 This is the SF Productions podcast network Wonderful TV year 1987 from the pop culture bunker a minty and I'm Mark You can check out our audio podcast how I got my wife to read comics on itunes or your favorite podcast catcher or our website SF podcast network comm now I've collected TV guide fall preview issues throughout the years and thought it would be fun to talk about which shows made it Which didn't and which ones we actually watched I do have to give credit to Ken reads TV guidance counselor podcast for this idea So in 1987 on Saturday, we have Once a hero on ABC a comic book writer Abner Milo O'Shea is in a rut His character captain justice has similar adventures over and over even the citizens of his affix his fictional town have noticed it Lack of interest is making characters literally disappear So the captain Jeff Lester comes out of the book and into our world where he has no powers He teams up with gumshoe Robert Forster a private dick also from this world to solve real-world crimes Sound needlessly complicated. It is the premiere of this drama Was preempted in many cities with the premiere of Star Trek next generation Which was in syndication, but many ABC affiliates picked it up and the captain only lasted three episodes Ironically Jeff Lester had just come from a role in the film Star Trek 4 Milo O'Shea was far better known for the stage winning two Tonys Robert Forster was later nominated for an Oscar for Jackie Brown and has had a long career with 186 IMDB credits so far Franks plays CBS Tim Reed Venus Flytrap of WKRP plays a Boston College professor Who inherits a New Orleans restaurant from his father and was from the same producers as WKRP? He plans to sell the restaurant, but voodoo waitress miss Marie Francis E. Williams puts a hex on him So his life falls apart back in Boston So he returns forced to run the restaurant dealing with the staff Chef big Arthur Tony Burton bartender Tiger Charles Lampkin head waitress Anna May Francesca P. Roberts as well as regulars such as lawyer Bubba Robert Harper and Funeral home owner Bertha Virginia Capers There's also Bertha's lovely daughter Hannah Daphne Maxwell Reed Tim's actual wife The dramedy had a slower pace to match the locale Which may have resulted in the single season Despite that it was nominated for an Emmy as best comedy and is considered a show that was canceled too soon Daphne Maxwell Reed was the first African-American model to get the cover of glamor and would later be a regular on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air leg work on CBS Margaret Collins stars in this detective series about a former assistant district attorney Now a PI when she wasn't getting the bad guys She commiserated with her friends still in the DA's office Francis McDormand and pulled info from her NYPD brother Patrick James Clark. The name of the show was a reference to her shapely gams, which were front and center in many shots Ironically Colin was coming off a DA role in 1985 short-lived sitcom Foley Square She would much later be a regular on gossip girl Of course Francis McDormand went on to be an Oscar-winning actress for Fargo and three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Moving on to Sunday My two dads NBC just interject. This is the first one that I even recognize Michael Paul riser coming off diner Beverly Hills cop and alien and Joey Greg Evigan coming off BJ and the bear several years earlier find themselves sharing custody of teenager Nicole Stacey Keenan There they were both boyfriends of Nicole's mom who passed away and since this was apparently an era before DNA tests They all live in a funky and NYC apartment Michael is straight laced Joey is free-wheeling. So it's the odd couple with the kid They are monitored by the judge who made the call about all this played by Florence Stanley previously Mrs Fish of Barney Miller Giovanni Robisi and Chad Allen played Nicole's competing boyfriends and Dick Butkus was led added later as the owner of a cafe in the building the show ran for three seasons and would later Get a record for the highest syndication fee paid for it per episode $250,000 per episode by USA Network riser went on to mad about you Evigan to tech war and Keenan to step by step Dolly on ABC if anyone could resuscitate the variety show format It was Dolly Parton, of course It had a country feel with guests brought on to sing with the legend along with sketches Parton already had done a variety show in Incindication a decade earlier and ABC paid her 44 million dollars for a two-year contract The first episode got the highest rating for any series premiere a Different world would beat it later that season But it didn't hold up over time despite various adjustments and was gone after one season This was the last gasp for the variety show format various attempts to return it so far had failed Buck James on ABC Dennis Weaver returns to TV as the head of a Texas hospital trauma unit. He works with a female why? chief resident Alberta Watson and a hospital administrator John Cullum He's also got three kids from a failed marriage to handle Alberta Watson would go on to La Femme Nikita and John Cullum to Northern exposure and to Tony's Buck James only lasted a season on Monday We had everything's relative on CBS two brothers share a New York City apartment One is sensible the other carefree But no kids this time the sensible one is Jason Alexander and the carefree one is John Bolger Guess who had a bigger career? They both have to deal with their mother played by Ann Jackson the show lasted all of six weeks Alexander went on to Seinfeld Bolger onto third watch and Jackson was far better known for her stage roles Moving on to Tuesday Jake and the Fat Man CBS William Conrad returns to TV as the latter part of a crime