It was the early 1980s. The Soviet Union was deploying SS-20 missiles across Europe. The US wanted to do the same with its European NATO partners, but Europeans resisted. The Greenham Common women in the UK created human chains to prevent US troops and materiel through to the US base there. The Soviet Union claimed that it was all for peace, but only on their terms: i.e. communism everywhere, ruled from Moscow. Locally, in Toronto, peacenik groups held “die-ins,” and silhouettes were painted on buildings and sidewalks (to mirror the images of those vaporized at Hiroshima). It was a very tense time. Europeans were at stake, but we in North America were safe, thanks to NORAD.
Or were we? This show came on. Holy hannah, what an awakening we all had. Those of us in North America who saw this show; suddenly saw this madness as affecting us also.
The was F/X: The Series, based on the movie F/X and its sequel. The protagonist was a special effects expert, who would help his cop buddy solve crime though the use of his particular skills.
I just saw a promo for this last night on PBS. Apparently it’s going to start airing sometime soon. Check your local listings. (I thought Bonneville looked younger than Lord Grantham in that clip they showed.)
Karachi Kops was a 1994 Pakistani police-reality series that ran on a US cable station (forgot which one) on Saturday mornings a couple of decades ago.
If you’re really into that sort of things, there is a very, very well produced Ethiopian police reality series with all episodes on YouTube, called. Ketezegaw Dose. No subtitles, but a gritty look at modern Ethiopia. Dramatized reenactments, very convincing actors. Worth a look.
Flying Blind was the tale of a wild and glamorous woman who apparently doesn’t realize how implausibly cosmopolitan her experiences seem – especially to the nebbishy everyman she’s for some reason just started a whirlwind romance with.
So whenever the sitcom plot of the week called for a passionate ex or her dad the former spy or whoever to show up, it all rested on her seen-it-all shrug – and you couldn’t ask for a better fit in that role than young unknown Téa Leoni.
Wild West C.O.W-Boys of Moo Mesa: An early 90s cartoon no one but me seems to remember. Mutated anthropomorphic cows fighting baddies in the old west.
Into The West: 2005 TNT miniseries following a family from the 1820s to the 1890s.
Allo Allo: British comedy from the 80s about a café owner in France and his interactions with several quirky Germans. Probably more popular in the UK then here.
I was quite fond of that as a tiny Boods. That and Room 222. I was about 6 when it aired, and thought high school kids must be so cool. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up.
A bonkers show that had me and my 7th grade friends enthralled was the Dracula segment of 1978/79 show called Cliffhangers.
The Hathaways. For some reason, a couple are raising some chimps as if they were their kids, with the expected consequences. I liked it because our next door neighbors for a while were named Hathaway.
Redgrave left after one or two seasons, and was replaced by Sharon Gless (pre-Cagney & Lacey)
I remember that too - he asks the information guy for directions to “The Fenway.”
“Do you mean Fenway Park or Fenway Station?”
“What’s the difference?” He then receives two rather complicated sets of instructions on what transfers to make.
I remember We Interrupt This Week - it was That Was The Week That Was turned into a game show, with a team of celebrities against a team of recurring panelists. I think one of the rules was that the host’s decisions on how many points a team earned were “arbitrary, capricious, and final.”
I wish the BBC would release this on DVD in the USA, although I do have a player that can play European discs. I also wish the BBC would make their discs cheaper, but that’s another story.
Er, obviously Red Dwarf’s humor holds up today, as it is back in production; Season 11 was released on DVD a few months ago.
If we’re talking about shows nobody but me remembers, here’s one that’s so obscure, that even I don’t remember its title - I thought it was Vaudeville, but IMDB has no reference to it. It was a syndicated hour-long show in the 1970s that was a variety show that was staged like a vaudeville show, with acts performing on a stage. (Imagine America’s Got Talent without the judges.)
Yeah I remember not liking Sharon Gless as a replacement.
Yeah, Red Dwarf has always been popular among my crowd. I can’t tolerate it. I can’t stand Craig Charles as an actor. And I just don’t find any of it funny.
A cartoon called “Wonder Three” sometimes also called “Super Three” This was the third series exported to the US written by Osamu Tezuka. He was also the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. If there wasn’t an actual episode posted on Youtube I would think I imagined it since I seem to be the only person who remembers seeing it.
Eerie, Indiana, which was released on DVD.
A cartoon named “Thunderbirds” which had nothing to do with the more famous TV series.
I remember and love, loved Family! Had a crush on Willie. My sister was similar to Buddy (tomboy) in many ways and we both loved the show. The only character that got on my kid-nerves was Meredith Baxter-Birney (I think she was still then, not just Baxter?), the oldest sister. I think her name might’ve been Nancy? Anyway, sometimes her drama bored us. The parents were so awesome, patient and kind but never seemed smarmy. Years later I remember finding out that the dad on Family was Matthew Broderick’s real-life dad and thought, yep, I can see it! Oh, I think Quinn Cummings came onto the show later too. I wasn’t crazy about her character. “Precocious” kid characters can go either way for me. In the 90s I made the acquaintance of someone who went to school with Quinn and is friendly with her. Said she’s quite a nice and lovely person.
A show I remember that I haven’t seen in this thread yet is Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, with Blair Brown. I only recall a couple specific things about it, just that I found her character really appealing and wanted to tune in. There was a storyline where she dated a black guy, which was soooo controversial at the time and I thought was cool as hell. Not that I ask every person I know, but of those I’ve ever asked, only one person in my whole life since then has said they remember this show! I’ve sometimes considered seeing if I can find some episodes somewhere but am half afraid it will turn out to be awful.
There’s a Canadian show I really liked called “Little Mosque on the Prairie” that was never shown in America, even though it was on for 5 years and shown in 92 countries. It’s about a Muslim community living amongst other regular Canadians. Kind of flat as far as acting and writing goes but it was absolutely refreshing to see and I really enjoyed seeing Muslim characters just living their lives but also addressing cultural issues and clashes not only with non-muslims but also within their own group.
It’s on Hulu now. I highly suggest checking it out!
Actually a show I think nobody if few heard of? I woke up one night and couldn’t sleep so I randomly turned onto MeTV? or AntennaTv? and saw “Land of the Giants” I was stunned I’d never heard of this series, but then I realized why, at just two seasons it never landed in syndication. MeTV or whatever broadcasting company it airs on, manages to I assume show 1-2 episodes a week to stretch the series to 26 weeks to a year.
Some funny anecdotes I looked up: the series takes place in 1983 but with the clothes the cast had on, obviously filmed in the 60s. Everyone was in tip-top shape cuz the cast had to perform their own stunts pretending to be little folks in a land of giants (using the electric cords to slide down from tables to floors) . The Land of the Giants looked like Earth complete with English speaking giants but somehow was not Planet Earth.
Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, I’m glad someone mentioned it. And that Molly became a single mom, and it was hot topic at time? (Did it happen before Murphy Brown?)