The 80s Club

I’m starting to love YouTube, can you tell? ;)

This theme came to mind and, whaddya know, there it was for my viewing pleasure. I don’t even think that the VCR was all that popular yet when this show was on. Who knew a few decades later we could press a few keys on our laptop computers, access a website via our wireless connection, and conjure up just about any 80’s TV theme that we wanted? Would’ve sounded a bit like sci-fi back then (does still a little now to me!).

Anyway, here’s a good example of some classic 80’s fashion, graphics, and special effects. I don’t really remember the spaceship thing at the beginning, but all the bumbling around seems familiar. And the beetle ragtop rocks. My greatest memory of this is listening to the theme song on a record that my cousins had and belting it out in their living room. Strange what sticks with you, aye?

Mr. Belvedere was one of those shows that I remember our whole family sitting down to watch together. My main memories of this show:

• Seeing the Pittsburgh sign in the opening credits. I thought it was cool because we had a lot of family living there.
• Thinking it was odd that there was a man named “Lynn“.
• Thinking that the littlest kid got away with an awful lot for being such a brat.

So, for your viewing pleasure, the theme song to Mr. Belvedere. Scary how well I remembered the lyrics!

And for a long version from later in the series, click here. I would have posted it, but for some reason it’s very narrow. Enjoy!

Man, I had a HUGE crush on Brian Bloom growing up. I didn’t even watch As the World Turns all that much, except to catch glimpses of him. His blue eyed, dark haired mug shot was one of the first to adorn my bedroom wall. Wowza.

Anyway, I was shocked to see him appear tonight on an episode of Cold Case. Sad, sad episode, but still a treat to see Brian all these years later!

I miss shows like Night Court. Shows where you could just jump in any week and enjoy some laughs. No need to TiVo because one episode wasn’t dependent on the next.

A little drama, mostly just humor, a big scary baliff, a crazy judge, an irreverant attorney, and a bit of a Mel Torme fanatacism. Who knew that would be a perfect mix for a hit show? I can’t think of another show that’s quite duplicated whatever brand of funny they gave us. I miss Harry Anderson at the bench, and the circus that was Night Court.

What are some of your favorite Night Court moments and characters?

Quantum Leap’s Scott Bakula will be showing up on the CBS show, The New Adventures of Old Christine.

From their website:

• Christine is in denial when the new man in her life reveals that he’s a grandfather.

He’s looking a bit goofy in the promos for the show, but it will be fun to see him again. I’m not so much a fan of most sci-fi shows (except, of course, for Quantum Leap), so I didn’t care to watch him in “Enterprise.” But I couldn’t miss an episode of Quantum Leap. I need to get my hands on those shows again!

Bald Man was flipping throught the channels tonight, and kept going back to the Bears/Seahawks game. As a kid who grew up in Illinois in the 1980’s, I really can’t see or hear anything about the Chicago Bears without thinking of the Super Bowl Shuffle.

Crazy little song and video, wasn’t it? And even more strange to be reminded that it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rhythym and Blues Vocal Performance.

I also have to think of Walter Payton, and of the tears in my Dad’s eyes when Payton retired. I didn’t often see my Dad cry, and he claimed to be eating “onion sandwiches”, but I’ll never forget that, either.

Da Bears, they’ve provided me with some pretty good memories.

I missed Celebrity Duets tonight (not sure how they expect it to compete with Grey’s Anatomy), but it appears that Alfonso Spears Carlton Banks Alfonso Ribeiro is still in the game. He really wasn’t too bad the week that I saw him perform, but I’ve forgotten about the show since. Is anyone keeping up with it? Maybe I’ll check it out tomorrow to see if he made the cut again.

Some friends and I hit the movies this summer to see The Breakup with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. Not my favorite flick. It’s not that fun watching people fight in person; not much more fun watching it on the big screen. Glad I only paid for the cheap seats! It was, however, worth the price of admission for the shots of Chicago. Love the Windy City!

“What,” you ask, “does this have to do with Ralphie?” Well, during the opening credits I got the weird feeling that I recongnized someone, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Then, partway through the movie, one of the girls says, “Hey! That’s Ralphie!”

And there he was…Ralphie (Peter Billingsly) from A Christmas Story and Real People (as himself), all grown up. Crazy. He was also executive producer on The Breakup, which is something he apparently does quite a bit of.

Too cool. It’s always encouraging to see a former child actor success story.

BTW- Am I the only one who sees a mound of mashed potatoes and thinks, “Show mommy how the piggies eat!”?

I was flipping through the channels the other night and passed by a “made for TV” production of something to do with the TV show, Diff’rent Strokes. I loved, loved, loved that show! However, this new production was so unappealing that I only allowed it a few minutes of my life.

Reading through this article, I found that I wasn’t the only one who found it less than stellar. Oh well, guess I’ll just have to add Diff’rent Strokes on DVD to my ever growing Christmas list in order to get my “What you talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” fix.

The TV movie did answer one question for me though. I’m always in shock that my sister can’t remember all of these favorite old shows of mine. Now I know it’s because, for this one at least, the show premiered about the time she was born. (Did I just hear another gray hair popping through?)

Okay, so Joey Lawrence wasn’t a hunk yet when he was on Gimme a Break, just a cute kid with a mushroom cut. But who knew then that almost 20 years later he would end up competing against A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez to you younguns) in Dancing with the Stars? Craziness.

And what happened to Joey’s awesome hair? Whoa.