TiVo Community Forums Archives - 80's Shows and their Plots

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80's Shows and their Plots
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Posted by: holee

So I'm watching Airwolf now, and the description of the episode is:

"Tracks: A deranged archer attacks whellchair-bound paraplegics being led by Hawke on a grueling test of stmina up a mountain trail."

Try saying that three timese real fast.

Okay, I can't WAIT to find out how they manage to bring in a top-secret assault coptor in at the end, but I can already see who'd win in a Deranged Archer vs Airwolf battle.

Man I miss the 80's. All those squeaky cute women who'd get kidnapped or tag along with the heroes, the inevitable casinos, and the mountain retreats. Yum.

Posted by: doom1701

I think the general premise of shows in the 80's was putting people or things in ridiculous situations to fight crime. Let's look at what my wife and I have been watching:

A team of vets charged with a crime they didn't commit, who go around freeing people from stereotypical captors who usually want to enslave a small southern town

A middle aged housewife and mother of two somehow stumbles into becoming a super secret spy, and prevents WW3 through her bumbling mishaps

A guy has complete plastic surgery and is matched up with a talking car, and together they fight the same type of criminals as team A up there.

I think the general idea is that the more advanced the good guys, the more bumbling the bad guys, and vice versa. After all, you've got:

Super Secret stealth 'chopper vs. deranged archers
or
Bumbling mother of 2 vs. the entire eastern block

Posted by: harvscar

quote:
Originally posted by doom1701

A team of vets charged with a crime they didn't commit, who go around freeing people from stereotypical captors who usually want to enslave a small southern town

I had to read this twice before I figured out you were talking about a group of Vietnam vets and not some rogue veterinarians. I think that shows how anything was possible in the 80's storyline. :o

Posted by: JYoung

ahhh, I see that you've found KDOC.
Yes, they also show the A-Team and on Saturday you can watch The Greatest American Hero and Knight Rider.

Interesting factoid about that episode, Tracks. By this time, Jan-Michael Vincent's drinking problem was so out of control, the crew's opinion was that Vincent was the one who need the wheelchair the most.

Posted by: holee

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
ahhh, I see that you've found KDOC.
Yes, they also show the A-Team and on Saturday you can watch The Greatest American Hero and Knight Rider.

Interesting factoid about that episode, Tracks. By this time, Jan-Michael Vincent's drinking problem was so out of control, the crew's opinion was that Vincent was the one who need the wheelchair the most.

I read that in some eps, JMV was so drunk that he was passed out. To cover it up, they just wrote in scenes where String was knocked out and bloodied. It's hard to watch the show again knowing that. :)

Posted by: holee

BTW, I finally finished the ep. The climax was Dom in Airwolf going up against the psycho with the bow and arrow.

I thought that was a little bit of overkilll myself.
I wasn't sure if there was a good way to do assault copter versus psycho, but this was not it.

It gets worse though as now they're airing the syndicated version of Airwolf. The one made by the Canadian production team. With the budget so low they had to use stock footage for all of the flight scenes. Man, even the intro looks like something someone did with a home VCR.

Posted by: Bryanmc

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
The Greatest American Hero

WHAT!?!?!?

This is my NUMBER 1 wishlist!!! I'd kill for some Greatest American Hero!!!

Uggg!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Uther

Anybody remember Automan? He had a car that could turn corners at 90 degrees (right angle). And the G-force didn't kill him, because he was Automan! I forgot the plot, if there was one. He was some kind of computerized crime fighter or something...

http://www.epguides.com/Automan/cast.jpg

Posted by: EBone11973

Hey, the Love Boat is really popular at dragging old-timers and has-beens on the show every week in a parade of the aged & wrinkled. Lets do it on a train! But not just any ordinary train, some kind of...of...some kind of super-train! Yeah, that's it! A Super Train! A nuclear-powered 200-mile per hour train!

Somebody actually sat down and thought that this was a good idea (Fred Silverman, if I recall correctly).

