They’re masterpieces compared to now. And, the best part was they were just entertainment. And I’ve never understood reality TV. well, actually, I did like that one where they were outdoors people and had to race to somewhere. I especially remember Patagonia as one season. That was interesting, they were doing something. But who the hell cares about rich people sitting around on their fat asses (literally). We all have families lol. We all know other people. Why is watching someone else’s life so interesting? It boggles. We all LIVE reality TV! Give me some escapism, please.
I'm doing research into unmade Superhero movies & Jim Henson was planning to direct MARVEL'S SECRET WARS: THE MOVIE a live action 15 rated adaptation of the comic storyline in 1988 a full year before Tim Burton made dark superhero movies the norm with Batman. As it would have been a British movie, funding was an issue & killed it in 88 but Henson was still involved in 90 when he died & its interesting to think were his career would have gone had he lived & made other non-Muppet movies.
He was in the process of selling everything to Disney when he died. His death stopped the sale. His family eventually came back to it and sold years later.
William Katt. Greatest american Hero should never have been cancelled. Great theme song. I remember talk of bringing it back. Seemed like a hit at the time.
Recently saw reruns and I loved the show back then and now too. The theme song was actually a hit on AM radio too. Those were the days... maybe the last of a great era. Today sucks !
Yes! It was kind of a low rent Magnum P.I. type 1980's "buddy-buddy" show. It kept with the likes of Riptide, Simon and Simon, The Fall Guy and to a lesser extent The Greatest American Hero. I watched Hardcastle and McCormick semi regularly on ABC where it ran for a couple of years. They also re ran the show in the late eighties and early ninties on Saturday afternoons or something. It was a decent show in the day, but really does not hold up very well today. It was kind of silly, a lot of shooting, punching and running folks down with cars although no one ever really got hurt. I think it was Brian Keith's last TV show on the downslide and end of his career.
@@310McQueen I sure do. Every other week it seemed he was having to repair the bullet holes in it. It was almost like the A- Team with all the gun fire but no people were injured. Hah.
"Believe it or not" the Greatest American Hero theme song was hardly forgettable as it joined just a very few select television theme songs to make a hit on the music charts and get airplay on radio stations. (Hawaii Five O, Ballad of Jed Clampet, and Petticoat Junction are some of the others.) The show, of course, is another matter.
The Greatest American Hero was a great show. Super hero with flaws and doubts. A great mix of comedy and action. Maybe you were watching a different show?
@@channingyourtatum6726 I had grown up by the '80s and worked nights a lot in that decade, so I didn't have much time for television. I remember watching the show a few times, wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but it wasn't horrible either. What the last part of my comment meant was more about how the show did with general audiences. As I recall it didn't last very long, one or two seasons, wasn't it? I had no intention of trashing the show. Thanks for your reply.
@@wellston2826 Without checking, I believe that it was on for 3 seasons. You could technically say 2.5 because I believe the 1st season was a mid-season replacement. Either way, ABC did lose faith in it. I believe that was because it didn't get the ratings they wanted and it was a bit more expensive to produce than they liked. Thanks for your return response and have a great weekend!
I was 14-18 during this time period, and had a TV in my bedroom, yet recall NONE of these shows. The only reasonable explanation is you have retrieved these intros from an alternate universe.
Good comment. I say the same thing. I was around then, though younger. Never saw any of these. The networks must have not given these shows enough of a chance.
By law (United States Constitution, Amendment 28, Section 4), Suzanne Pleshette must have a television series basically at all times, with no more than 7 months elapsing between subsequent series.
B'Elanna Torres (Roxanne Dawson) was in Nightingales before her Voyager Days. She was credited as Roxanne Biggs....since she was once upon a time married to DS9's Damar.
I remember watching "You Again?" during its first run. As a child I loved Jack Klugman and figured it'd be awesome because he was in it. Stamos was obviously still an unknown here.
I didn't think Stamos was unknown at this point, since his role as Blackie Parrish on General Hospital (1982-84) was popular with soap viewers. He was making his first forays into primetime with Dreams (CBS, 1984) and You Again?, but I think both were the victim of stiff competition. Not even Full House was an immediate hit.
NBC literally dominated the 80s with Hill Street Blues, Cosby Show, Cheers, Family Ties, Miami Vice St Elsewhere. Those shows never stood a chance if they were up against them.
Susan Walters from “Nightingales” later played “Mulva” aka Dolores on Seinfeld. In the same show, Roxann Dawson later became B’Elanna Torres on Star Trek Voyager.
Real, proffessional nurses apparently called the show out back in the day. I remember some said it did not depict what actual nurses did and the excess T & A. The women were pretty but I did not contunue watching it because the show was just plain bad. But then again, does TV ever get lawyers, cops, doctors and nurses right?
