I'm not saying that March 14th, 1980 was the best night for television in the history of the world, but you know, I'm not saying it wasn't either.
Check it: You start out your night with an adorable episode of Here's Boomer. He's America's new Benji... sorta. Anyway, he's adorable and looking to win your heart. Done. This was actually an airing of the first episode of the series, which lasted from 1980 - 1982. It was a spinoff of the popular TV movie, A Christmas for Boomer, and I remember watching the show, although I recall so little about it now. I have a feeling at that time in my young life I was trying to be Miz Cool and pretended that Boomer wasn't completely adorable. What a fool I was.
In this episode, titled Molly, Boomer helps a little girl with some sort of mental disability. He does that cuz he's adorable.
Did I mention he was adorable?
Then, Blair gets into all kinds of hijinks on an episode of The Facts of Life titled Emily Dickinson. In the episode that aired on this night she steals a - you guessed it - Emily Dickinson poem, and of course, gets caught. I guess Mrs. Garrett needs to give our favorite Breck shampoo girl a good talking too.
I really love the very early episodes of Facts of Life where all the girls were hanging out. I loved Molly's spunk and Tootie's skates.
The evening wraps up with Pink Lady and Jeff, which is the infamous short lived television series featuring stand up comedian Jeff Altman and the Japanese disco duo Pink Lady. It's disco galore and a lot of weirdness in between. I just guested on The Movies About Girls podcast this past weekend and Pink Lady and Jeff was the topic of the day! This episode featured Larry Hagman, which makes it totally amazing (even though I haven't seen it...yet).
What can I say, NBC you really had your stuff together in 1980! Here is the promo spot:
This is so cool Amanda! I love seeing the print ads and the TV promo of the same thing! I loved the early Facts of Life too! One of my all time fave theme songs! And I would kill to see that Pink Lady and Jeff show. I have no recollection of it at all.
Ahh The Facts of Life. I loved watching re-runs of that show growing up. Years later I even wrote a fan-fiction story combining that with Freddy Krueger. I called it 'The Facts of Life on Elm Street'. I do wish TV Land or METV would replay all those episodes. Grrr
Hey guys! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!
Carol, Pink Lady is on DVD, and I heard it's rare but can be rented through Netflix. That excites me immensely!
Trevor, OMG! I LOVE the idea of Facts of Life on Elm Street. I'm calling Hollywood now! Also, I *think* the Hub might be playing Facts. I don't have cable anymore, but they were airing it with Family Ties a few months back...
Hal, I saw that interview when Larry passed away. Thank you so much for reminding me of it and posting the link. Truly appreciated!
This is so cool Amanda! I love seeing the print ads and the TV promo of the same thing! I loved the early Facts of Life too! One of my all time fave theme songs! And I would kill to see that Pink Lady and Jeff show. I have no recollection of it at all.
ReplyDeleteAhh The Facts of Life. I loved watching re-runs of that show growing up. Years later I even wrote a fan-fiction story combining that with Freddy Krueger. I called it 'The Facts of Life on Elm Street'. I do wish TV Land or METV would replay all those episodes. Grrr
ReplyDeleteMark Evanier, who worked on PINK LADY, had some amazing behind the scenes info on Hagman and this episode. Long read but a great one:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsfromme.com/2012/11/24/my-larry-hagman-story/
Hey guys! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!
ReplyDeleteCarol, Pink Lady is on DVD, and I heard it's rare but can be rented through Netflix. That excites me immensely!
Trevor, OMG! I LOVE the idea of Facts of Life on Elm Street. I'm calling Hollywood now! Also, I *think* the Hub might be playing Facts. I don't have cable anymore, but they were airing it with Family Ties a few months back...
Hal, I saw that interview when Larry passed away. Thank you so much for reminding me of it and posting the link. Truly appreciated!
Thanks Amanda! I put it in my queue!
ReplyDeleteAnd Thanks Hal - that article was cool!
Very cool, I love Here's Boomer and put together the sites for it. To me it's an awesome show that meant a lot and still does.
ReplyDelete