A Retro Look at the Year 1984

Hey guys, Raphael here at the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles. Did you say podcast? Dudes! Dudes!

You're listening to a podcast on the Gatecast

Radio Network. This is Casey Gasem, and you're

listening to the GCRN Retro. Hello, everybody.

Things may look funny, but don't you worry. You're

in the right place and the right time. And what

time is that exactly? The year 1984. That's right.

We've traveled back 30 years to discover what

great things 1984 had to offer. We call this

GCRN Retro. And with me on our next voyage is

TFG1 Mike. Hello? Hello, and Mike is clinging

to life as we speak Yes, we've been dying a slow

death over the course of the last week So we

apologize if he dies on air, but that would be

something that would get us a lot of attention

here on Geekcast Radio Network The network better

get paid if I die on air life insurance for podcasting

So besides being sick, how have you been? You

know we Trying to find new and interesting ways

to get stuff on the GCR feel the geek cast radio

feed I've done Like three to four different interviews

close to the end of the year here I interviewed

John Sempert jr. Celebrating 20 years of spider

-man series And a few other people Because right

now episode 75 of GCR will be our 2014 year in

review kind of Ending our five -year celebration

of the network being online for five years So

I'm thinking what else you know is gonna interest

us to do episodes for the GCR feed. I'm like

hey Let's bring retro back and that has turned

into a nightmare Nonsense These retro episodes

are definitely take a lot of time take a lot

of editing take a lot of scripting and stuff

like that compared to our normal episodes We've

done a few before if you've been a longtime fan

of the network you've heard two of these before.

87 in 2002. Yeah, so this will be the third GCR

in retro. It's just kind of something we do here

and there. And we usually start off each episode

by discussing where we were in that year. So

Mike, 1984, where were you? What point in your

life were you? Where were you living? What were

you doing? Take us back to TFG and Mike in 1984.

I was still living in Massachusetts, born and

raised in Massachusetts, lived in Kingston from

the time I was born until the time I was 13,

12 or 13, somewhere around there. 84... You were

four? Yup. Yup. 84 was interesting because I

was a kid that was... Big and I still am today.

I don't talk about it much because I just don't

think that sports talk is Really like what our

audience wants to hear I know some people have

said that they want to hear sports talk on the

network and I know Dan and Chuck and Greg over

talking in circles did a couple of sport things

and everything else You know, being born and

raised in Massachusetts, it's all about the Red

Sox Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics for professional

sports. You know, it's like Jimmy Fallon's character

Ben said in 2005's Fever Pitch, Red Sox sex and

breathing in those order, in that order. As a

fan order. Shut up. How long have the Cubs been

without a World Series? Thank you anyway Yeah

So 84 I was really big into I'm not so much big

into the NBA anymore because it's the Landscape

has just changed so much over the last 20 years.

He held even 30 years, but as a kid Oh, man watching

Larry Bird and Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish

and add to the ancient magic Well, yeah, he was

on the Lakers yard travel Yeah, just watching,

you know Boston Celtics and you know hearing

Johnny Mosley or I think it was his name Johnny

most that's what it was, you know, just hearing

him as the announcer. That was awesome You know

watching Red Sox games 84 I probably was in preschool

because I went into kindergarten I was five so

Preschool was like in the morning So if there

was a day game like a weekday game in the afternoon

soon as I got home from preschool at four years

old I was glued to the TV watching the Red Sox.

I didn't care who they were playing I'm trying

to think It took me a while and I'll say this

later when we get to a different section for

it But it took me a while because I was only

for I didn't really I understood stuff, but I

didn't really get Like really into certain television

shows, but I'll say one thing, you know the cause

how can you not you know? recognize the cause

in the in the in the year of 84 Obviously Transformers

started this year, which we'll talk about later

But, but yeah, 84 was an interesting, interesting

year. Yeah, a lot of things started in 84, and

I think a lot of the discussion that we will

be having today is going to be dealing with not

necessarily, I mean, some stuff that we, we were

both alive, so it will be some stuff that we

saw firsthand, but a lot of it will be stuff

that we saw in later years, whether it be in

reruns or future seasons of these shows, not

necessarily the, not necessarily the first season.

