Thirty years ago I was ten years old, which means I was
still at optimal receptiveness for the things that would in 2016 evoke fond
memories and feelings of nostalgia. I got the idea for this post from the first
Dragon Con panel I was a part of – 1982: Best Sci-Fi Movie Year Ever? (or some
such thing). We had a great discussion about the movies that came out that
year. Sadly nobody recorded it, but I thoroughly enjoyed having a topic that
was both broad and focused. It was only 1982 sci-fi movies, but there were
plenty to discuss!
Two weeks ago I reminisced about the toy
lines of 1986 (because of course I did) and last week I wrote about 1986 movies.
In this final post I’m going to look back on the television shows that were a
big deal to me back then.
I was and still am a TV kid. I’m sure I’ve devoted far, far too many hours of my life to
watching television. If I had spent all of those hours doing something useful,
like learning how to build cabinets or play a trumpet or something, I’m sure I’d
be much better off.
But I also wouldn’t have learned the magical lesson that
sharing some cheesecake in the kitchen with your friends is the answer to all
of life’s problems.
Like I said – much better off.
Oh, man – Idiot Box
was a great show.
Well, some envy and some disbelief. Because I firmly
believe that anyone that makes those claims that hasn’t just emerged from a
centuries-long, ice-encased slumber is a fucking liar.
I wasn’t trying to start a treatise on my or anyone else’s
TV habits. I think it’s time to move on to the TV shows of 1986. Once I started
poking around I realized that there were a ton of amazing shows on that year
and that, being ten, I was watching a lot
of them. So for the sake of keeping this thing at a manageable length I’m just
going to write about the shows that debuted
in 1986. That’s mostly what I did with the other posts, so it makes sense to
restrict it thusly here.
ALF
Off the top of my head I’d guess that ALF has to be one
of the most famous non-Muppet puppets of all time. I’m sure the most famous worldwide is some wooden
German monstrosity named “Mister Weisskammeren” or something, but ALF has got
to be up there.
Side Note: Actually, if I was playing
trivia, I’d guess that Punch and/or Judy are the most famous.
My love of puppetry has been reignited in recent years
thanks to the delightful Mr. Beau
Brown, but when I was a kid I was fascinated by puppets. I grew up with
The Muppet Show in Prime Time, but ALF was something else entirely. Though
clearly a puppet, he was meant to be an alien character interacting with a
human family on Earth. He was dry and sarcastic and hilarious and I loved him.
It also helped that I had a huge crush on Lynn Tanner.
I’m honestly not sure if she or ALF was a bigger reason for me watching.
ALF was created by puppeteer Paul Fusco, who had
developed a character based around a puppet he had created. While he did have
connections, he basically made the TV show happen on his own and not as part of
a larger entity like The Jim Henson Company. I admire the heck out of that.
Perfect
Strangers
Standing tall, on the wings of my dream
Rise and fall, on the wings of my dream
If you didn’t just sing that to yourself, we probably can’t
be friends.
Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous had the funniest
relationship on television. The dynamic between Mark Linn-Baker and Bronson
Pinchot is one of my favorites to this day. I’ve seen countless couplings on TV
over the years, but the chemistry between these two always stands out to me.
Side Note: It blew my mind the first time I
heard Pinchot speak out of character. Balki with an American accent was
extremely disorienting. Other examples of revelation I couldn’t handle were Bob
Hoskins’ English accent and the first time I heard Bob Saget say “cock”.
The
Hogan Family
The main thing I liked about this show was Jason Bateman.
I thought he was the coolest guy in the world. His signature humor appealed to
me in a way that the standard “funny teenager” of the era often did not. His
character was more of a wise guy than a clueless tool and I always preferred
that. Granted, as a teenager he was obviously still a clueless tool, but I didn’t
pick up on that a s a ten year old.
After the second season the show’s lead, Valerie Harper,
was replaced by Sandy Duncan. I remember being upset about this and not wanting
to watch the show anymore. At present I can’t explain this because I can’t recall
any particular emotional attachment to Harper and Sandy Duncan had been on The New Scooby-Doo Movies, so I should have
been delighted. This might have been an early instance of my redhead bias.
I
thought that this was the coolest thing ever when I was a kid and now my entire
body is shriveling up from shame just from watching it.
Head
of the Class
I had been watching sitcoms from an early age thanks to
afternoon syndication. I’m sure an inordinate portion of my personality was
shaped by classic 70s shows like Three’s
Company, Good Times, and my
personal favorite, WKRP in Cincinnati.
I wonder if maybe that’s where my love of broadcasting and talking into
microphones comes from.
