80s Trends - TV Shows, Games & More
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My Favorite Things About The 80's
Take a journey through the 80's with me. These are my memories of the fashion trends, sit-coms, games shows & cartoons, arcade games and more! These are the things I use to watch, wear, eat, say and do in the 80's. Things are sure different from the life of today's teenage. I'm sure you will smile or even laugh when your reminded of your teenage years.
To My Sister
This is dedicated to my sister; although we had our share of fights when we were young, I don't know what I would do without her! Thank you for all our memories and I especially thank you for always being there for me.
TV Shows - Now vs. the 80's
What happened?
What ever happened to those great 'sit-coms' we use to watch like Gilligan's Island, Happy Days, Three's Company & The Cosby Show? And who could forget The Flintstones! Although The Flintstones originally aired in the 60's, they were such a big part of my growing up I just had to mention them. My sister and I would look forward to watching our shows every day after school. I would come home for lunch to watch The Flintstones while sitting at my TV tray eating Spaghetti-O's and Pop Tarts. Saturday morning cartoons consisted of shows like The Superfriends, Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry and my favorite, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show. Our parents didn't have to worry about us watching violence, bad language or shows containing sexual content. These days, no matter what time of the day, your sure to catch all of the above in cartoons, sit-coms, music videos, movies and even commercials! I'm amazed at what shows they are putting on even in the early evening hours - at least back then they wouldn't air them until 11pm or later. It's funny watching an even older movie and hearing them call eachother 'wise guys'. What happened? One of My Favorite Flintstone Episodes
plus an interesting piece of trivia...
I just to put a clip from this episode in here. Anytime I think of The Flintstones, this is the first episode that comes to mind. How many of you remember this one with Ann Margret playing Ann Margrock?
And how many of you knew that the voice of Barney Rubble and Dino was Mr. Mel Blanc himself!!!
And how many of you knew that the voice of Barney Rubble and Dino was Mr. Mel Blanc himself!!!
curated content from YouTube
Timeless 80's Cartoons!
You will notice I added one of the Schoolhouse Rock DVD's! How could we forget these? I'm sure alot of us could even sing those songs today. They really do work! Good idea to grab these for our kids today!
A Tribute to Gilligan's Island
If your a fan of Gilligan's Island, you will LOVE this collection of clips that someone put together that has gotten RAVE reviews. Whoever did this did an excellent editing job! But before you do, here's some interesting facts that you may or may not have known:
Enjoy!
- Gilligan's Island aired for 3 seasons from 1964 to1967 then went into syndication. The first season was filmed in black and white.
- Bob Denver who played Gilligan was not the first choice to play the roll. Jerry Van Dyke was offered the roll but turned it down because he didn't think the show would be successful.
- Alan Hale Jr. who played the "Skipper" although seemed as a father figure to Gilligan, was only 14 years older.
- Jim Backus who played Mr. Howell was the voice of Mr. Magoo.
- Natalie Schafer who played 'Lovey' - Mrs. Howell was 63 but no one on the set knew her real age..
- Russell Johnson who played Roy Hinkley "The Professor" was a high school science teacher, not a university professor.
- Dawn Wells who played Mary Ann was a former Miss Nevada who's competition was Raquel Welch.
Enjoy!
curated content from YouTube
The Cosby Show
Starring my absolute favorite comedian Bill Cosby, The Cosby Show first aired September 1984 and ran for 8 seasons! According to TV Guide, the show was TV's biggest hit in the 1980s. The Cosby Show was the third-longest running U.S. comedy with a predominantly African American cast, surpassed only by The Jeffersons with 11 seasons and Family Matters with 9.
Some of my other favorites
Let us not forget John Ritter
(I'm sure some of us girls probably had crushes on Jack back in the day)
Born September 17, 1948 in Burbank, California died September 11, 2003 making him 55 when he died of aortic dissection which is an unrecognized flaw of the heart. John Ritter was a loving comedian and a passionate actor, who wanted to make everybody laugh. Some interesting facts about John:
He died in the same hospital he was born in.
In 1966 John had his first television appearance as a contestant on The Dating Game - he was 18 year old.
At age 20, he made his first acting debut on an episode of Hawaii Five-O
Before Three's Company was born in 1977, John appeared in several TV shows such as The Waltons, M*A*S*H, Kojak amd The Mary Tyler Moore show to name a few.