But we would have seen like the second, third,

fourth seasons of some of these shows. So we

do have first -hand accounts, maybe not necessarily

in 1984 for some of these things, because as

a three - and a four -year -old, we might not

have been watching some of the actual primetime

television shows. Some of them we might have

seen as other people in our household would have

been watching, or this, that, and the other.

But some stuff that not necessarily we would

have been. Seeking out ourselves so to speak.

Yeah. Yeah, I think I think by the time I was

five six and seven You know eighty five eighty

six eighty seven. That's really when I was seeking

stuff out Yeah, yeah, I agree with that a hundred

percent But what I do remember from being three

is that obviously I was not in preschool or kindergarten

yet So I was home a lot. So this is the time

where I would have been You know watching a lot

of the more early early childhood or younger

demographic type cartoons Sesame Street stuff

and some of them will get to here in a little

bit Probably was the beginning of when I started

liking the Cubs Since you talked about Red Sox

in 1984 was a big year for the Cubs. I Don't

really remember much of that. I don't remember

I didn't go to a Cubs game until 1986 or 87.

I'm sorry 1987 1987 was my first Cubs game. So

it's a few years before I actually attended And

I wasn't like watching them nonstop until closer

to, you know, 1988, 1989 in that range. But my

mom would have been still watching. My brother

would have still been watching them in 1984.

So it's probably when I first started at least

realizing the Cubs were a thing and baseball

was a thing, which obviously one of the biggest

things that I like in life is baseball. So it's

the beginning of that. But other than that, not

a lot I can remember from when I was three. So

I'm not going to try to say that. I remember

things that I can't remember. For me, I didn't

go to my first Red Sox. I've been to Fenway Park

twice in my lifetime. I wish it had been more

times, but I remember going in like 86 and stuff

like that. Whether it's Fenway Park or whether

it's Wrigley Field, those are two of the key

ballparks in America. Wrigley's got the Ivy Wall.

Fenway's got the Green Monster. And back in those

days, you didn't have seats on the Monster. You

just had the Monster. Right. All right. Well,

with that, we will get into our first section

and we'll take a quick break. Let you listen

to some some interesting sound bites that might

take you back to 1984. When I gave my daughter

to this man, I thought. He was going to be a

doctor. Cliff, stay calm. No, no. I mean, look

at the inscription on this, please. To Elvin.

Straight from my heart. Mm -hmm. Cliff, this

is really very sweet. That's right. And he's

gonna pay me back for this. Mr. Wilderness is

gonna have to sell a whole lot of sleeping bags

and... and campers and trail mix in order to

give me the money back for this thing, boy. Cliff,

try to be rational. Try to be rational. I'll

tell you how rational I can be. I hope that he

goes out into the wilderness and gets poison

ivy and comes back and I have to treat him. Then

he will find out how much sick people get charged.

Cliff, you're going off the deep end. Now, you

listen to me. This boy is our son -in -law. He

has married our daughter. Please don't remind

me. Could you owe it to Sandra and Elvin to let

them lead their own lives? Now, it's obvious.

Elvin's not interested in going to medical school

right now, but that could change. Give him a

year. Just a year to do whatever he wants. If

it doesn't work out, he could always reapply.

She gonna open up this, uh, wilderness. store

And in Brooklyn sometime in the winter you say

now You have a job between now and and then yes

I do have a job, and I'm proud to say it's in

the medical profession really Yes, I'll be working

with a major pharmaceutical firm Ben X industries.

Oh, that's a big company What are you doing for

them? Well, it's kind of an entry -level job.

Entry -level? Yeah, when the pill bottles come

to the end of the assembly line, I check to make

sure that the safety seals are on the caps. Now

that sounds like a great job to me. It is. It

really is. And I'm sure that they'll have all

the money they need while Sandra goes to law

school. Honey, this is gonna work out. Mom? Yes?

