TV

Scooby-Doo turns 50!

by generationxrewind

Happy birthday Scooby-Doo! Fifty years ago this weekend at 10:30 am on Saturday morning, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You premiered on CBS. The show was an instant hit with 65% of the Saturday morning audience tuned in each week to watch Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma, and a Great Dane called Scooby, investigate a new mystery.

The original show was thirty minutes in length and stayed that way until 1972 when it was expanded to one hour. The new version was called The New Scooby-Doo Movies and featured a guest star (fictitious and real) helping the gang solve a mystery. This version ran until 1974 and then reruns of the original show aired until 1976 when the show left CBS.

Scooby moved to ABC and was partnered up with a new show to form The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour. The following year the show became Scooby’s All-Star Laff-a-Lympics. In 1979, The title changed again to Scooby’s All-Stars.

1979 was a big year for Scooby and not just because of yet another title change. The forty episodes produced between 76 and 78 went into syndication as The Scooby-Do Show and ABC aired a prime time special called Scooby-Doo Goes Hollywood. That same year, a new character was added to the gang.

Scrappy-Doo, Scooby’s nephew shared top billing in the new show Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. The series was a hit and differed from past versions in that the bad guys were actual supernatural beings and not humans with a mask on. Mystery Inc. continued on in various incarnations during the eighties on ABC including the last version on the network, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. The show was a hit and featured the gang as youngsters in their hometown of Coolsvills. This version stayed on the air until 1991.

In the late eighties, Hanna-Barbera Productions who owned the series started to make Direct to Video Scooby-Doo movies. Like the show with Scrappy, these movies also featured real supernatural villains. In the early nineties, Scooby reruns started to air on the Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbera was sold to Turner Broadcasting. The reruns brought a resurgence to the franchise.

In the late nineties, Warner Animation (Turner had merged with Time Warner) began producing direct to video Scooby-Doo movies. The success of the reruns and the movies led to a theatrical live-action film that came out in 2002. Scooby-Doo was a hit at the box office and earned $130 million in the USA. A less successful sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed came out in 2004.

The Great Dane returned to Saturday mornings in 2002 when The WB started to air What’s New, Scooby-Doo. That show was replaced with Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! which ran for two more seasons on The CW. In 2010, The Cartoon Network premiered Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, which aired for three years. It was followed by Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! which aired for two years and was also seen on The Cartoon Network. The Boomerang streaming service introduced Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? in June of 2019.

The original audience for Scooby-Doo in 1969 was the youngest of Generation Jones and the oldest of Generation X. During these last fifty years, the series entertained not just the kids of those generations, but also the Xennials, the Millennials, Generation Z and now the youngest group, which some call Generation Alpha.

Scooby-Doo has never gone away in the fifty years since it hit the airwaves. We all know what a Scooby snack is. Say Shaggy and Velma, and everyone knows who you are talking about. Scooby-Doo merchandise has earned a few billion in the five decades since that first Saturday morning. Scooby is as beloved by the youngsters as much as he was and is by our generation.

Although we have to share Scooby with other Generations, the series is inherently ours. In a time when we did not have videotapes, DVDs or 24 hours of access to cartoons on TV or online, Scooby-Doo reigned supreme. It is with all of this history, longevity and enduring popularity, that we at Generation X Rewind proclaim that Scooby-Doo is the greatest Saturday morning cartoon series of the Gen X era.

TV

Tabitha

by generationxrewind

If you asked Gen X kids of the seventies and eighties to name their top five TV programs from the sixties that they grew up watching, it’s a good bet that Bewitched would be one of the top picks. The show debuted on ABC in 1964 and stayed on prime time until 1972. After the show left the network, it became a staple of afternoon syndicated TV on stations all across the country. It continues to live on cable and nostalgia channels to this day.

Bewitched featured a suburban couple comprised of a modern-day Witch and her mortal husband who worked in advertising. In the third season in 1966, a daughter Tabitha came along and was followed in 1969 by her brother Adam. Both kids had the same powers as their mom.

The show’s success in syndication was probably the reason why ABC aired a spinoff show, Tabitha, in 1977. A pilot was produced in 1976 but was not picked up by the network. Another pilot was produced the following year, this time with a new Tabitha and this version was picked up for the 1977-1978 season.

Tabitha from Bewitched would have been eleven in 1977, however, in the new show, she was a twenty-something production assistant at a TV station in Los Angeles. Another way the show strayed from the original was that Adam was older than his sister and he was a mortal. Tabitha also featured a character named Aunt Minerva, who was not a part of the original show.

Tabitha was portrayed by Erin Murphy on the originals show and by Lisa Hartman on the spinoff. Hartman went on to greater fame as a cast member of Knotts Landing in the eighties. She also had a #1 song on the Country chart in 1999 with When I Said I Do, a duet with her husband, Clint Black. The show also featured Robert Urich as Tabitha’s love interest. A year later he would have the leading role on Vega$, which was also on ABC.

The pilot aired in May of 1977. The series made it debut on Sept 10 but the second episode did not air until November. It was then regularly airing on Saturday nights and getting good ratings at first, but then started to go down and got even worse by the time the show moved to Friday nights. The show was canceled and reruns aired up until August of 78.

