 This is the SF Productions podcast network D4's fall previews roll on From the pop culture bunker, I'm Mindy and I'm mark you can check out our audio podcast How I got my wife to read comics on iTunes or on our website SF podcast network comm Well, there's just so much to talk about when you look at TV guides fall preview issue in 1984 We had to break this up into two episodes. So let's move on to Monday Street Hawk on ABC Starvus Rex Smith as an ex motorcycle cop injured in the line of duty Who has given a super motorcycle as part of a top secret government program? So this was nothing like nightmare He's a police PR guy by day super agent by night Joe Regal Bouto Later of Murphy Brown plays the bike engineer Richard Ventura places police boss Who's not a fan of the vigilante who actually works for him the actual bike used was a Honda with lots of fiberglass add-ons Which would constantly fall off? So six extra bikes were always off-screen the bike and the show ran a total of 13 episodes Moving on to Tuesday ER on CBS is not the long-running medical drama, but the short-lived medical sitcom starring Elliot Gould Yes, this is E slash R. Yes. The other one is just yarr. He plays a physician who moonlights at a Chicago Hospital To make his alimony payments Mary McDonald plays the head doctor Conchita Farrell plays the head nurse with Kareem Barr and Lynn Moody working under her The show was based on a long-running play and produced by Norman Lear much like mash and Trapper John It mixed comic and dramatic elements There were a number of recurring characters including one played by a young George Clooney Who would go on to star to the later an unrelated version of ER? Mary McDonald would also appear on that ER threes a crowd on ABC was the spin-out or sequel to threes company, which had just ended a long run This one wasn't as lucky Jack Tripper John Ritter is back But now he's living with a new girlfriend Vicki played by Mary Ketterett He also had his own restaurant now with landlord mr. Bradford played by soaps Robert Mandon who also happens to be Vicki's dad Jack wants to get married, but not Vicki while mr. Bradford fumes about the whole thing The show is based on Robin's Nest a British sitcom which in turn was a spin-off of man about the house Which threes company was based on? ABC had already spun off the Ropers, which was also done in the UK Threes a crowd was actually shot in secret during the last season of threes company since ABC had already decided to kill the mother ship And didn't want the rest of the cast to know Joyce to wit accidentally found out and it was a big mess The new show aired the week after the threes company finale, which acted as the backdoor pilot However, both shows were badly damaged by their competition the a-team and the spin-off only lasted a year It's replacement different strokes, which had just been canceled by NBC John Ritter, of course would go on to a long sitcom and film career Hooperman hearts of fire and eight simple rules Before dying of a heart condition during that last show's run Paper dolls on ABC was a glitzy soap opera in the vein of dynasty this time dealing with the fashion industry A TV movie was used as a backdoor pilot with Joan Collins Daryl Hannah and Alexandra Paul none of whom moved to the series Morgan Fairchild runs a modeling agency Who was always at odds with Lloyd Bridges playing the CEO of a cosmetics company? There are two models one established played by Nicola Sheridan and the other just coming up Terry Farrell Like any good soap. There's a huge cast with Brenda for Caro Dak Rambo Mimi Rogers and Lauren Hutton being the big names I always like that Rambo a lot despite a big buildup the show never caught on it was preempted at the start By baseball playoffs and only made it to 14 episodes Jesse on ABC is another one of those fill-in-the-blank returns to TV series this time with the bionic women's Lindsay Wagner No longer with superpowers now She's a psychiatrist working for the police department helping both the staff and crime victims Of course, she doesn't always follow the rules which annoys fellow cop Tony Lobianco Jesse also has to deal with outspoken mother played by Celeste Holm the pilot was reshot, which is rarely a good thing and the show only made it to seven episodes being broadcast Moving to Wednesday Charleston charge CBS Also follows the fill-in-the-blank returns a TV formula with happy days slash Joni loves Chachis Scott Bao who's now a live-in caretaker for the three children of Julie Cobb and James widows The kids are played by Michael Perlman Jonathan Ward and April Lerman He's also a college student that has to deal with horn dog friend Willie Ames The show lasted a season and then moved to syndication for four more years with all but Bao and Ames replaced That's another show that I thought lasted for much longer than that a new family Bought the home and decided to keep Charles in charge with new parents James T. Callahan and Sandra Kearns With