What was your favorite TV sit-com?
Although some of these originally aired before the 80's, they either ran into the 80's or we all enjoyed their reruns in the 80's. I'm sorry if I missed your favorite but these seem to be the most popular.
I've also included a Fun Fact for each show which I'm sure you will find interesting!
Three's Company (1977 - 1984)
Fun Fact - Billy Crystal auditioned for the role of more...1 point
TVFreeload
TVFreeload, here you'll find a wide selection of downloadable more...1 point
Happy Days (1974 - 1984)
Fun Fact - Micky Dolenz, (originally from The Monkeys) more...0 points
Gilligans Island (1964 - 1967)
Fun Fact - The lagoon set was the same one used to more...0 points
Laverne & Shirley (1976 - 1983)
Fun Fact - The characters of Laverne and Shirley w more...0 points
Alf (1986 - 1990)
Fun Fact - With the exception of the pilot, every more...0 points
The Cosby Show (1984 - 1992)
Fun Fact - In a 2004 issue of TV Guide, Cosby's ch more...0 points
Family Ties (1982 - 1989)
Fun Fact - With a rocky start in the ratings, Fami more...0 points
Who's the Boss? (1984-1992)
Fun Fact - The character "Tony Micelli" was more...0 points
Diff'rent Strokes (1978 - 1986)
Fun Fact - Arnold's question "Watchoo talkin' more...0 points
The A-Team (1983-1997)
Fun Fact - The gold chains worn by Mr. T usually w more...0 points
The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985)
Fun Fact - They crashed a lot of cars filming this more...0 points
Miami Vice (1984 - 1989)
Fun Fact - Had things gone a little differently, Crocket more...0 points
Night Court (1984 - 1992)
Fun Fact - While jokes were made about the height more...0 points
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Doctor Who
Watch TV Shows like Doctor Who here more...0 points
Break Dancing Anyone?
another great example of how things have changed!
Although break dancing starting in the 70's (considered the old-style of break dancing), the new style of break dancing which included more acrobatic moves took off in the 80's. These were the days that you would see a group of kids practicing their moves on a piece of cardboard in their garage. These are the days when moves like the caterpillar, windmill, backspin and headspin became popular. Whether you were wearing your Adidas, Puma a nylon tracksuit, Adidas shoes with the thick laces, Kangol or trucker style cap, everything had to match. These were also the days that wearing mesh tank tops, baggy or 'balloon' pants and thick gold rope chains became popular.
I remember some of my good friends were part of 'crews' that use to compete at Break Dancing Competitions. I even learned how to do some of the moves and got really good at doing the caterpillar.
Here is a couple of clips from one of the 80's break dancing movies (Breakin'). The first features one of my favorite tunes from the 80's (Ain't Nobody by Chaka Khan and the second is a battle between Electro Rock vs TKO.
It's crazy when you watch what they were doing back in the 80's (we thought these moves were cool), and you compare it to the kind of break dancing you see on shows like So You Think You Can Dance - what will they be able to do 20 more years from now?
I remember some of my good friends were part of 'crews' that use to compete at Break Dancing Competitions. I even learned how to do some of the moves and got really good at doing the caterpillar.
Here is a couple of clips from one of the 80's break dancing movies (Breakin'). The first features one of my favorite tunes from the 80's (Ain't Nobody by Chaka Khan and the second is a battle between Electro Rock vs TKO.
It's crazy when you watch what they were doing back in the 80's (we thought these moves were cool), and you compare it to the kind of break dancing you see on shows like So You Think You Can Dance - what will they be able to do 20 more years from now?
curated content from YouTube
Cool 80's Board Games
I found some fun 80's games that would be great to have if your ever planning on having an 80's party. Go back in time on your next game night with these great 80's games. Break out the Izods, big hair and your parachute pants and return to a time when the brat pack dominated the big screen and hair bands ruled the airwaves. In the next section I found some crazy items that would go along great with your 80's theme night! Check em out!
Just for Fun
I saw these and thought they were pretty cool. Would be fun to add these to an 80's game night.
Remember Maximum Headroom?
I remember this crazy guy would come on between our shows...