Music, TV

Love Stinks

by generationxrewind

Flashback Friday Music Video.

MTV debuted at 12:01 am on Aug 1, 1981. To celebrate the channel’s 38th birthday, every Flashback Friday music video in August will be a song that appeared on the first day of MTV. Today’s video is Love Stinks by The The J. Geils Band

Love Stinks hit #38 on the American singles charts and went up to #15 on the Canadian charts in 1980. The song was written by the band’s lead singer Peter Wolf and keyboardist Seth Justman. The lyrics have been rumored to be inspired by Wolf’s marriage to film star Faye Dunaway which ended in divorce in 1979.

To stream or purchase Best Of The J. Geils Band via Amazon, click on the image below.

Music, TV

Thank You For Being A Friend.

by generationxrewind

Flashback Friday Music Video.

MTV debuted at 12:01 am on Aug 1, 1981. To celebrate the channel’s 38th birthday, every Flashback Friday music video in August will be a song that appeared on the first day of MTV. Today’s video is Thank You For Being A Friend by Andrew Gold.

Thank You For Being A Friend was the first of four music videos from Andrew Gold that aired on that first day on MTV. The other three videos were Go Back Home Again, Never Let Her Slip Away, and his biggest American chart hit, Lonely Boy, which hit the top 10 in 1977.

In 1978 Thank You For Being A Friend hit #25 on the Billboard singles chart and #11 on Cash Box. Seven years later in 1985, the tune was used as the theme song for The Golden Girls. It was re-recorded for the show and featured vocals by Cynthia Fee. That version has become one of the best-known TV theme songs of all time.

Stream or purchase Thank You for Being a Friend: The Best of Andrew Gold via Amazon by clicking on the image below.

Music, TV

I’M GONNA FOLLOW YOU

by generationxrewind

Flashback Friday Music Video.

MTV debuted at 12:01 am on Aug 1, 1981. To celebrate the channel’s 38th birthday, every Flashback Friday music video in August will be a song that appeared on the first day of MTV. Today’s video is I’m Gonna Follow You by Pat Benatar.

The second video ever played on MTV was You Better Run, which was the lead single off of Benatar’s 4 x platinum album, Crimes of Passion. Later in the day, I’m Gonna Follow You, another song from the same album made it’s MTV debut. What’s interesting is that the album’s highest-charting song, Hit Me with Your Best Shot, never had a music video released for it, but one was made for I’m Gonna Follow You, which was not a single.

Click on the image below to stream or buy Crimes of Passion by Pat Benatar via Amazon.

Music, TV

More Than I Can Say

by generationxrewind

Flashback Friday Music Video.

MTV debuted at 12:01 am on Aug 1, 1981. To celebrate the channel’s 38th birthday, every Flashback Friday music video in August will be a song that appeared on the first day of MTV. Today’s video is More Than I Can Say by Leo Sayer.

The song spent five weeks at #2 on the singles chart in December of 1980 and January of 1981. It also went to #2 on the British singles charts. The song hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

The song was written by Sonny Curtis and Jerry Allison. Both were members of The Crickets. Allison played drums in the band before and after Buddy Holly’s death. Curtis performed with Holly before the Crickets formed and then joined the band as lead singer after Holly died in 1959.

Stream or purchase The Very Best of Leo Sayer via Amazon by clicking on the link below.

Film, TV

Gen X Westerns

by generationxrewind

The Western had been a major genre for film and television from the earliest days of both their industries up until the first half of the seventies. In fact, by that time, there had already been over one hundred Western TV shows on the airwaves. In 1959 alone, there were 30 Westerns that you could watch during the week. By the late seventies, successful Westerns were few and far between. Hollywood had worn out the genre.

Older Gen Xers might remember when Gunsmoke was still on the air. That classic show ran on CBS from 1955 to 1975. Another show that might have caught the eye of eary Xers was Kung Fu, the legendary Western with a martial arts twist that aired on ABC from 1972 to 1975. While there were still some big Western films made in the first half of the seventies, it could be argued that only The Outlaw Josey Wales and The Shootist, which was John Wayne’s final film, were the only significant classic westerns released in the second half of the seventies.

The eighties kicked off the genre with some major box office bombs such as Heaven’s Gate and The Legend of the Lone Ranger. There were some hits scattered across the decade such as Silverado, Young Guns, The Man from Snowy River and of course the biggest Western of the decade, Pale Rider. The genre really shined on the small screen during the decade in the form of Made for Television Movies and Mini-Series. Some of note are the Kenny Rogers Gambler films on CBS, The five Desperado films on NBC and several CBS films featuring Country music legends such as Wilie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings. The biggest hit on TV was the massively successful Mini-Series, Lonesome Dove in 1989.

The success of Lonesome Dove kicked off a bit of a Western resurgence in the first half of the nineties. The decade started off in 1990 with a huge hit in Dances with Wolves. The film earned Kevin Costner an Oscar for best director and it also won the award for best picture. Young Guns 2 was also big at the box office that year. Unforgiven starring Clint Eastwood was a huge hit in 1992 and won the Oscar for best picture. Tombstone became a classic in 1993 and possibly only second to My Darling Clementine from 1946 as the definitive film version of the famous gun battle at the O.K. Corral. Kevin Costner returned to the genre in 1994 with Wyatt Earp, but this version of the O.K. Corral story was not as successful as Tombstone.

