Mork & Mindy
By Lori Ferraro Honestly . . . it’s a little hard to write this post considering just last week we lost one of the world’s greatest comedians and the star of one of my favorite shows from childhood. My first memory of Robin Williams was seeing him on the television sitcom Mork & Mindy. He left behind an incredible body of work – his start was onstage doing stand up comedy and his first sitcom was about an alien who comes to Earth...
Thirtysomething
Before there was How I Met Your Mother, before there was Friends, there was Thirtysomething. The hour-long show ran on ABC from 1987 until 1991. It centered around Hope and Michael Steadman (Mel Harris and Ken Olin, respectively) and their circle of friends. If you’re a TV buff, all you really need to know about the quality of this show is that its creators, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, went on to executive-produce My...
Why We All Loved Alice
The 1975 movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore was a big hit, so it was no surprise when the television show Alice aired in 1976. However, no one could have predicted the show’s success or the fact that the show would successfully air until 1985, when the final season ran. The show revolved around a character named Alice (played by Linda Lavin), whose husband had died in an accident. Alice and her son Tommy leave New York and head to...
Diff’rent Strokes, 1978 – 1986
If forced to pick five favorites from among the great TV shows of the 80s, Diff’rent Strokes would definitely make the cut. The show wasn’t just about laughs, it was about breaking social and cultural barriers while learning about the important things in life – and, of course, it had Arnold’s catch phrase, “Whatchou talkin’ bout Willis?” (see video below). Diff’rent Strokes first aired in 1978 and...
The Enviable and Exciting Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. was the traditional eighties detective television show. Magnum was a security professional working on the estate of a wealthy (and I mean WEALTHY) writer. In exchange for his services, Magnum was provided with a nice residence in Hawaii and got to drive a red-hot Ferrari. If only we could all be so lucky. With a ton of action and a young Tom Selleck starting as Magnum, it’s no wonder Magnum, P.I. was a hit with men and...