Max Headroom was a plastic-coated stammering host known for his wit and electronically sampled voice who was played by the Canadian actor Matt Frewer. He made his debut in April of 1985 in a British one hour pilot entitled Max Headroom: Twenty Minutes Into The Future. The pilot wasn't picked up, but the rights to the Max Headroom character were sold to the makers of a music-video program on British television, on which Max appeared later in 1985. The Max Headroom show was the first to play with the music-video format, with Max frequently talking over lousy videos and making jokes.
Max Headroom was a plastic-coated stammering host known for his wit and electronically sampled voice who was played by the Canadian actor Matt Frewer. He made his debut in April of 1985 in a British one hour pilot entitled Max Headroom: Twenty Minutes Into The Future. The pilot wasn't picked up, but the rights to the Max Headroom character were sold to the makers of a music-video program on British television, on which Max appeared later in 1985. The Max Headroom show was the first to play with the music-video format, with Max frequently talking over lousy videos and making jokes.
curated content from YouTube
Who Had an Atari?
This is truly amazing! You can actually purchase the Atari game and it hooks up to your TV - just plug and play. It even comes preloaded with over 30 classic games like Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Lunar Lander, Millipede, Missile Command, Combat and Pitfall & River Raid to name a few. I also added a few others that were not included that were some of my favorites like Pac Man, Q Bert, Donkey Kong & Frogger
Vote on your favorite 80's Fashion
These are the fashions that I remember from the 80's. Most of these things I've worn or my friends have worn. There are some that other kids in our school wore (but they were in another group). Do kids today still have groups? Like the preppy group, the rockers, the jocks etc.?
Places to Go & Things to Do
Everyone remember that 'Big Boy'? Back when we were kids, our parents wold take us to the movies every Friday night! Back then movies only cost about $3.50! I remember we had to line up on the sidewalk outside the movie quite a few times - sometimes those lines would go all the way around the block! Such movies like the first release of Star Wars, Superman, E.T and my sisters favorite Raiders of the Lost Ark. After the movie we would often grab something to eat at Big Boy's restaurant or Mothers Pizzeria.Remember back in the 80's there wasn't a seatbelt law? Whenever we use to go somewhere that was going to be a long drive, my sister and I would take our pillows so we could sleep on the way home. I use to sleep on the floor with my head on the hump! Then we would pretend we were sleeping so my mom and dad would have to carry us bed.
Back then, we didn't have mp3 players or DS's to entertain us in the car. Instead we would play cards or car games or bring along our Rubiks cubes, Etch-A-Sketch or Battleship.
80's Games
Get them here!
You can still get alot of the games we placed in the 80's today like Connect Four, Battleship, Sorry, Trouble & of course Monopoly and Clue. The ones I listed below are games that I don't think you can get in regular toy stores but would be fun to have (either for our kids or to keep as a collectors item.
The Innocence!
One thing I remember most when I think about the 80's was riding my 10 speed bike no hands at night on a nice summer night on the streets of my home town. Boy does that ever sound wierd! These days, not too many people would let their kids ride their bikes around their community at night. Back then there was nothing to worry about so it wasn't so strange to be out riding your bike at night.We also use to play hide and seek day and night. Then at night we would run around everyone's homes, through their backyards, hopping fences. Could you imagine if kids today did that? After school my friends and I would often play skipping or jumpsies (funny, I just laughed as I typed that last one - do you remember jumpsies?). For those of you that don't, it's when you link a whole bunch of elastic bands together to make one long rope of them. We would then tie each end to a tree, pole or whatever was around and start by having the rope low to the ground and take turns jumping over it. The rope would then get moved up higher and higher as we continued to jump over it. If you couldn't make it over you were out. I also use to play a couple of games on my own like juggle on the side of the house or get an old stocking from my mom, cut one let off and put a rubber ball in it then stand with my back against the wall swinging the stocking side to side, under my leg, over my head - sound familiar to anyone? Back then we knew so many songs and rhymes. I'm sure if you think back, there might be a couple that you can remember... remember this one?
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back.
She asked her mother, mother, mother,
For fifteen cents, cents, cents,
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant,
Jump the fence, fence, fence.
He jumped so high, high, high.
He reached the sky, sky, sky,
And he never came back, back, back
Till the Fourth of July, lie, lie.
Fun Times!
Pig Latin Anyone?
our version of it...
