On Tuesday, I turned 28. Apparently, the older you get, the more time flies, because I feel like I just turned 18. It doesn’t help that I recently took on a new job in social media at my alma mater, so I am constantly being mistaken for a student when I really just want to take someone’s photo to post on Facebook.
In honor of this momentous occasion, I thought I would look back at some of the milestones that hit television during the wonderful year of my birth. I was surprised to find out some shows, like Who’s the Boss and The Cosby Show, both premiered on the same day (September 20). I also had no clue Charles in Charge started on October 3 on CBS; by the time I watched the show, it was already in syndication on KTLA.
Other pop culture favorites that premiered 28 years ago? Murder, She Wrote on September 30; Highway to Heaven on September 19; Punky Brewster on September 16; Kids Incorporated on September 7; and Muppet Babies on September 15.
What really shocked me was the fact that several shows that seem to be millions of years old actually ended in 1984. Happy Days (which I honestly thought as a child was really filmed in the 1950s; I remember my mind being blown when I found out it was the 1970s), Three’s Company, Hart to Hart, One Day at a Time, and Fantasy Island all had their finales. So did some shows I have never heard of, including Boone, Jennifer Slept Here, and The Edge of Night, which made its debut in 1956.
One huge television event was the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, which finished right before I was born not too far from L.A. Apple launched the Macintosh computer during the January 22 Super Bowl, airing its “1984” ad for the first, and only, time on national television. Michael Jackson’s Pepsi commercial debacle that ended with his hair catching on fire took place on January 27. He went on to win eight Grammys on February 28 for Thriller. That album came out in late 1982 – almost 30 years ago!
Those were 1984’s biggest television events. Do you know what premiered the same year you did?
9 replies on “‘The Cosby Show,’ ‘Who’s the Boss,’ and Other Shows that Premiered When I Did”
I was born in 1993.
The Nanny premiered that year (fun fact I’m obsessed with that show,and Fran Drescher) ,as well as NYPD Blue, and Frasier. And if I’m not mistaken Dr Queen: Medicine Woman (I think I’m correct since Fran Fine was so obsessed with that show. I could just Google the info but I’m way too lazy for that lol.) and Diagnosis Murder premiered that year too.
In a more pop culture-ish note, that year Justin Timberlake,Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears joined the cast of the Mickey Mouse Club, Raven-Symoné joined the cast of Hangin’ with Mr Cooper and the first Got Milk? ad premiered on TV. And Audrey Hepburn died on January, 20.
Actually, it’s Dr. Quinn, but close enough. Love The Nanny, too!
Oprah went national the day before I was born in 1986.
Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman joined SNL that November.
Fox (the one that airs The Simpsons, not Faux Nooz) premiered one month to the day after I was born.
Pee-Wee’s Playhouse premiered four days after my birth. Paul Reubens was already planning to take over my childhood! :D LoL. (Hey, I enjoyed the show and it makes me nostalgic. I didn’t say I liked Reubens himself.)
Double Dare, another childhood favorite, premiered October 6.
Other premieres: Perfect Strangers, The Real Ghostbusters (:D), L.A. Law, Zoobilee Zoo, Dennis the Menace (the cartoon), Matlock, and Designing Women.
I’ll be reminiscing about these all weekend! :D Thanks for this!
Double Dare came out in 1986?! I can’t believe it. I loved that show and wanted to go on it SO BAD.
My mother loved Designing Women! It ended exactly 22 days after my birth. She often jokes saying I’m a “Favorite TV show killer” because all of her favorite shows ended after my birth! (Quantum Leap, 4 days after my birth, the Wonder Years 11 days after my birth, Saved by the Bell 21 days after and of course Designing Women).
The original runs of Dallas and Battlestar Galactica both started in 1978. Also Fantasy Island, Mork & Mindy, 20/20, WKRP in Cincinnati, and Diff’rent Strokes. And a lot of good shows ended! The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Maude, Rhoda, The Carol Burnett Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and Columbo.
And the original Top Gear premiered on the BBC! Awesome.
I didn’t realize how many of those shows started in the 1970s…I thought Mork & Mindy and Diff’rent Strokes were the early ’80s!
MTV launched the year I was born!
Notable tv shows that premiered in 1981: The Smurfs, Gimme a Break, The Greatest American Hero.
Other notable tv events: Luke and Laura got married on General Hospital (a Big Deal, I am told), Little House on the Prairie was cancelled, Walter Cronkite resigned/Dan Rather comes on as anchor of the CBS Evening News.
(I may or may not still have a crush on Dan Rather.)
I like Dan Rather, too! And I can’t believe the Smurfs came on in 1981!