The first episode of 21 Jump Street aired on Sunday, April 12, 1987, on the Fox Network. It was the first hit for the new network. The show aired until 1991.
Happy Birthday David Letterman
Lori Loughlin in Secret Admirer.
Before she became Aunt Becky on Full House, and before the college scandal, Lori Loughlin appeared in a teen comedy from 1985 called “Secret Admirer” This film is underrated and overlooked in regards to 80’s teen flicks. The cast also included C. Thomas Howell, Kelly Preston, and Cory Haim. Is that an eighties cast or what?
Click image to buy Secret Admirer now.
Fridays premiered on ABC on April 11, 1980
At 11:30 pm on Friday, April 11, 1980, ABC premiered their own version of Saturday Night Live. It was simply called Fridays and aired for three seasons. At the time of the premiere, SNL was a little over a month away from ending their fifth season. This would also be the last season that featured members from the original Not Ready for Primetime Players.
Unlike SNL, Fridays did not have a house band. The show also embraced the New Wave music scene more so than SNL. Their musical guest ranged from Devo, The Cars, and Split Enz to The Marshall Tucker Band, Kiss, and Paul McCartney. AC/DC, The Clash, and The Stray Cats all made their American TV debuts on Fridays.
The sixth season of SNL was met with bad reviews and low ratings. The next few seasons started an upward rise again with Eddy Murphy joining the show and becoming a breakout star. Fridays rode high until ABC expanded NightLine to five nights a week and pushed the start time to midnight. The show was canceled on April 23, 1982.
Van Halen II turns 40!
Hawaii Five-0 1968-1980
Hawaii Five-0 aired it’s series finale on CBS this week back in 1980. Once the show ended, the production facilities were used for Magnum P.I., which premiered on CBS in December of 80.
The show had one of the best intros of all time. For the last season, the theme song was replaced with a more upbeat version.
The #1 TV show this week in 1979.
Laverne and Shirley premiered on ABC in January of 1976. The show was a spin-off of Happy Days and aired right behind it at 8:30 pm as part of the network’s powerhouse Tuesday night lineup. By the third season, it was the number one show in the nation. In the fall of 79, the show was moved to Thursdays at 8 pm up against The Waltons and Buck Rogers in the 21st Century. The ratings went down and before the end of the season, the show was moved back to Tuesday night. Ratings went back up but they never again reached the levels that it had before the move.
In season 6, The setting of the show was moved from Milwaukee to California. Cindy Williams left the show after two episodes in season 8. ABC wanted to renew the show for a ninth season but Penny Marshall wanted to move the production base to New York City but ABC canceled the show in May of 1983.
Laverne and Shirley were without a doubt one of the signature shows of the seventies. If you have never seen an episode before or you have not watched it in a few decades, go check out, but we suggest the earlier seasons when the girls were still in
Wrestlemania!
The #1 Album on this day in 1982
Who is Generation X?
Generation X by all accounts lies in between the Baby Boomers and Millennials. What is in question though, is exactly when does Gen X start and when does it stop. Gallop says 1965-1979. The Pew Research Center has it listed as 65-80 while the Harvard Center uses 1965 to 1984. We have even seen the first year listed as early as 1961!
For this site, we will agree with Gallop and start with 1965, but we will end in 1976. In the last few years, a new term called “Xennials” has been used to describe a micro-generation of folks born between the late seventies and early eighties. This group would be the middle ground between Gen X and the Millennials.
For this website, our main focus will be on media related to those whose childhood was mainly in the seventies, those who came of age in the eighties and the young adults in the nineties. We also understand and respect the fact that many folks who are considered Xennial refer to themselves as Gen X. We consider this group to be a sub generation of Gen X, so there will postings designed to reach this audience as well. If they prefer to call themselves Gen X, that is fine with us.
What do you think? Do you agree with the starting point being 1965 or should it go lower? Do you agree that Xennials are the middle ground between X and the Millennials and that there is a difference between the three?