The person I talked most in this language was my sister. This was our secret way of talking around our parents so they didn't know what we were talking about. The crazy thing is, I still remember it and can talk just as fast as I could back then.
For the word fun, we use to take the first letter of the word and put 'anna' after it - "fanna" then put a "g" in front of the rest of the word "gun" so it would end up being "fannagun". If the word had more than one syllable you would have to split the word up into syllables.
Did anyone else do it this way? Was this called something else other than Pig Latin???
For the word fun, we use to take the first letter of the word and put 'anna' after it - "fanna" then put a "g" in front of the rest of the word "gun" so it would end up being "fannagun". If the word had more than one syllable you would have to split the word up into syllables.
Did anyone else do it this way? Was this called something else other than Pig Latin???
Everything 80's
This site not only tells you the top 100 box office movies for the 80's but also has 80's music, culture, trends, videos and games!
- 80's Top 100 box office movies for the period 1980-89
- 80's Top 100 box office movies for the period 1980-89. The complete list of the top 100 grossing movies as ranked by total box office takings world wide for the 80's.
- Crazy About TV
- This is a great site that not only lists TV shows from the 80's but for every decade starting from the 40's or you can view them by Genre.
That's all Folks!...........
For now anyway
My brain hurts! This was very memorable for me. I really had alot of fun going back in time and picking up alot of the items I talked about (either for myself or for my sister that shared most of these memories with me).I will definitely be adding more memories as they come to me.
Be sure to check back often and please feel free to comment. I would love to hear if any of you shared any of the same experiences or perhaps you would like to share yours! I would love to hear them - if you remind me of something that was one of my favorites, I will be sure to add it!
Bye for now..
My Other Lense
so far...
- J. Nichole Noel - Award Winning Spoken Word Performance Artist, Poet & Author
- Truly a beautiful person, inside and out. Take a listen to her work, read her poetry, and let me know what you think!
- Black and White Decorating
- I really love the look of Black and White - I put together a bunch of decorating ideas and items that I especially like.
Tell Me What You Think
What was your favorite memory from the 80's?
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burgessvillian
Jul 6, 2010 @ 9:23 pm | delete
- A very awesome time in my life. Good lens and good luck in the contest.
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FreshSquids
Jul 4, 2010 @ 1:55 am | delete
- This lens entered Fresh Squid Contest for July 2010! If you come by and like what you see, stop by and give it your vote at: http://www.squidoo.com/freshsquidcontest See you there!
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callinsky
Jun 26, 2010 @ 4:16 pm | delete
- Sorry. I added Moonlighting twice. Very neat lens. Takes me back. I don't miss jelly shoes or stirrup pants. LOL
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JoanneOtt
Jun 26, 2010 @ 12:16 am | delete
- There were so many good shows from the 80s. My favorites were Golden Girls, and I loved the night time soaps, especially Knots Landing. Great lens.
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Wednesday_Elf
Jun 21, 2010 @ 9:59 am | delete
- Loved "Three's Company" and John Ritter.... and I STILL have my old Atari Game! Fun trip down the 'memory lane' of the 80's and the trends that were popular then. :)
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theraggededge Jun 17, 2010 @ 11:07 am | delete
- Fannagun lens! But.. but... you can't claim the Flintstones for the 80s - the show was already 20 years old now. It belonged to us in the 60s!
Blessed by a Squid angel :-) Now get on with your other 8 lenses!
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Deejai
Jun 17, 2010 @ 10:06 am | delete
- Love it...guess because so many of your memories are mine too since we shared them together lol! We had the most fun...they certainly were the BEST of TIMES!
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GrowWear
Jun 16, 2010 @ 10:49 pm | delete
- Feeling like feathering my hair, putting on a pair or stirrup pants and heading out to the Big Boy.
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aishu19
Jun 16, 2010 @ 1:10 pm | delete
- Wow! you brought back some great memories..Nice lens
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Jackie922
Jun 9, 2010 @ 11:15 pm | delete
- Hey Darlene... great job, lots of fun!
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Other Great 80's Lenses
It's always fun to see the memories other people had of their 80's...
- Eighties Party
- Lots of great memories here, much different than mine but very cool!
by Darlene624
I'm Darlene and I'm a stay at home mom of 2 beautiful girls. My passions are music and weight training and most of all spending all my free time with... more »
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