1986 Television question?
 

My sister is working on a movie, and a scene takes place in 1986. A kid comes home after school, and sees his father, who he thinks of as an intellectual watching something really awful and trashy on the TV. They were going for something like Three's Company which was too expensive to get a clip for, or something like Love Connection.

Can you think of good re-runs, game shows, or soaps that would have been on in 1986 daytime televion?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

How about a daytime soap, like Days of our Lives or General Hospital?

For game shows, Price is Right would be good.

Reruns:
Taxi
MASH
Happy Days
Laverne & Shirley
All in the Family

Game Shows:
Family Feud with Richard Dawson

General Hospital
Days of our Lives
....frankly I think most of the current soaps were on back then

The People's Court would also be a good one.

Charlie's Angels comes to mind.

Was Divorce Court on in 1986? That would be appropriate as well.

Solid Gold! with the Solid Gold dancers! :)

Cable included?

IIRC ESPN/ESPN2 was still showing anything they could get their hands on back in '86, just to fill out their schedule. They had some real trash sports on, specifically: tractor pulling, log rolling, GWF wrestling from Dallas, etc.

Most major markets had a broadcast music video channel with absolutely horrendous VJs, playing We Built This City ad nauseum.

ESPN2 didn't exist then (it didn't come into being til ~91/92, IIRC). But ESPN was definitely showing some weird stuff at that point in time.

Aussie Rules Football was an ESPN staple in the mid-80s.

General Hospital would be good - especially since during the late 80's it had a lot of spy/secret agent and mafia stories...something a guy might get hooked on (okay, I'm guilty!).

All the replies are really appreciated. Now they are thinking of perhaps making it a prime time show. They loved the idea of Solid Gold.

But I guess they are leaning towards BJ and the Bear. Any other ideas?

Love Boat?

Blossom?

Any sort of generic wresting would probably work well in this context. Oprah began her show in 1986, so that's probably a possibility too.

Could he be watching a game show? Like the 10,000 Pyramid or Press Your Luck? The kid enters the house and hears his "intellectual" dad in the next room screaming "No Whammy! No Whammy!"


EDIT: They're leaning towards primetime now? Well, without any thought to licensing fees, etc... you have some great choices:

Alf
Who's the Boss
Perfect Strangers
Webster
Mr. Belvedere
Facts of Life
Dynasty
Dallas
The Golden Girls


BJ and The Bear was long gone by '86. I don't think that even made it into the 1980s, did it? Plus, do 'average folks' even remember that show? Doesn't seem like it would have the immediate "my dad is not an intellectual" response from an audience that they'd be looking for. Not sure why they are even considering that one.

Press Your Luck!

No whammies no whammies stop!

I think Dynasty or Dallas are the very good choices if you go prime time. Same with Miami Vice.

BJ & the Bear :hscratch: That was early 80s.

Why don't they ever bring back or remake good shows, like <i>BJ and the Bear.</i> Now there's a concept I can't get enough of: a man and his monkey.

das

Global Championship Wrestling didn't exist in '86, you may be thinking of the American Wrestling Association which did have a show on ESPN in that time frame. Not sure of the time, but a show like Small Wonder would probably fit the bill.


-Paul Jacobi-

There goes das, trying to capture the 90s youth market with a staple of 70s television.

Gotta be Knight Rider. Ended in 1986 according to IMDB.

An intellectual watching a show about a guy and his talking car. Cute.

It's kind of a hack bit, but done correctly it could be funny.

BJ and the Bear was off the air WAY before 1986.

How 'bout Golden Girls? That's the last think I'd expect MY Dad to be watching!

Wait, so is it primetime or not? That's a bit crucial. And even if you want daytime syndicated shows, <i>B.J. and the Bear</i> didn't have much of a syndicated run, if at all.

If you're going syndicated, I'd suggest <i>CHiPs</i> or <i>The Dukes of Hazzard</i>. Both had long runs and were heavily synidcated throughout the mid-late 80's. They're also both silly shows and are immediately recognizeable.

If you want something from primetime that was on the air in 1986, go for <i>227</i>. Jackee is immediately recognizeable, it's screams "not an intellectual," and it can't be that expensive to get a clip. For some fun, you can shoot for one of the eps with Billy Dee Williams or Michael Dorn. Both were introduced early enough in the show's run to fit the 1986 criteria.

das

The shows I remember being on all of the time in syndication:

Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Batman (60's)
Bug's Bunny

Sorry, not positive about the syndication years though.

Well I believe at first they wanted it to be daytime television, and then they were willing to make it an evening scene.

Y'know film people - -ohbfrank-

[non serious answer]The Challenger explosion?

:(

smurfs, hey you didn't say if it was animanted or not?

I was thnkign ALF but that wasn't on daytime.

That still doesn't explain BJ and the Bear. ;)

If they're looking for an evening scene in 1986, it doesn't make much sense to pick a fairly obscure show from 1979.

Also (and this may seem nitpicky), does the scene take place in late 1986, or early? That would determine whether we're talking about the 1985-86 season, or the 1986-87. Not a scene killer if you get the wrong show, but they'll forever be inshrined in the IMDb's "goofs" list. :)