I'm not going to law school. What? I decided

not to go to law school. What do you mean you

decided not to go to law school? Well, this is

our dream, and so I'm going to get a temporary

job until the wilderness store opens and then

I'll be working side by side with my husband.

Sandra, what are you saying? You have always

wanted to go to law school. You've never talked

about anything else. I changed my mind. Change

it back! After all the money we spent sending

you to Princeton? Sandra, you owe us $79 ,648

.22, and I want my money now. I'm not going anywhere

till I get my money. I'll take whatever she's

got, empty her pockets. I want you now. No, I'm

not having this, no. Well, really, both of us,

we have to be calm. You calm down. If Elvin thinks

that he is going to come in here and drag my

baby off into some hair -brained business game

and ruin what is potentially the greatest legal

mind of this century, he's gonna have me to deal

with. And then he can come to you for treatment.

I understand and I agree with what you're saying,

but you just said to me, uh, why don't we give

them a year? And if it doesn't work, then they

can reapply. What I want to know is how is it

that you get to rant and rave and I'm the one

who has to be calm? Because that is my baby in

there. But that's my baby, too! No, you don't

understand, honey. You did not have that child.

I had that child. I was the one who was on that

table screaming, take it out! And if it takes

the last breath in my body, Sandra is going to

become a lawyer! Yeah, okay. What do you want

to do? Oh, it's very simple. She'll divorce him.

Sandra is in love with the boy, dear. Well, then

you take Elvin. I take him? Yes, you take him.

What am I gonna do with him? You take him on

a long trip in the country and drop him off.

Right, as you can tell, we're starting off today

talking about the TV shows of 1984. A couple

things before we get into the actual shows, maybe

some headlines from the year. This is the year

where Where's the Beef? The catchphrase in the

commercial was first broadcast. So you can thank

1984 for having to deal with that for the last

30 years. And on September 10th, 1984, the game

show Jeopardy! returns to television by Daily

Syndication with a new host, Alex Trebek. It

had last aired in 1979. So it spent five seasons

off air Comes back in 1984 with Alex Trebek and

obviously the rest is history since it's still

airing thoughts on that. Yeah, I Yeah, the 84

era, you know starting this year in 1984 is the

only era I ever knew of like Alex Trebek is the

only Jeopardy host I ever knew You know, I've

seen the other host who I can't think of off

the top of my head. I've seen videos, and I know

we're not talking about this, but since they

kind of go hand in hand with each other, I've

seen Chuck Woolery on the original Wheel of Fortune.

I'm sorry. Pat Sajak and Alex Trebek were the

nighttime game show hosts of the 80s. They just

were. Yeah, and I don't even remember Jeopardy

before Alex Trebek. Yeah, I don't. Since I basically

wasn't alive in 1979 when that was happening.

But I'm just saying like when you hear Jeopardy

you think of From 1984 to whatever now is you

don't think like I don't think of the 60s version

or whatever it was So yeah, but yeah, I mean

good definitely a definitely a big moment and

one that hasn't One show that hasn't missed a

beat since then we're gonna quickly go into like

some shows that debuted in 1984 some shows that

Returned after a hiatus and some shows that ended

in 1984 then we're gonna just do a real quick

look at the ratings from 1984 which shows were

the or the highest rating which channels were

doing well, and then we're gonna get into Some

of our favorite shows from that particular year

So starting off with with the debuts shows that

started in 1984 we have such shows as night court

Lifestyles of the rich and famous from telecast

season one kids incorporated Punky Brewster hunter

highway to heaven the Cosby show who's the boss?