So someone made "Dads", it didn't work; then two years later they make "My Two Dads", same exact thing but with a different cast, and it lasts for four seasons? TV is strange.
looking at the timing of air dates, it was less than 1 year between them my guess is 'Dads" was dismissed as a 'Kate & Allie' Gender flip... whereas 'My Two Dads' had the benefit of hype from '3 Men & a Baby' coming out that fall (similar premise of Bachelors of different "styles" being forced into child care)
I only remember Snoops with Venus Flytrap. I also remember High Mountain Rangers which was like the first season of Jesse Hawkes before it got reworked.
He did. It was Mike Post... everything from Hills Street Blues and Law and Order to Greatest American hero, Quantum Leap, and tons of other shows that never made it past 1st season. The man was EVERYWHERE on television... where there are cops, cities, and electric keyboard, there is Mike Post :)
@@dandiacal oh how awesome--thank you! tv/film composing was my dream as a kid, and Post's music was a big part of that soundscape for me as a 5-8 year old. You rock!! :)
Wow!..... I just long for those days. I had such a good time in my youth. The 70's and 80's was a great time to be a kid and teen. I'm glad I had that chance.
as more and more new shows popped up it was realized that not everyone would be catching first episodes so they often had "Long Versions" of intros that were aired maybe five or six times that would tell the story of what the show was about and then they went to a short version once the show caught on and they could go back to selling more ad space....if it went into rerun the songs might have gotten even shorter again. On some dvd versions they got lazy and just threw on the long version for every episode. I have the Bosom Buddies (Tom Hanks) first season and the bloody theme song is two minutes and fifty eight seconds...they kept the long version for each and every episode on the dvds!!!!
It was a slower paced, gentler time back then. People would sit back and relax and just watch the intros with their family, pets and horse while the gas mantle gently glimmered.
Some of the best memories of TV shows come from the theme song... as soon as you hear an opening note or line, you instantly know the show. Today, theme songs are practically non-existent. Also, a lot of theme songs were opportunities for musicians to be seen/heard. Waylon Jennings, Billy Joel, many others... not everyone had CMT, MTV, VH1, etc in the 1980s.
Amen. Gritty, colorful, eccentric, funny show. I was hoping Frank's Place would succeed so some of the cast would host the(short lived) Jambalaya Jam, a Louisiana music festival in Philly. Didn't work out like that.
Sometimes you can look at these intros, having never seen the show, and know exactly what every character is like. 99,9% of these sitcoms followed the same damn formula
Jim Henson Hour for TV or Public TV and anything at all connected with his genius to entertain the young and young at heart goes well beyond "memorable" to become a treasured classic. Jim Henson's magic and talent continues to reward all in viewing the treasure left to us that Disney Studios was wise enough to purchase rights to part of his amazing legacy.
William Coulman I found a DVD of The Storyteller a while back. The DVD cover was blatantly trying to capitalize on Lord of the Rings fame at the time (young kid's picture set in the middle of a huge ring). Just as I was about to make fun of it, I realized what the show was and bought it immediately! :)
I watched every episode of Blacke's Magic. The Colby's I remember as well. I think it was a spin off of Dynasty. I love watching these intros. It is such a neat blast from the past!
If you liked Blacke's Magic, then there's a couple other old shows you may like: The Magician starring Bill Bixby. A magician who gets involved solving crimes. Feather & Gather starring Stephanie Powers and Harold Gould. She's a lawyer and her dad is a con man. They get involved with solving crimes. I used to love those shows.
Oh My Goulashes! DADS! That was the show! I remember some 30+ years ago I saw an episode where the girl wants to make dinner, but take substantially longer than she should. & the males start to slowly go insane from hunger! It was cancelled right after that & I could never remember the name! Thanks!
"Hey, hey, trying to work it out/Compromise, that's what it's all about/So we're doing the best we can working together/There's gonna be changes, changes in your life/And maybe these changes will open up your eyes/There's gonna be changes, changes in your life/Changes right before your eyes"
10:05- Aaron Spelling reworked this controversial 1989 series into the 1995 syndicated series "UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL" , with less emphasis on sex, a slightly different setting, and a new cast. That version lasted nine episodes.
Exactly my thoughts, and Ricardo Montalban as well. But yeah, my mouth fell open to see Barbara Stanwick's name in there! (as well as her appearance, only knowing her from her golden age films)
"I feel the thunder I can smell the rain /I see the broken clouds of fear at the edge of the plain/I can see (grims?) of red, for the night has fled/and I can fly at the edge of the sky/oh I want to reach out my hand/and find the strength to stand/at the edge of the sky there's a road in the distance/it's not too far to follow for the one who keeps his eyes keeps his eyes at the edge of the sky/I see the light of tomorrow shining like the truth in Jesse's eyes/at the edge of the sky!
all I did was watch Tv in the 80's I don't remember a single one NBC had the best shows back then , Thursdays , Fridays , Saturdays Sundays where all these come from !?