fighting team Conrad plays a district attorney while Jake Joey Penny is his Investigator Jake lived the high life with expensive suits a Porsche snazzy apartment. I guess investigating pays well Alan Campbell played the Assistant DA the show is originally set in Southern, California But moved to Hawaii after Magnum PI left the air and then moved back to California the series ran for five seasons Now one episode turned into a backdoor pilot for Dick Van Dyke's next series diagnosis murder JJ Starbucks on NBC Western TV stalwart Dale Robertson plays an eccentric Texas billionaire driving from town to town in a custom Lincoln Convertible helping people and solving crimes The show was littered with his sayings the way I look at life only about 10% of it's what you make it 90% That's how you take it Ben Vereen was brought in later Reprising his character from Ten Speed and Brown Chew the show lasted a season 30-something on ABC a sprawling ensemble drama that encapsulated the yuppies Starring Ken Olin Mel Harris Melanie Mayron Peter Horton Timothy Busfield Patricia Wedding and Polly Draper This soapy series dealt with relationships families friends and what we would call today First world problems of people with plenty of money highly influenced by the film the big chill It was a big hit for ABC that ran for four seasons Current shows like this is us might not exist if not for this series Ken Olin and Peter Horton went on to directing Timothy Busfield went on to the West Wing the law and Harry McGraw on CBS Before his long run-on-law and order Jerry Orback played a disheveled PI in this spinoff of murder She wrote his Boston office is across the hall from a widowed criminal lawyer Barbara Babcock Shea Farrell played his nephew and assistant while E.J. Brunson played her niece and junior partner The show didn't last long enough for anyone to get together only 16 episodes Moving on to Wednesday The oldest rookie CBS in a concept that was just recycled this past year Paul Sorvino plays an administrative police chief who never who is never a real cop on the streets So he gives up his rank to go through the the police Academy He and his new partner DW Moffat work under Raymond J. Berry whose second in command Marshall Bell was Sorvino's classmate the first time he went through The show lasted a season Sorvino would end up on go on order and good fellas Moffat would end up on Friday night lights and Berry unjustified Hooper man John Ritter after threes company and multiple films returns to TV as a police detective in a show that coined the term dramedy The show was created by the team that created law LA law Hooper man inherits a rundown apartment building and hires Debra Farentino to run it and sparks fly Hill Street Blues vet Barbara Boson plays his boss at the police station The show goes between solving crimes and humorous interactions with his co-workers The series lasted two seasons and won an Emmy for comedy direction Ritter would go on to two more series leads hearts of fire and eight simple rules before dying too soon at age 54 a Year in the life NBC not to be confused with the Gilmore girls sequel The trials and tribulations of a suburban Seattle family set up in a previous mini series returns as a series Which appropriately lasted for one year. There's quite a cast here Richard Kylie a Tony winner Adam Arkin Which who went on to Chicago Hope Sarah Jessica Parker from Sex in the City Diana Moldore from Star Trek and LA Law Kylie plays a recent widow with four adult children all of whom moved back in Kylie won an Emmy and Golden Globe for the role in his acceptance speech He said I'm proud to accept this award for the show that TV guide rightly calls the best show on television I show that I only wish a few more of you had watched the Slap Maxwell story on ABC Dabney Coleman stars as a crusty sports writer His previous series Buffalo Bill failed because his character was too abrasive and his new show didn't learn from that example The same creator was involved in both series making Gallagher plays as secretary and sometimes love interest While Susan Ansbach played his ex-wife the slap nickname is played up as his character is slapped in every episode That's sure what ABC expected Coleman's whole character was playing abrasive characters The show lasted a season moving on to Thursday Tour of Duty CBS the first TV series to portray Vietnam combat But not the last all influenced by the film platoon The series follows an infantry platoon and along with combat We see the lives of the soldiers and associated personnel Terence Knox of St. Elsewhere stars as a staff sergeant with a group of young actors None of whom seem to have gone on to too much more of a career after that in the second season The platoon was assigned to a base near Saigon Which allowed the show to move away from constant combat as well as add female characters Kim Delaney Later NYPD blue came on board Ratings dropped and the boys were sent back to the front for his third and final season They just couldn't fight off the golden girls and empty nest on Saturdays a different world on NBC The must-see TV Colossus that was the Cosby show spun off daughter Denise Lisa Bonnet Onto her own series based at college It was the highest rated TV pilot in history with nearly 39 million viewers The show originally wanted to concentrate on Denise's friendship with a white roommate Marissa Tomei Original pick Meg Ryan chose to move to film instead But several factors changed that in its second season Concerns that the show didn't represent in historically black college the fictional Hillman College So Debbie Allen Felicia Rashad aka Claire Huckstable's sister was brought aboard as producer who made a number of cast changes Lisa Bonnet became pregnant and initially was