Three is a crowd Miami Vice murder she wrote

and Charles in charge So there's a ton of shows

that started in 1984 that lasted longer than

1984 It wasn't like a bunch of shows started

that were you know one season things and that

were done You know that's because back then the

TV landscape was so dirt like today You know

I'm sorry to cut you off here, but today Networks

don't give television shows a chance because

all is they're worried about is the ratings and

the money And it makes no sense to me with TV

today That they put all this promotion into a

show doesn't matter what show this could be any

show Put all this promotion to a show create

official Twitter and Facebook accounts for the

show blah blah blah all this stuff And then hey,

oh hey well the show isn't doing well enough,

so gone two episodes later It's done because

it didn't get them the right feedback Yeah, and

in 1984 we didn't have that yeah mostly probably

due to the fact that we basically have three

major channels That people are watching as far

as new shows. I mean you have your ABC your CBS

and your NBC. This is before Fox basically You

know before We had this revolution where you

got a thousand different channels this that and

the other But yeah, I mean if you think about

that almost every show that I listed on there

was a multi -season show I don't know how long

hunter lasted because I didn't I'm not real familiar

with Hunter. But if you think of, like, Who's

the Boss?, The Cosby Show, Murder Show, Charles

in Charge, Miami Vice, those shows lasted seasons

and seasons and seasons. So definitely a lot

of cool stuff starting in 1984 and then a couple

things that returned after hiatus We talked about

Jeopardy which had last aired in 1979 which then

came back in 1984 to stay a couple other game

shows Let's make a deal had stopped airing in

1981 it came back in 1984 as well as password

plus had stopped in 1982 and came back in 1984

I don't know what people are funny is but that

apparently last aired in 1960 and then 24 years

later made a debut Return to television on NBC

Hunter had seven seasons hunter even had seven

seasons So yeah, all these shows had a lot of

seasons anything as jeopardy the biggest return

or and let's make a deal pop probably Um as far

as overall shows that return this year after

hiatus. Oh the returns Yeah, if you if you were

listening to me, yeah Yeah, I think let's die

over here Yeah, oh, yeah, absolutely jeopardy

and let's make a deal of the two biggest password

plus I don't even remember that I have no idea

what people are funny as Yeah, um as far as shows

that ended in 1984 we had heart -to -heart one

day at a time happy days threes company the Dean

Martin Celebrity Roast, Captain Kangaroo, and

Fantasy Island. Which one out of those... Which

one out of those was the saddest that you would

have seen? I mean, obviously you weren't watching

these as a four -year -old, but looking back,

which one would be the one that you were saddest

to see go out of that group? Three's Company,

hands down. Three's Company, not Happy Days?

I know everyone loves Happy Days, and everyone

loves The Fonz, and that's all well and great,

but Happy Days was a show based in the 60s. And

I just... Yeah, I could see Captain Kangaroo.

