’80s Rewatch: You Make The Call
Submitted by Sarah D. Bunting on August 9, 2009 – 11:07 PM132 Comments
In the spirit of recent rewatches elsewhere around the interwebs — Wing’s 90210 coverage at Sling; Sepinwall’s of Band of Brothers, Sports Night, and others — I’ve decided to do my own. The TN twist: I’d like to pick a far more hilariously unbearable show than any of those. Heh.
I’ve narrowed it down to Miami Vice, original Knight Rider, original Degrassi, and 21 Jump Street, but I need you guys to make the call…or to suggest a show I’ve overlooked. (Let me say pre-emptively that ST: TNG is not going to happen.)
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Degrassi. Failing that, 21 Jump Street. (Really any of those would be hilarious).
here’s my out-loud response upon reading the above entry:
“Knight Rider, Knight Rider, KNIGHT RIDER!!!”
Ahem.
Knight Rider, would be my vote. Please.
Oh dude. I tried to do a 21 Jump Street rewatch a couple years ago and it was unbearable. Let it live in your memory and pick something else, is my advice.
Degrassi? Unbearable? I loved Degrassi!
I think Miami Vice wins for unbearableness. (I know, I know, not a word)
21 jump street!!!
The whole run? There are so many episodes of ALL of those, dude.
How about CHiPs or Bosom Buddies?
And no one better say Magnum, because omg, I have happy memories of that show and I’m not sure they would survive rewatching.
Knight Rider. Or Miami Vice.
Jump Street. 2nd choice, Degrassi. I can’t wait – this is going to be awesome.
Jump Street! I want to know if Peter DeLouise was really any good
Knight Rider for sure. Gotta go with the ‘Hoff.
Oh definitely Jump Street. Depp! Grieco! Grieco! Depp!
Knight Rider’s good too, but it’s ultimately pretty one-note.
@T-Bone: True. I am not proposing to do recaps, however. Because I am crazy, but I am not that crazy. (Also, Degrassi episodes are pretty short.)
@EH: He wasn’t.
Of the ones you mention I vote for Knight Rider. But only because it is the one I religiously watched on the list.
I nominate St. Elsewhere. It really was that good and you get to see young Denzel Washington, young Mark Harmon, and young annoying wimpy guy who went on to a successful career as a movie bad guy. Don’t let the young Howie Mandell dissuade you, he was less annoying in the 80’s. Also it’s almost like Knight Rider because you have the voice of Kitt.
Quantum Leap!
Knight Rider! That was appointment TV for me and my kids back in the day…and yes, they were both under ten years old, why do you ask?
Degrassi, partly because I’m addicted to the current Next Gen. incarnation. But Knight Rider would be completely awesome, too… man, decisions, decisions.
If you weren’t going for hilariously unbearable I’d shill for The Greatest American Hero. But since you are, is no one going to mention MacGyver?
On the list, I’d pick Jump Street, because I can only imagine the hit parade of random guest stars that were on that show at one time or another.
I think 21 Jump Street would offer more potential material than Knight Rider, because Jump Street canvases the issues that affect yoof. Ditto my beloved degrassi
Or maybe you can do a rewatch sampler and do one episode of each?
God I love Quantum Leap
Dude, I actually watch the new Degrassi. (Yes it is terrible. It used to be less terrible, but I CAN’T STOP WATCHING.) And I went and bought the old Degrassi. (It is also terrible, though in very different ways.)
I would LOOOOVVVEEE your thought on any of the Canadian goodness, lady.
DEGRASSI!!!
The Agony Booth is doing pretty great recaps of Degrassi, http://agonybooth.com/recaps/Degrassi/, I’d love to see you kick 21 Jump Street in the acid washed jeans.
21 Jump Street! It was so cheesy and Depp’s contempt for the show become so much more apparent as it progressed. Would love to see if he saves it in the early seasons. And Grieco!
DEGRASSI ALL THE WAY!
21 Jump Street!! I was so into it at the time, but I suspect it hasn’t aged well…
(Love the Quantum Leap suggestion too.)
I was going to say “Degrassi,” but I’m with the person who suggested “Quantum Leap.” That show is amazing.
It has to be Miami Vice – Don Johnson and his collection of pastel suits, the other guy and whatever he did or wore….
In to vote for Jump Street. Knight Rider holds too dear a place in my childhood memories to risk sullying it now, and I’ve never seen Degrassi or Miami Vice so I wouldn’t know ithem from a … random thing I don’t know.
