The 1980’s was a totally awesome time for television. Murphy Brown returned to work and the Conners went to Walt Disney World. Angela Lansbury was solving crimes on “Murder, She Wrote” and Cheers was the coolest bar in town. But these shows aired almost 40 years ago, so how much do you remember of your favorite 80’s shows?
The 1980’s was a totally awesome time for television. Murphy Brown returned to work and the Conners went to Walt Disney World. Angela Lansbury was solving crimes on “Murder, She Wrote” and Cheers was the coolest bar in town. But these shows aired almost 40 years ago, so how much do you remember of your favorite 80’s shows?
Many children auditioned for the role of the youngest Tanner, Michelle. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen landed the role because out of ten sets of twins, they were the only ones that were well-behaved.
John Goodman was the only actor who auditioned for the role of Dan Conner. He was the only actor that the producers would consider. When John came in for his screen test with Roseanne, the chemistry was undeniable.
Michael Richards auditioned for the role of Al Bundy before he landed the role of Kramer on "Seinfeld." Ed O'Neill won the part because he was the only one who walked into the audition room slumping his shoulders.
The exterior of the Seaver household has been home to other famous movie characters. It's Mrs. Deagle's house from "Gremlins." It was Doris Day's house in "On Moonlight Bay." Most recently, it was Ralphie's home in "A Christmas Story Live."
"Fraggle Rock" was the first original show on HBO. Since the show was so successful, it allowed HBO to create more TV series over the years. So without "Fraggle Rock," who knows what would have happened with "The Sopranos" or "Game of Thrones."
"Murder, She Wrote" was on the air for 12 seasons. For all 12 years, Angela Lansbury received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. Unfortunately, she never won.
After Candice Bergen received her fifth Emmy nomination, she declined any additional nominations for playing Murphy Brown. She won all five nominations, which set a record for that time. However, in 2017, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss broke that record with her sixth win for "Veep."
To find the lead, creators Neal Marlens and Carol Black asked five casting directors who they would recommend, and they all said Fred Savage. They screened some footage of him from "Vice Versa" and knew that he would be the perfect Kevin Arnold.
"Cheers" was the longest-running multi-camera sitcom series in American television history, airing 275 episodes. However, the CBS series "The Big Bang Theory" surpassed their record, airing a total of 279 episodes.
Though their characters, Alex and Ellen broke up on the show, Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan continued their relationship off-screen. The couple got married in July of 1988. They have been married for over 30 years and have four children together.
Phylicia Rashad won the role of Clair Huxtable after catching Bill Cosby's eye. During her screen test, she had to argue with Theo. However, unlike the other actresses who got physical by wagging their heads, Phylicia stopped speaking and just gave Theo a look.
Before "Who's The Boss" premiered, Tony Danza faced a sentence for a year in prison for assaulting a security guard in a Manhattan hotel. However, he was able to get his sentence changed to 250 hours of community service and three years of probation.
The Cosmo became synonymous with "Sex and the City," while cheesecake became synonymous with "The Golden Girls." The girls consumed over 100 cheesecakes over their 7 season run. In real life, Bea Arthur, who played Dorothy, hated cheesecake.
Stephen Hawking appeared in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" season 6 finale called "Descent, Part I." He is the only person to ever appear on the show as themselves. He is playing cards with Data, Einstein and Newton, and Hawking wins by bluffing Einstein.
The show "The Love Boat" was based on a book called, "Love Boats" by Jeraldine Saunders. The book, published in 1974, was a tell-all book about Saunders' time as the first female cruise director for Princess Cruises.
When NBC sent out the casting call for Punky, more than 3000 actors campaigned for the role. The list of actors included Tiffany Brissette, who played Vicki in the series "Small Wonder" and Melissa Joan Hart, most popularly from "Clarissa Explains It All."
During season one of "The Facts of Life," seven girls made up the main cast. By the time season two rolled around, four girls did not make the cut. Among the cast of girls that did not make it was Molly Ringwald.
During the fourth season of "Dallas," the episode entitled "Who Done It?" finally reveals who shot J.R. Over 90 million viewers watched this episode and for the time it was the highest-rating an episode received on US prime-time television.
The episode called “The Grey Team” was the original series finale. However, for some reason, it aired as the second to last episode. “Without Reservations” was aired as the finale after getting lost in the reruns.
Since "Knight Rider" involved a lot of stunts using the car, many KITT models ended up destroyed by the end of each season. The show went through about four to nine cars each season.
Paul Fusco provided the voice for ALF and also operated the puppet. However, if they needed to do a wide shot in which the audience would see ALF from head to toe, actor Mihaly Meszaros would step into the costume. He stood 2' 9" tall.
Before Don Johnson became James "Sonny" Crockett, the "Miami Vice" producers approached several actors. Jeff Bridges and Nick Nolte were both offered the role, but both actors turned it down as they wanted to focus on their film careers.
Tom Selleck was the top choice to play the character of Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." However, since he was committed to playing Magnum on "Magnum P.I.," he was unable to take on the role.
Henry Winkler was an executive producer on "MacGyver." He teamed up with his friend in Henry Winkler-John Rich Productions. Henry even made a cameo in an episode of season six of the show called "Henry's Will," in which he plays a lawyer.
The doctors paged over the hospital loudspeaker were the names of TV characters, actors, or the family and friends of the crew. Occasionally, they used Executive Producer Bruce Paltrow's daughter's name, when paging Dr. Gwyneth Paltrow.