80s TV

I couldn't find a thread dedicated to Punky Brewster, nor one about general 80s tv, so I thought I'd start one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPghberb3Sk

"Punky Brewster, age 9, greatest community organizer of all time."

Haha "very special episodes" are the best/worst

The greatest "very special episode" of all time was the Family Ties one when Alex got all dark and contemplative like a bad one man play.

No wait, it was the time Albert got addicted to morphine on Little House and Pa had to take him up to a little shack in the woods to get him clean.

certainly it's Gordon Jump trying to molest Arnold and Dudley?

Yeah, that one was traumatizing.

Okay, that one is probably the winner. I'd forgotten about it/blocked it out.

I have never gotten over the time Plus and Minus added guns to their round of "gotcha last."

Yeah I think the G Jump ep is the one most ppl think of first.

I've carried that Albert morphine addiction ep with me my whole life though. Shit got MAD real on the fucking prairie sometimes.

"A little game called 'Neptune'"

I've carried that Albert morphine addiction ep with me my whole life though.

Yeah, if you saw this at a young age, it sticks with you. I've brought it up before with people who never saw it and they act like I'm making it up.

How many very special ep's did Diff Strokes have? The molestation one, the "willis is my name, grass is my game" one (was that the same one that Nancy Reagan cameoed on?), the bulimia one, the don't go hiding in movie props/sets cause they might explode one...

an embarrasment of specialness

I have never gotten over the time Plus and Minus added guns to their round of "gotcha last."

Ha. So you're one of the four other people who remember this show, huh, Eric?

I couldn't find a thread dedicated to Punky Brewster, nor one about general 80s tv

Kind of assumed this would have been the first thread ever on ILE.

i'm more surprised punky brewster isn't already a band name.

So you're one of the four other people who remember this show, huh, Eric?

I'm still in therapy.

Uncle Ned (Tom Hanks) drinks vanilla extract in the middle of the night.

Another unforgettable VSE (very special ep) was janet jackson revealing the iron burns from her abusive mom on Good Times (this might have been late 70s tbh)

^^I remember watching that one when it aired - def. late 70s.

Speaking of Good Times, the one about the portrait of Black Jesus was highly enlightening for young me.

Remember when ALF was addicted to cotton?

Oh yeah me too.

xpost

whatever flimsy moral fibre I have is owed to Little House + Good Times + One Day At A Time

I can't remember any VSE's from One Day At A Time... maybe because behind the scenes the whole show was one long VSE.

Golden Girls + Facts of Life for me
so many lessons about friendship!

Oh yeah how could I forget Facts. Totally learned from that.

Here's everything I remember about The Facts of Life:

1. The weird first season with Molly Ringwald and a bunch of other people who got Chuck Cunningham-ed.
2. "How did you get beer?" "I GOT BEER."
3. Cloris Leachman iirc

Lisa Whelchel is on Survivor this season. I won't watch, but I'm going to keep up with how long Blair Warner can rough it in the wild.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/SagalTwins_M2.jpg

omg Johnny Fever I've been talking about that Albert on Morphine ep of Little House for YEARS and no-one ever believed me!

definitely a traumatizing episode

the Challenger ep of Punky Brewster I remember pretty vividly too. And the Nancy Reagan just say no episode of Diffren't Strokes.

OH OH also remember when Albert tried to make a raccoon his pet but it had fucking RABIES?

YES

god I really did watch a lot more of that show than I thought

Remember when Albert was seeing that girl Sylvia who'd been raped and lived with her abusive father and she ended up killing herself?

Albert was my favorite thing about Little House

holy fuck JF I *DO* remember that

Oh no, wait, she was climbing a ladder and fell off it and died. She loved Albert too much to kill herself.

When I found out the Sagal sisters that LL posted above were Katey Sagal's younger sisters it BLEW MY MIND.

What? I didn't know that!

YUP

Now that they're older you can see it:

http://grease2.net/images/reunion/2007/simpleviewer/images/reunion3b.jpg

Then there was this episode where Punky's friends were all possessed by an evil cave spirit and turned into skeletons and zombies. Also, her dog Brandon.

Facts very special eps: "I can do it myself, Blair", Tootie goes to the city and gets mugged or something?

How did Facts never have an abortion episode?

Or wait, did they? I remember Lisa refusing to do an episode for one religious reason or another.

It was even less controversial than that: "The show's writers created a storyline in this season for the episode titled "The First Time" in which Natalie became the first of the girls to lose her virginity. Lisa Whelchel refused this particular storyline that would have made her character, not Natalie, the first among the four young women in the show to lose her virginity. Having become a Christian when she was 10, Whelchel refused because of her Christian convictions. Whelchel appeared in every episode except that one."

i don't think even roseanne had an abortion episode? actually, has there ever been a young adult show with an abortion episode on US TV? i want to say degrassi had one but... canadian

omg best ever Degrassi - Clode suicide

we reenacted most of that scene in our drama class the next day

a young adult show? I don't think so. maybe one shot/made for TV movies but not a regular show

xp

Party Of Five had them pretty much making up their minds to get an abortion but then last minute miscarriage takes the agency away from them. Cowardly screenwriters.

21 Jump Street did I think

kinda wish I'd seen this 21 Jump St satanic panic episode:

http://www.tv.com/shows/21-jump-street/under-the-influence-88558/

a very special series

Michael Knight's evil twin brother Garthe Knight. NEVER FORGET!

http://fortresstakes.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/michael_garth_knight_rider_evil_twin_hasselhoff.jpg

Also, check out this comp of KITT using "turbo boost"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLkYs8kYLIs

omg I just discovered that Degrassi suicide's name was CLAUDE
lol Canadians, I always thought his name was CLODE and used to laugh like lol such a weird name

hahahaha me too

I recently watched the TV movie special "final" Degrassi where Wheels goes drunk driving...then wiki'd Neil Hope and learned he killed himself a few years back cause of issues stemming from alcoholism.

Wheels showed up at a friend of mine's house party back when they were in college - he was on holiday in Melbourne and knew someone who knew someone who invited him to the party. They said he was super cool until he turned into the guy that wouldn't leave :/

rip Wheels :(

It's amazing how many of these shows I have never seen. I guess 'cause I was old enough to be out seeing bands, or if I was home I was listening to music. (Totally not being lol tv sucks; I've watched hella bad television, just not these.)

snob :)

my problem is I was so young watching a lot of these that my memory of episodes is reaaaaallly murky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRf6hjm9hvU

I knew his name was Claude! I thought you were trying to be funny with Clode. He was so pretentious (RIP).

xp W T H