TV Westerns continued with a series of Gunsmoke movies and Kenny Rogers returned to play the Gambler two more times. Lonesome Dove had a sequel called Return to Lonesome Dove air in 1993 and that was followed by two syndicated series: Lonesome Dove: The Series and Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years.

What was your favorite Gen X era Western?

TV

Family Feud

by generationxrewind

One of the most popular game shows in TV history debuted on this day 43 years ago. Family Feud premiered on ABC on July 12, 1976. The show was hosted by Richard Dawson and created by Mark Goodson.

Dawson was best known for his role on the World War 2 POW sitcom, Hogan’s Heroes. He was also a popular panelist on Match Game, which was another very successful game show of the seventies. Goodson, along with his partner Bill Todman, produced some of the biggest game shows on TV. Besides Family Feud and Match Game, they also produced Password, The Price is Right, Card Sharks, and Tattletales.

Although it got off to a slow climb as far as ratings go, it eventually became so popular that the following year saw a syndicated nighttime version premier on stations all across the country. The show surpassed Match Game as the most viewed game show on TV and kept that title until Wheel of Fortune took the crown in 1984. The daytime and nighttime shows were canceled in 1985.

CBS revived the show in 1988 and another syndicated version premiered that year as well. Both shows were hosted by Ray Combs. The CBS show stayed on the air until 1993. By this time, Goodson and Todman had passed away and Mark’s son, Johnathan was running the company that owned the show. Ratings were down on the syndicated show and Richard Dawson was hired to once again host the show. His return briefly brought the ratings back up, but that didn’t last long and the show was canceled in 1995.

In 1999 a new syndicated version hit the airwaves and was hosted by comedian Louie Anderson. After Anderson left the show, Richard Karn of Home Improvement fame took over for four years. John O’Hurley who played Peterman on Seinfeld also did a four-year stint as host. In 2010, Steve Harvey took over as host and the ratings shot up, In 2015, the show leaped ahead of Wheel of Fortune as the most watched syndicated game show on TV. Family Feud celebrates it’s 43rd anniversary this week as the #1 syndicated show in America.

Here’s the first Family Feud show from July 12, 1976.

TV

Farrah Fawcett

by generationxrewind

Farrah Fawcett passed away on this day 10 years ago at the age of 62.
She was the first pop culture phenomenon of the Gen X era.

As we have stated before, we consider the Gen X era to be from the mid-seventies to the mid-nineties. For first wave Gen Xers, this covers middle childhood in the mid and late seventies, late childhood and teen years/ college in the eighties and college and young adult life in the early and mid-nineties.

So with that being said, it really is the mid-seventies when older Gen X kids are starting to be aware of the culture around them. Charlie’s Angels debuted on ABC in the fall of 1976. The show was an instant hit and the most talked about new show of the year. Besides Fawcett, the show also starred Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith as a trio of beautiful private eyes who work for a mysterious boss named Charlie whose face you never see on screen. All three actresses become household names, but with the success of the show and an iconic poster in millions of young men’s bedrooms, Fawcett is the standout star of the show. It also doesn’t hurt that she is married to Lee Majors who stars as The Six Million Dollar Man, also on ABC.

Many folks would think that Star Wars would be the first pop culture phenomenon of the Gen X era, but that movie did not come out until May of 1977. That is the reason why we consider Farrah as our generation’s first pop culture phenomenon.


TV

One Day at a Time

by generationxrewind

The #1 show on TV this week ( June 12-18, 1978 ) in 1978 was One Day at a Time. The show was one of the many programs that were produced by Norman Lear in the seventies. Like most of the others, One Day at a Time aired on CBS.

The show was about a recently divorced mom who moved with her two daughters from Logansport, Indiana to an apartment in Indianapolis. The series was created by Whitney Blake and Allan Mannings, a married writing team. The show was based on Blake’s life as a divorced mom with kids. Blake was also an actress who played the mom on the sixties sitcom, Hazel. One Day at a Time was different from most other sitcoms focused on a family in that the single parent was not widowed but divorced.

The show starred Bonnie Franklin as the mom, Ann Romano with Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli as her two teenage daughters. The show also starred Pat Harrington Jr. as Schneider, the apartment building’s superintendent. Various other characters came and went throughout the show’s nine-year run. Phillips was fired in 1980 due to drug issues and was rehired a few years later. She collapsed on the set in 1983 and afterward refused to take a drug test and was fired.

First wave Gen Xers might have been a bit young to watch the show when it premiered in 1975, but the show stayed on the air until they were in high school or just starting college in 1984. Many Gen X members did grow up with the show via the reruns that CBS aired on weekday afternoons from 1979-1982. The show is remembered for being one of the first to feature a divorced parent as the main character, for launching the stardom of Phillips and Bertinelli and for the various hot button social issues of the time that were discussed on the show.

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