21 Jump Street. Woo!
I heart Depp.
Unquestionably 21 Jump Street.
21 Jump Street. Please, oh Pretty Please, with cream and sugar and Johnny Depp on top???
Yes, I know, he hated diong that show, but he did it anyway. Like so many of us who slog our way through unpleasant jobs to get to the Real Career on the other side. Yay Johnny Depp!
@Couch: I’m tempted by Greatest American Hero, because 1) the theme song is awesome and 2) the acronym for it is “GAH.” Hee.
I don’t know how you were planning on watching these, but 21 Jumpstreet is totally on Hulu now, so cheap & easy! Yay!
Degrassi! Because I’m Canadian, and dude….Joey Jeremiah!! The hat! Wheels! Snake! Caitlin! Oh so many other exclamation-point-worthy characters!
I’d like to cast my vote for Degrassi. For sure. The mere mention has made me both nostalgic and embarrassed, which makes it a perfect rewatch candidate.
Jump Street seems most like what you’re after (even though it’s not really among my watching memories). And it’s full of before-they-were-famous actors, and Burning Issues Of Our Time.
Miami Vice… if you just saw its first season or so, it would actually be pretty good fun, I think; only after that did it devolve into brain-dead formula. Same with Magnum. And McGyver. As for Bosom Buddies, it had a short run, and about a third of its episodes are top-quality sitcom work (having little to do with the drag premise).
For camp value, how about Dynasty, which aired totally within the 80s? The veering of characters from naughty to nice and back! The turn-on-a-dime ambivalence about sexual orientation! The endless discovery of new family members! The Moldavian massacre! The shoulder pads!
Oh JUDAS PRIEST it needs to be “21 Jump Street”. Please, oh please, give 80s Depp/Robinson/Deluise the “Heartbeat” treatment, because I STILL pull up the essay you wrote about that and larf until I feel sick.
Or “Miami Vice” would be good too. I just feel you’ve already ripped the shoulder pads right off Don Johnson, that’s all. Why go back?
DEGRASSI. And I would bet that many who vote for something else simply don’t know what it is or they would choose it too.
“Miami Vice” all the way. The snark on the outfits alone would be awesome.
Why is no one mentioning the A Team?
…ok fine. I’ll second either 21 Jump Street or Miami Vice…but still, A Team! Face! That crazy pilot guy! That pseudo silvery-foxy guy who died a while back!
Quantum Leap! Oh lawsie mercy. I haven’t thought about that show in ages, but I LOVED it back in the day.
My friends and I recently did a Degrassi run-through (we’d seen a lot of the new series and none of the old) and it kind of changed our lives. FOR THE BETTER.
Oh my God, please do Degrassi!!!
Miami Vice might be fun, but back then, we didn’t really understand how bad Don Johnson was. The cutting edge guest stars and the glowering Edward James Olmos would be ripe for treatment, I guess.
But my vote is really for 21JS. Because we knew it was bad when it was happening. And we (and by we, I mean me) watched it religiously anyway.
I feel oddly compelled to vote: 21 Jump Street. The hair. The jeans. The Very Special Episodes. If GAH isn’t in the mix, it has to be Jump!
Knight Rider or Quantum Leap. Knight Rider is hilarious and the FASHIONS, OMG! but Scott Bakula is truly unbearable.
21 Jump Street (though I reeeeally like the St. Elsewhere idea).
Of the current candidates, I’m voting for Degrassi — I only saw it on the French Canadian channel that we got in Buffalo, but still…
I know this gets into late 80s/early 90s, but I’ll add LA Law to the list. I mean, it’s insufferable, but the gorilla suit and the elevator are pretty amazing. Also, the divorce attorney sleeping with all of his clients? Crazy.
And for the 90s — how about the first 3-5 seasons of The Real World? Before they had businesses, before they were all 21 year old models…
Not sure what you’re going for here. If you’re looking for ridiculous then clearly Miami Vice FTW, but Degrassi has its Very Special Moments in every. damn. show. Leave 21JS in your memories- the hotness of Depp knows no bounds.
On the other hand, GAH? I still sing the song.
21 Jump Street! I actually watched the whole first 4 seasons on DVD not too long ago – having missed all the Johnny Depp years in my parents’ cable-free household – and it was awesomely bad. Even better: Listen to Peter DeLuise’s commentaries, he ruthlessly mocks his addiction to eyeliner. Good times!