tear on March 10, 2010 when media outlets began to report that Corey had indeed passed away due to complications of pneumonia. Newer fans who discovered Corey through his legacy of amazing performances also expressed dismay and posted online tributes to him and sent flowers to his...
Streaming the 80s with Netflix
March 27, 2014 For fellow subscribers to Netflix’s streaming service, awesome 80s movie and TV entertainment is just a click away. So make it an old school movie night at home. Pop some popcorn, grab a Tab (or a wine cooler), and escape back to the 80s. Here are our top picks of available 80s streaming, including comedy, romance, documentary, horror, and TV. Keep in mind that Netflix changes out their instant catalog regularly so if...
1980s Movie Mt. Rushmore Part III: Kenny Loggins
By Michael Nazarewycz This is the third article of a 4-part series that will look at those people most influential on movies in the 1980s. Click here to read Part I: John Hughes and Part II: The Brat Pack. The movie soundtrack was born in the 1930s, became popular with the musicals of the 1950s, and produced two supernovas in the 1970s: Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978). But only the 1980s could take the conventional...
Time for Timer!
By Julie Anderson Saturday mornings – ahhhhh! Back in the 80s, we didn’t have, like, entire television channels devoted to cartoons, much less Netflix and Hulu to give us cartoons on demand. Puh-leeze. We had a few precious hours of cartoon time once a week on network TV, and, man, did we love them. With a captive audience of roughly a bazillion-and-a-half American kids, health minded network execs decided to impart some useful...
Slim Goodbody
By Julie Anderson Recognize the guy in the flesh-colored, internal-organ-decorated unitard? Yup, that’s Slim Goodbody, all right. Confession: He totally creeped me out. I think it was all about the visible intestines, to tell you the truth. He reminded me of my brother’s Pulsar, which ALSO creeped me out. Organs, blood flow, view-beneath-the-skin? Totally grody. A little background info about Slim: The “Superhero of Health” was...
1980s Movie Mt. Rushmore Part II: The Brat Pack
By Michael Nazarewycz This is the second of a 4-part series that will look at those people most influential on movies in the 1980s. Click here to read Part I: John Hughes. I wanted a tidy list. I wanted four individual people. I wanted a nice Mt. Rushmore graphic. But how could I? Mention 1980s movies to most people – 80s devotees or not – and a high percentage of them surely will think of the Brat Pack. And that’s why I couldn’t pick...
1980s Movie Mt. Rushmore Part I: John Hughes
By Michael Nazarewycz This is the first of a 4-part series that will look at those people most influential on movies in the 1980s. In the eight-year span between 1982 and 1989, John Hughes wrote, directed, and/or produced 16 movies. Of those, the titles of 14 are still easily recognizable today, even by casual fans of ‘80s films. And of those 14, at least three (The Breakfast Club; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; Christmas Vacation) are...
The Clapper
By Julie Anderson C’mon, sing along! Clap on! (CLAP, CLAP) Clap off! (CLAP, CLAP) Clap on, Clap off – The Clapper! The Clapper was the modern eighties way to turn your electronic devices on or off without the hassle of getting off the couch. The switch was designed to respond to a specific acoustic signal: two claps. Joseph Pedott, founder of Joseph Enterprises, Inc., began selling the Clapper in 1985. (You’ve probably heard of Joseph...
A Mega Star in the Making: Tom Hanks in the 80s
By Julie Anderson Before he taught us the life was like a box of chocolates, saved Private Ryan, made friends with Wilson the volleyball, and solved the DaVinci Code, Tom Hanks was a beloved actor in the 1980s. Let’s look back on his life and his contributions to American T.V. and film in the eighties. Thomas Jeffery Hanks was born in Concord, California on July 9, 1956. He acted in school plays while attending Skyline High School in...
Vision Quest, 1985
By Alexi Lalas At 15, wrestling was not my thing. Singlets and those lace-up shoes that looked like ballet shoes seemed like a silly way to spend two hours of my then-still-short life. However, pretty girls and rock music were an easy sell. Definitely worth $6.50 at the Showcase Cinemas in Pontiac, Michigan, a few miles from where I grew up. But Vision Quest, even two and a half decades later, is about a lot more than pretty girls and...
80s Games Shows
Ah, game shows. What better way is there to while away a sick day at home than with a marathon of “The Price is Right” or “Family Feud”? We were crazy about TPIR’s Bob Barker and “Family Feud’s” Richard Dawson in the 80s, fer sure, but let’s focus on those shows we loved back then that are no longer in production today. Thanks to YouTube and Game Show Network, these eighties game show gems are neither gone nor forgotten. Here’s a...
Partnering up to Fight Crime, 80s Style
By Julie Anderson Like Jell-o pudding and Cool Whip. Hairspray and perms. Rainbows and ponies. Some things were MADE to go together. Check out these fabulous crime fighting TV duos from the 80s. Some were all business, some were romantic, some kept us guessing, but they were ALL awesome teams. What’s that? Punks making trouble in Malibu? Shoplifting gang on Sunset Strip? Quick, send Ponch and Jon! CHiPs chronicled the adventures that...