WKRP
introduced
me to the character of Dr. Johnny Fever, played by the great Howard Hesseman.
He might have been the first guy that I recognized as “cool”. Hesseman was the
reason that I first watched Head of the
Class and was the only reason I continued watching it, as I found the kids
to be annoying as shit. Especially Dennis. I assume we were supposed to hate Dennis, but I almost couldn’t
watch the show because of him.
Hesseman left the show after four seasons and was replaced
by Billy Connolly(!). I wasn’t at all familiar with the Scottish comic at the
time and was disappointed. I specifically remember tuning in to the first
episode of the fifth season and seeing the story of how Mr. Moore’s acting
career had finally taken off. I’m sad to say I didn’t give Connolly a chance
and stopped watching the show.
Designing
Women
Yeah, that’s right.
I have two defenses for why I watched this show about
ladies living in the South running an interior decorating business:
1 – I had a huge crush on Annie Potts. I liked her as Janine
in Ghostbusters, but on Designing Women
she didn’t have that insane New York accent and sometimes had much better hair.
I was in love.
2 – The show was hilarious. The cast was amazing and the
comedy ranged from biting social commentary to broad humor. It set a standard
for sitcoms. And no character on television will ever, ever deliver better speeches than Julia Sugarbaker. Dixie Carter was
a powerhouse.
Amen
Saturday nights on NBC used to be known for so much more
than just Saturday Night Live or Saturday Night’s Main Event. It was
known for a solid block of sitcoms that included classics like 227, The
Golden Girls, The Facts of Life,
and Empty Nest. In 1986, a new
vehicle for Sherman Hemsley was added to the lineup.
Amen
followed
The Golden Girls and was the final sitcom
of the night before Hunter, one of
the many private investigator-type shows that were competing at the time. It
was funny, but I didn’t love it. Which is why I would switch over to ABC and
watch the next show…
Sledge
Hammer!
Not everyone remembers this show, even though it ran for
two seasons.
I loved Sledge
Hammer!. I don’t have specific memories of it, but I definitely remember thinking
that it was special. I didn’t know anyone else that watched it.
A few years ago Anchor Bay put out an impressive DVD set
of the entire series. I preordered it from Amazon and could not wait to
experience the show again. Just like now I couldn’t remember anything specific
about it, I just knew that I had loved it as a kid.
It didn’t hold up for me. I don’t know what happened, but
it did nothing for me. I didn’t find it funny at all and it seemed cheap and…
just bad. I’d like to give it another
chance, but the DVDs are long out of print and likely very expensive. There isn’t
much that I liked as a kid that I don’t still enjoy now, but this show falls
squarely in that category.
It’s
Garry Shandling’s Show
There are some shows on this list that I realize now were
a little odd for a ten year old to be watching, but this one definitely seems
strange. If you had asked me yesterday I would’ve told you I was watching this
show when I was twelve or so. I realize that coincides with the time that FOX
started airing the reruns, but I specifically recall watching it on Showtime
because I wasn’t really supposed to be watching Showtime. We had the premium
cable channels at that point and I wasn’t supposed to be watching them.
Obviously I did, as much as I possibly could.
Garry was amazing. As a kid, I think I just liked that he
was this guy talking to the audience. There was this sense of inclusiveness,
like we were getting to take part in this great show as opposed to just watching
it.
Double
Dare
I’ve mentioned a lot of cool guys in this post, but none
were cooler than Marc Summers.
I mention Double
Dare because it is the greatest game show of all time and it debuted in
1986, but a mention is all you’re going to get today. At the very least
Nickelodeon of the 80s deserves a post, and Double
Dare might well warrant its own. I can’t possibly do all of the stunts, the
brilliant framework, and the pure joy of the show into the tail end of a
different post.
For now I’ll just say that I dreamed every single day of being a contestant on Double Dare. Heck, I didn’t even need to be a contestant, I just
wanted to try all of the obstacles and games. This show is a huge inspiration
to me and I hope that one day you can see exactly how much as The Dirty Dirty Con Con Game Game Show Show continues
to grow and evolve.
1986 was an incredible year for TV if you were a ten year
old kid. My humor and understanding of the world were all influenced by what I
was watching. I got to know actors whose careers I would follow and learned
what I liked and didn’t like about television. Even if something was based on
an old formula – like Perfect Strangers
or the satirical Sledge Hammer!, I
was seeing it for the first time.
It was a good year.
I wrote a bit about cartoons in the first post, but I think maybe a cartoon post is in order. Check back next Monday to see if I can put together something about the cartoons of 1986! In the meantime, join
the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation! Let me know what you
think!
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