I like that show But not not obviously a lot

more big names starting in 1984 than ending in

1984 as far as our Household ratings going into

the Nielsen's ratings here Because I was able

to get some information on that. This is how

it broke down. I'll give you the top ten Number

ten was Falcon crust number nine was Nazi landing

Number eight was murder. She wrote in its debut

year number seven Simon and Simon number six

the a team number five family ties number four

sixty minutes number three in its debut year

would be the Cosby show number two Dallas and

number one dynasty so dynasty and Dallas at the

top two spots I Always wanted those two shows

to have a crossover like it and I know one is

ABC and one of the CBS, but I mean like That

is the The characters from dynasty and the characters

from Dallas imagine those yeah interacting with

each imagine Blake interacting with JR it just

To kind of give you guys an idea of what the

TV landscape was in 1984, you know, cuz obviously

we're currently you would know a little bit different

about which Channels are doing well, and you

know as Fox the main channel is you know ABC

NBC CBS Whatever back in 1984 was pretty cut

and dry even though ABC has the top show overall

with dynasty They were not doing super well in

1984. They only had two shows in the top 20 So

it was hotel and dynasty were the only two ABC

ABC shows in the top 20 So ABC was not doing

particularly well in 1984 CBS had 10 out of the

top 20 and NBC had the other eight. So CBS was

doing real well. CBS was Dallas, 60 Minutes,

Simon and Simon Murder Show, Nuts Landing, Falcon

Crest, Crazy Like a Fox, Magnum P .I., New Heart,

Kate and Allie. So a lot of things on CBS doing

pretty well. NBC, you had Cosby Show, Family

Ties, The A -Team, Cheers, Riptide, and Highway

to Heaven and Night Court. So it was basically

a CBS and an NBC going head -to -head here in

1984. But getting into some of your favorite

shows or what you would have been watching, what

were your favorite things that 1984 had to offer,

whether they were returning or new shows, what

would you have been watching if you were an adult

in 1984? If I was an adult in 84? Yeah, if you

were watching all these primetime shows and you

had your choice, which ones would you have watched

or as a teenager or whatever? honestly it came

down to a lot of the comedies and this is where

you know today comedies don't get enough of a

chance like back then the Cosby show ran for

nine seasons you know family ties ran for X number

of seasons who's the boss you know those kind

of shows I was also in 84 still watching obviously

Knight Rider and a team and You know all that

stuff, but you know Cosby show that was a vehicle

for learning It really really was that show even

today if you showed children certain episodes

of the Cosby show they could learn from From

that show you know the the whole Halloween episode.

I forget what season it was in but Rudy and Not

not Kenny No, Rudy and Peter, her little white

friend that gets scared of the dentist. Yeah,

I gotcha. Rudy and Peter were going trick -or

-treating, and Cliff and Claire said, okay, well,

the purple bag's for houses that you do know,

the red bag is for houses that you don't know.

And by the end of the episode, which I thought

was really good, that makes sense. You know,

you get, you know, you go to the... the people

that you know, like family members and teachers

and stuff like that. And then you just go random

trick -or -treating and find strangers so the

adults can inspect the candy. So basically what

Cliff was doing back then is Rudy and Peter could

have the purple bag and he and Claire could have

the red bag. He's just getting a bag of candy

for himself. Stuff like that. Stuff like teaching

Peter to not be afraid of the dentist. There's

and then the Cosby show eventually went into

more Obviously it not necessarily quote -unquote

adult themes but as as the children grew up and

as you know Sandra and Eldon and all this and

all that and I Still laugh my ass off to this

day when you know Sandra tells tells them oh,

yeah, I'm not going to law school either. I'm

gonna help Eldon in his pet store or whatever

it was and and Claire just cuz Claire Huxtable

she never she's always calm you know Cliffs usually

the one that goes off at the mouth and she just

says oh Hell no you owe me blah blah blah blah

this amount of money And I want to get paid because

she paid for a lot for you know for to go to

law school It's just it's such a good show You

know you mentioned the a team a team for me Was

MacGyver light? Or if if MacGyver had had a team

instead of just himself Because they were always

pulling MacGyver stunts In in solving cases,

and then you know Knight Rider, how can you not

want you know? To to beat it. I know you were

gonna mention Knight Rider. Oh come on now You

can't mention the 80s and not mention Knight

Rider Yeah I kind of had an interesting way of

going through my list. I didn't make a top 10

list or anything like that. What I did is I went

through the week and actually decided what I

would be watching each night. There's a couple

nights that I wouldn't have been watching anything.

But Sunday, I would have had too bad DVR didn't

exist back in 1984 because Sunday, Murder, She

Wrote and Knight Rider aired at the same time.

I probably would have to make a decision on which

one of those to watch. I probably watch more

Murder She Wrote. But not to say I didn't like

Knight Rider and I think in the spring I got

switched time slots so I had an option to not

have to choose between those two. So that's what

I would have been doing on Sunday probably watching

Murder She Wrote. I would have taken Monday and

Tuesday off and just not watch TV because...

Wasn't super impressed with the the schedules

on Mondays and Tuesdays on Wednesday I probably

would have watched highway to heaven and then

facts of life if I was having to watch TV Thursday

I would have watched Cosby show which was then

backed up right afterwards with family ties So

I wouldn't watch the two of those and then on

Friday. There was a lot of shows on on Friday

We had mr. Belvedere Benson Webster Knight writer

in the spring so a lot of shows to watch on Friday,

and I'm not gonna Be afraid to admit that on

Saturday. I probably from time to time would

have checked out mama's family Mama's family

was awesome. So those are probably the the main

shows that I would have Watched I wasn't huge

on some of the sitcoms in the mid 80s for some

reason Charles in charge who's the boss? You

know, I did mention family ties and facts of

life But there was a lot of that stuff and I

didn't watch a ton of that but not saying they

weren't good. Anything else that you wanted to

bring up as far as TV shows? Well, because I

thought we were supposed to make top 10s, because

that's what's in the script. I did make a top

10. Now, just because I made a top 10 does not

mean that I think one of these shows is better

than the other. This is just how I would place

them. For the record, I only listed 10 shows

in my schedule. So I kind of did a top 10. Still.