Posted by: JYoung

quote:
Originally posted by holee

I read that in some eps, JMV was so drunk that he was passed out. To cover it up, they just wrote in scenes where String was knocked out and bloodied. It's hard to watch the show again knowing that. :)

Yep, if you saw him in the first episode of Season 4 (the Canadian/USA Television version), Blackjack, you can see how the drinking took it's toll. There's no way CBS could have had him do another full season. He was barely there for Blackjack :eek:
I love how Vancouver substitutes for the Nevada desert :D

Posted by: JYoung

quote:
Originally posted by Bryanmc

This is my NUMBER 1 wishlist!!! I'd kill for some Greatest American Hero!!!

Well, you could move to Southern California...... ;)

http://www.kdoctv.net/

Posted by: betamax

quote:
Originally posted by Uther
Anybody remember Automan? He had a car that could turn corners at 90 degrees (right angle). And the G-force didn't kill him, because he was Automan! I forgot the plot, if there was one. He was some kind of computerized crime fighter or something...

http://www.epguides.com/Automan/cast.jpg

Yeah, his human counterpart got squished tho...

TVLand, bring back Emergency!

Posted by: jradosh

quote:
Originally posted by holee
Man I miss the 80's. All those squeaky cute women who'd get kidnapped or tag along with the heroes...

You must be thinking about Markie Post http://www.plauder-smilies.de/love/luvlove.gif

J :)

Posted by: Bryanmc

quote:
Originally posted by jradosh
You must be thinking about Markie Post http://www.plauder-smilies.de/love/luvlove.gif

J :)

Oh man, did I have such the crush on her. :o

I remember when she was in that John Ritter show, Hearts Afire or something (also with Billy Bob Thorton, BTW) and she wore this black teddy in one scene.

After seeing her as the stuffy Christine Sullivan on Night Court all those years the black teddy just about blew my young mind!

Posted by: JLWINE

My mom always watched "Hart to Hart". I remember how hard I laughed when a fews years into its run I found out that they were just a married couple with what must have been the worse luck of all time. I always assumed they were private eyes or something because they were always in big trouble......No just bad luck!!!:)

Posted by: doom1701

Sci-Fi replayed Automan a few years back--that was a cheesy show that got considerably worse over time. I still don't understand why he had a perfectly human face, but could never do anything to the rest of his body except that blue glow...

Bryan, I have to admit I hadn't thought about setting up a Greatest American Hero wishlist, although I just might do that now. After finding that we both had Perfect Strangers wishlists, you'd think I would research what else we had that was alike (as well as those things that might be different).

Posted by: Bryanmc

quote:
Originally posted by doom1701
Bryan, I have to admit I hadn't thought about setting up a Greatest American Hero wishlist, although I just might do that now. After finding that we both had Perfect Strangers wishlists, you'd think I would research what else we had that was alike (as well as those things that might be different).

Indeed, it could be very helpful to anyone that might be eating outside this weekend at some kind of organized event.

Posted by: tornado

Somebody ought to add "spoilers" to the subject line in case Pan Chun still has some of these on tape. :D

Posted by: holee

Automan was cool. It wasn't as cheesy as I thought to re-watch it. Mild mannered Walter Something, also known as Desi Arnaz Jr, created the ultimate crime fighter, Automan!

Initially he could only come out at night since he consumed a lot of power (this was before Energystar), but later on he was able to hang out in the daytime. Man that was a fun show, and the theme song rocks.

The one show I really want to see is Street Hawk, but I haven't seen it even in syndication since the 80's. Well that and Galaxy Rangers, but that's a cartoon.

Posted by: Sirius Black

What about the Misfits of Science? That show was cool too.

I don't remember much about it and it wasn't on very long but if I can still remember it, it must have been good.

Greatest American Hero was good too. I don't remember Automan.

Does Quantum Leap qualify as 80s? Partially, maybe?

Posted by: tornado

Misfits of Science was on at the same time as V, another good show. Somewhere I have an audio tape I made of both theme songs.