kids Nicole Egert Josie Davis and Alexander Polinsky Charles mother was also brought in played by Ellen Travolta who also played Chachis mother Nicole Egert would go on to Baywatch and reality shows while Bao would become a right-wing nutcase Highway to heaven on NBC is also a say it with me fill in the blank returns the TV With bonanza and little house on the prairie alum Michael Landon who now is an angel helping people to become better He's got a human sidekick retired policeman Victor French who was also on the prairie Every week they come to a new town get an assignment from the boss and help the guest star of the week overcome a crisis While providing a lot of platitudes Landon is working to get back his wings the show ran for five seasons with a strange ending A writer strike delayed the last season then the premiere aired in the fall then the rest of the episodes aired the next summer Landon produced the series and directed many episodes This series ended a 30-year run for Landon with NBC Dreams on CBS was a short run sitcom about an aspiring rock band creator Andy Borowitz Would go on to create the Fresh Prince of Bel Air Most of the show's cast wouldn't go on too much except for two John Stamos Previously on General Hospital would go on to be Uncle Jesse on Full House and sell yogurt Jamie Gertz was on Borowitz's Square pegs She went on to sitcom still standing and the neighbors be personal favorite and She has had a long TV and film career, but dreams only lasted five episodes on air It's your move on NBC start a young Jason Bateman coming up his supporting role on Silver Spoons as a Teenage scam artist widowed mom Karen Kay starts a relationship with a new neighbor played by David Garrison Jason wants to break them up, but finds out the neighbor is a scam artist, too So it becomes a whole who can top this thing This seems like a decent idea for an episode or two, but not a whole series probably why it only lasted a year Bateman would go on to the Hogan family and arrest development and a lot of bad TV shows and movies Thursday People do the craziest things on ABC was a candid camera rehash starring Burt Convy and Came from the same brain trust as TV's bloopers and practical jokes and phallops bleeps and blunders It's just in camera stunts, and it's never a good sign when your show doesn't have a Wikipedia entry IMDB says at least one episode aired They don't even know how many episodes air The next show did slightly better But now has what can be called a stigma attached to it the Cosby show on NBC Basically rescued both the network and the sitcom format It also also introduced us to an affluent to income African-American household on TV for the first time The show was based on Cosby's comedy act in family life He played cliff and obstetrician with wife Claire Felicia Rashad and attorney and kids Theo Malcolm Jamal Warner Denise Lisa Bonnet Vanessa Tempest Bledsoe and Rudy Keisha night Pullman a duck daughter Sandra Sabrina LeBouf was added after the pilot Most of the plots were modern takes on the same parent-child issues We've seen since leave it to beaver a spin-off called a different world since Lisa Bonnet's character to college as the kids Aged out of their child roles new characters were added such as Raven Simone as Olivia That's even close to Oliver Who was the stepdaughter of Lisa Bonnet's character who had been fired from the show for nude scenes in a film? The show was an enormous hit for NBC the number one show for five years straight tying with all in the family And in the top five for seven of its eight seasons There's an inside joke in a night court episode where NBC chief Brandon Tartakov appeared as himself Saying that he makes the network decisions and then gets a call from mr. Cosby and exclaims Oh, no the sandwiches and runs out It took Fox's the Simpsons who moved the new hit show opposite Cosby to knock them off the top of the hill Dr. Herbert is clearly a parody of Cosby Reruns of the show have essentially disappeared after the allegations against Cosby began Who's the boss on ABC gave taxis Tony Danza his first leading role? Tony plays well Tony who gets a job as a living housekeeper to add executive Angela Judith light he brings along his daughter Samantha Alyssa Milano who joins a blended family with Angela's son Jonathan Danny Pinaturo and mother Mona soaps Catherine Hellman The show quickly becomes a will they won't they between Tony and Angela which lasts until the last season The show had its own cousin Oliver in Billy Jonathan Halkicker an orphan who moved in but he was written off in one season So you know it's doing bad if you're a cousin Oliver and they get rid of you before the show Yeah, like any long-running hit eight seasons. There were backdoor pilots Fran Drescher pre the nanny and Donna Dixon post bosom buddies were introduced as two single career women But that was not picked up Mona's character was almost spun off into a show where she runs a Manhattan hotel Probably one of the many faulty towers knockoffs that the networks tried to do in the 80s But ABC changed their minds at the last minute a Young Leah Remini was introduced as a friend of Samantha's who went on to a modeling sitcom called living dolls Which ran for 12 episodes Danza went on to more sitcoms and a talk show none of which did very well And he may have a new Netflix series coming. It was announced last year Milano of course went on to Charmed and Mistresses glitter on ABC starred David Bernie and Morgan Brittany as reporters at an entertainment magazine Thank people which allowed producer Aaron spelling to bring in plenty of guest stars in this drama series Unfortunately, they scheduled against Simon and Simon cheers and night court which meant it died a quick death after 14 episodes Three episodes were shown in September three more in December and the remaining ones were relegated to a late-night night slot finally on Friday V On NBC came out of the ridiculous TV movie about lizard alien visitors who wore human disguises and ate guinea pigs whole They came as friends, but turned out they just wanted our resources the TV movie generated a six episode mini series And then this series Mark Singer aka beast master continued his role as the head freedom fighter along with Faye Grant as the damsel in distress and Jane battler as the head alien and mustache twirling baddie Kenneth Johnson who had created the TV movie and mini series was not involved Which is probably why it devolved into a big mess It also cost a million dollars an episode the most expensive to that time Which is why it died a quick death after one season a Review said they took a decent sci-fi concept and turned it into dynasty with lizard makeup and laser guns Jay Michael Strozinski attempted a sequel a few years later, but was turned down so he went and did alien nation There was a reimagining of the series in 2009 which ran for two seasons on ABC Hawaiian heat on ABC starred Robert Ginty and Jeff McCracken as Chicago cops who moved to the islands and become police detectives there It seems like an excuse for the cast and producers to do a show in paradise They have a boss played by Mako a longtime Hawaiian character actor and live with a female Helicopter pilot played by Tracy Skoggins Robert Ginty was previously on the paper chase and appeared in the MST warrior of the lost world and Referred to as the paper chase guy Jeff McCracken later went behind the camera producing boy meets world and dinosaurs Hawaiian heat lasted all of 11 episodes Hunter an NBC was one of those cop who doesn't play by the rules series with X NFL player Fred drier as the title character Stephanie Kramer played his partner who also has no problem using lethal force against a punk After the first season the violence level was reduced and a whole will there Won't they vibe was added between the lead because you had to have that right a street informant was added to played by SNL's Garrett Morris Kramer left the series after six seasons and Hunter got new female partners After seven seasons and dropping ratings along with huge demands from drier the store The show was canceled But multiple TV movies followed along with a short run sequel series in 2003 The show was popular enough to create an ABC parody series called Sledgehammer and Finally NBC had Miami Bice It was supposedly created after Brandon Tartakov wrote MTV cops in a brainstorming memo Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas played Miami undercover detectives in a very stylish and very 80s series It was also one of the first shows to take advantage of new Stereo TVs with a ton of licensed music of the time Exposure of a song on that show would have huge impact on sales Executive producer Michael Mann used a vibrant color palette for the show Which was shot on location in the Miami area at the time? Miami was so rundown that it was easy to shoot in the middle of the street the show Revitalized the city the series lasted for five seasons then man directed a film version in 2006 And there are plans for a new TV version later this year from Vin Diesel's production company So to recap in 1984 not counting the early shows We got eight hits going more than one season and 15 flops, which is a pretty high success rate Punky Brewster murder. She wrote Charles in charge highway to heaven Cosby show Who's the boss hunter in Miami vice and if you count the early hits? It's even better because you've got airwolf Kate Malley night court riptide and TV's bloopers and really if you think about it So many of those shows had such an impact on the popular culture to this day You talk about some of them. Oh, you know you reference things about them I think it's time to rewatch some of those on Netflix or where they are. Yeah, so you can go do that But then you can also check out our audio podcast how I got my wife to read comics on itunes or on our website Sfpodcastnetwork.com from the pop culture bunker. I'm Mindy and I'm mark. Thanks for watching