Well, still. Just instead of ordering them, I

put them day by day. But what's your top 10?

Webster. Katen Alley, Cheers, The Cosby Show,

Three's Company, Who's the Boss, Night Court,

Dallas. One premiere you forgot about this year,

because it ran from 84 to 87, was Airwolf is

my number two, and obviously Knight Rider is

my number one. I think everybody forgot about

Airwolf. Nobody forgot about Airwolf. People

forgot about Airwolf when the fourth season happened.

That's when they forgot about Airwolf. But the

first three were all right. Which, by the way,

Airwolf was not in the top 30. It wasn't, but

you left it off your debuts list because it debuted

in 84. All right, so let us know what your favorite

TV shows in 1984 were, where we're wrong, where

we're right, what you liked about 1984 when it

came to actual prime time television shows. We're

going to be taking another quick break to give

you some sound clips and we'll take you to the

next part that we will be discussing for 1984.

I like this. Where are you going? I have a dance

to go to. At school. Most important, no matter

how much they beg, never, never let them eat

after midnight. It's right here, Ray. It's looking

at me. Chronologically, you're 16 today. Physically,

you're still 15. Fire and brimstone coming down

from the sky. Rivers and seas boiling. 40 years

of darkness. Are you okay? He slimed me. That's

great! Here, karate, same thing. Either you karate

do, yes, or karate do, no. You want me to call

you? Black smoke. Your yesterday's news has got

a great gift of talent but it's not enough. There

is a time to every purpose under heaven. Because

the needs of the one outweigh the needs of many.

Alright, as you can probably tell, our next stop

on our voyage through 1984 is in the land of

movies, and as you know... Who you gonna call?

And as you know, if you're a fan of the Geocast

Radio Network, one thing I like to talk about

is movies. So a couple things about movies in

1984 before we get into actual releases. Walt

Disney Studios establishes Touchstone Pictures

to release films with more mature subject matter

than the traditional Walt Disney Pictures banner.

TriStar Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia

Pictures, HBO, and CBS, released its first film.

Michael Eisner becomes the head of the Walt Disney

Company. And the MPAA, Motion Picture Association

of America, institutes the PG -13 rating for

the first time as a response to violent movies.

such as gremlins and indiana jones in the temple

of doom let me read that one more time as a response

to violent movies such as gremlins and temple

of doom so pg -13 comes into play in 1984 and

temple of doom i can understand gremlins come

on yeah you know and we're eventually somewhere

on mwire or weekend at the movies or even here

in the gcr feed we are eventually going to have

a podcast where we discuss the mpaa and what

Just strange, superficial people are on this

damn board. Yeah. Real quick, a couple movie

stars that debuted in 1984. Then we're going

to get into the highest grossing films of 1984.

And then we'll talk about our top 10 films of

the year. Some interesting debuts, some people

that are in the know now. Maybe you don't realize

that they started way back in 1984. Jennifer

Connelly debuts in 1984. And once upon a time,

In America, Johnny Depp debuted in A Nightmare

on Elm Street, Colin Firth and Rupert Everett

in Another Country, Sarah Michelle Geller in

Over the Brooklyn Bridge, Seth Green in A Billion

for Boris, Val Kilmer in Top Secret, Charlie

Sheen in Red Dawn, Elizabeth Hsu in The Karate

Kid, Jean -Claude Van Damme in Breakin'. Damon

Wayans in Beverly Hills Cop. There are some other

ones out there. