Thursday, January 27, 2011

80s Television - ALF | Sledgehammer | LA Law

This morning we heard on the news that Charlie Sheen had been rushed to hospital, the first words out of my dd's mouth were - will Two and a Half Men still be on tonight? It got me thinking about the first time my hubby came over to my house, we were all gathered in the family room and I saw his eyes roaming and suddenly realized he was looking for the television. We didn't have a television set in the family room (my parents still don't), but we do have one in the formal lounge.

In 1988 I emigrated to New Zealand where my parents and brother had been living for nine months and so began a new chapter in all of our lives. Having two living spaces made me feel like we were incredibly rich! It also made our tv watching very special because we made a night of it. Dad would light the fire in the front room and we'd either have fish and chips or a 'quick to make' meal like beans on toast and then it was television night.

Thursday night was the night we used to watch our television starting off with everyone's favorite alien - ALF. As anyone who watched ALF would know his real name was Gordon, but the Tanners called him ALF because it was an acronym for Alien Life Force (do you remember all of the 80s acronyms?). I absolutely loved this little fellow, although how he managed to resist eating the cat I have no idea!

After ALF came a program that I hadn't heard about until I moved to NZ and it was called Sledgehammer. Starring David Rasche my dad used to laugh himself silly during every episode and quickly adopted the saying 'Trust me, I know what I'm doing'.

Our Thursday night was rounded out by LA Law, because let's face it you didn't live through the 80s without watching LA Law. I was quite relieved to find in on television in NZ and happy that my parents watched it because I had started to watch it while living with my grandmother and enjoyed it.

I loved Arnie and Roxanne, Leland and Stuart, Benny and Abby. Unlike other people I wasn't so keen on Grace and Victor, but I still can't wait for this television series to become available on DVD - what's taking the studio so long to release it?

What were your favorite 80s television shows?

Monday, January 10, 2011

The Electronic Trike - 1985

Do you remember Clive Sinclair's Electronic Trike?   I was recently watching a program on Foxtel about inventions that didn't make it and the Electronic Trike was definately a commercial failure, but it was surreal when they showed on and I said to my hubby I remember them!

Now I never actually saw one in real life, but I remember them being shown on television, it looked fantastic and best of all (as I couldn't yet get my drivers licence) you didn't need a licence to drive one!

I remember seeing these in 1985 and thinking how they looked quite futuristic like something that Buck Rogers might be comfortable in. Essentially though the safety factor wouldn't have been very high at all and I'm glad that I couldn't afford to buy one (not sure if my parents would've let me have one anyway!)

Essentially it was a milk float crossed with a trike. This picture is brought to you thanks to the BBC archives and on there it even reports that these electronic trike's have managed to acquire something of a cult status. This has meant that if you ended up buying one in 1985 and it was still in mint condition you could triple your money or more in todays market.

Now why didn't I keep more things from the 80s? Oh that's right, I was too busy enjoying the decade and having fun LOL.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Hoff - Still Going Strong!

I first heard of David Hasselhoff when I watched Knight Rider, but this week he's been visiting Australia promoting an ice cream bar.   He's been dressed straight from the wardrobe of his other famous show - Baywatch - and still seems to pull the fans.

Personally I'd have been more interested in KITT - KITT's voice was that of William Daniels - I wonder what happened to him?   I so wanted to own a car just like KITT when I grew up as did many other friends of mine at the time!

Who can remember the opening narrative?   Give up?    Okay here it is -

Knight Rider, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

You can now buy the complete series of Knight Rider on DVD which could turn into a fun night of 80s reminiscing.......actually with a run time of over 70 hours it would be a little more than your average movie marathon!

This DVD collection contains all four seasons and 84 action-packed episodes of Knight Rider - the action packed crime fighting duo of Michael Knight and Knight Industries Two Thousand that wowed you during the 80s, can still take you right back.    Unfortunately (as with alot of the 80s classics) you do spot a lot of goofs when you watch it and some of the scenes aren't as breathtaking as they seemed back then, but then we've come along way with film since then.

I haven't been able to get this particular set yet, but it contains a small button that when pressed lights up little red led lights so that you get the effect of KITT's grill - totally awesome!

I'm the first to admit that Knight Rider probably wouldn't have been the same without David Hasselhoff, but for me it was all about the car, oh and let's not forget Devon!