going to play a single mother on the show But Cosby nixed that saying that Bonnet could be pregnant, but Denise could not so she was returned to the mother ship Then conveniently went on a long trip to Africa Finally Marissa Tomei left the series as with Ryan she moved over to films winning an Oscar for my cousin Vinnie so the show now starred Dawn Lewis the other roommate Jasmine Guy as preppy Whitley and Kadeem Hardison as Dwayne Sinbad was added as a coach and a number of additional characters were added as regulars Debbie Allen brought more relevance to the show. There were a lot of very special episodes a Young Jada Pinkett was added later in the show's six-year run Which was in the top five shows for the first four seasons Being in the catbird seat between Cosby and Cheers did not hurt Wise guy on CBS Ken Olin stars as a deep undercover FBI agent He reports to a senior FBI agent played by Jonathan Banks and works with an informant played by Jim Burns The show has a series of story arcs as Olin's character works his way through different assignments generally with a new supporting cast each arc Ray Sharkey played a mob boss Kevin Spacey played an arm stealer Fred Thompson played a white supremacist Stanley Tucci played a gangster squeezing clothier Jerry Lewis Tim Curry played a record mogul By the end of season three Olin let the series after a dispute with the networks over the direction of the series and Stephen Bauer became the new undercover agent it lasted only eight episodes after that Jonathan Banks went on later to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul Then Friday full house the heart of ABC's TGIF lineup for years and a show now parodied endlessly San Franciscan Danny Bob Saget is left to care for three daughters when his wife dies suddenly So his brother-in-law Jesse John Stamos and buddy Joey Dave Cullier move in to help Jesse's a rock and roller while Joey is a budding stand-up The daughters are played by Candace Cameron Jody sweeten and the Olsen twins as baby Michelle Danny works at a local TV station meeting Becky Laurie Laughlin in the second season Jesse and Becky eventually marry later having twins various girlfriends and kids came through throughout the series There's a lot of lessons learned precocious kids and oh from the audience The show was always a hit and never left the top 30 in its eight seasons Despite critics judgment that the show was mediocre best The show generated a lot of merchandise including a long series of kids books Featuring the kids and of course the show recently was rebooted as Fuller house on Netflix Mark hates this show. He will scream and run from the room if it comes on Beauty and the Beast on CBS the start of a genre movement to modernize classic fairy tales The show stars Linda Hamilton of the Terminator franchise as Beauty Catherine and Ron Perlman Later Hellboy as Beast Vincent. She's a corporate attorney who is attacked and left to dying Central Park When he is a man with the head of a lion who finds her taking her back to his underground tunnel world to recuperate They fall in love and he protects her when she takes a job with the DA's office. They now have an empathic bond Vincent's father Roy Dutrice is convinced that their relationship will allow the outside world to learn of their underground utopia Which is fleshed out throughout the series in season three Catherine is murdered but not before having Vincent's child Joe Anderson is added as a criminal investigator and the new female lead But the show was quickly canceled this mix of romance and fantasy come together partially due to one of the writers producers George R. R. Martin of Game of Thrones the show was rebooted in 2012 on the CW. I Married Dora on ABC a throwback to the we have a secret sitcom where the family has to keep a secret from the neighbors See the witched mr. Ed the show stars Daniel Hugh Kelly previously McCormick on Hardcastle and as Architect Peter with El Salvador and housekeeper Dora Elizabeth Pena Dora turns out to be an illegal alien so in true sitcom fashion They set up a sham marriage to resolve the issue since this is illegal a disclaimer in the first episode stated You should not try this in your home Of course the sham turns into love or would have if the show had run more than 13 episodes A young Juliet Lewis later Oscar nominated for Cape Fear plays the daughter and Jason Horst plays the son Presently named Will Ferrell. Oh The show ended in bizarre fashion Peter accepts a job offer in Bahrain and leaves the family behind despite their pleas He then returns and says it's been canceled the flight No, our series the camera then pulled back to show the set and crew all waving goodbye You should find it on YouTube. It's hilarious Private eye on NBC in what had to be a placeholder title that never got changed Michael Woods and Josh Brolin star in a series from the makers of Miami Vice this time set in the 1950s Wood plays Jack a former cop whose PI brother was murdered So he takes over the business meeting Johnny Brolin a Stereotypical juvenile delinquent with a leather jacket who becomes his partner the show was very violent Which along with the generic premise led to an early cancellation after 12 episodes So let's recap in 1987 out of 22 new series nine were hits my two dads Jake and the fat man 30-something Hooperman tour of duty a different world wise guy and beauty and the beast This was also the final year of the big three networks As fox was about to join the fall tv frenzy And that certainly created a frenzy certainly So go watch tv and check out our audio podcast how I got my wife to read comics on iTunes and other podcast delivery systems or on our website sfpodcastnetwork.com from the pop culture bunker. I'm indy and I'm mark. Thanks for watching