I've been having such a blast watching all these montages during the "break". I worked in network TV throughout the 90's and 2000's and just love seeing all the familiar production names and marveling at how many of these actors are still working today. Something that always makes me grin are how many times you see "...With Joe Gorgonzola as Ben Fitzpatrick" and you have to ask who the hell is Joe Gorgonzola and how the hell did his agent land him that credit?! Sometimes I go look them up and see they've had no career whatsoever. Crazy how some of these shows had absolutely no recognizable names in the cast at all yet some are star-studded and they all just failed.
the show YOU AGAIN, was an American remake of a very funny UK sitcom, HOME TO ROOST. starring the late JOHN THAW. . and the lady who played the house keeper, went on to appear in the us remake
What the heck?!? I was practically glued to the tv in the 80's and I can't remember any of these. Though did anybody else catch B'lana Torres (sans klingon makeup) in that "Nightingales" intro?
You're right. I was in my late teens at the time, and don't remember seeing any. I have the barest memories from other media that "Gung Ho" and "Dynasty The Colbys" existed, but the others I have completely never heard of them before now.
Sab Shimono is from Gung Ho is the voice of Homer Simpson in the Japanese dubs. You can also hear him playing the spokesman of the Japanese “Heavy Manufacturing Concern” in the hot tub in the “Mr. Sparkle” episode (“Hello American investor! I see you are interested in distributing Mr. Sparkle in your home prefecture. You have chosen wisely.”)
Dee Wallace Stone who costarred as the mother in Nothing Is Easy was also a mother in ET. Also in Nothing Is Easy we have the Chinese kid from The Goonies and the second Indiana Jones film , Jonathan Ke Quan
Nightingales was famous in the industry for being the biggest T&A pitch in Aaron Spelling's career. The "premise": a bunch of student nurses living together and the air conditioner keeps breaking down. Every actress was evaluated by breast size and ass shape. As for the plot, that never came up. They declared it would be a "40 share", no doubt about it. When they previewed the pilot at a movie theater (common practice in the 80's), the producers sat in the back and couldn't understand why the audience kept laughing at the bad dialog and terrible acting. They concluded the audience didn't represent an average television audience. They were wrong.
Why would the air conditioning keep breaking down? Literally just for the "oh my goodness it's so hot, I'd better just walk around in a cami and pair of knickers" factor?
It was criticized back then as being cheesecake by actual women in the nursing profession. I did watch it a few times when it was on, but it was really too stupid to watch, even by today's standards. I think it was a replacement show, but I know it did not last a full season. It was not on TV very long.
So many modern shows have to run short for the extra commercials, so they don’t have time for the long, old school intros. Maybe just a title card or words over the opening.
Mike B I looked into it, and the original show from which this one was spun off (equally short-lived and unmemorable) was executive produced by Robert Conrad’s daughter and also featured his son-in-law. Comically nepotistic.
"Nothing is easy, but you have to play/The hand that you were dealt/Though nothing is easy, on a sunny day/The coldest ice will melt/So let's live and love and smile/The struggle's all worthwhile/Nothing is easy, but our luck will change/The way we knew it would/Cuz nothing is easy, but we'll rearrange/The bad into the good/Nothing is easy but we're gonna be all right/We're gonna be all right/We're gonna be all right. . . "
I would have watched the shows with Tim Ried and William Katt. Those are good actors. And as persons, they are good people. Those shows should have been good.
I remember four of these shows from my childhood: Nothing Is Easy, A Fine Romance, Snoops, and The Colbys. I'd hardly call The Colbys "barely memorable", considering how ABC hyped that show to death back in the day.
Those intros were so forgettable, I've already forgotten them! And if the Greatest American Hero hadn't gotten canceled too early, William Katt wouldn't have been stuck in the dud titled "Top of the Hill"!
John Stamos and Jack Klugman were an actual Odd Couple. I never knew they did a show together . In fact I never saw any of these shows and watch tv 85 to 89
I remember it only because Stamos moved on to Full House soon after... odd how he went from alleged teenager on you again to 20-something 'rock star' in one year... I also seem to recall a 'Pot Joke" that I swear was from this show, (I didn't know much about weed, but I got the joke) about how 'Stamos; got in trouble as a kid for growing 'funny plants' in the back row of the Garden , but the real grower was the 'good kid' next door who eventually got busted during the gap between prologue and series proper
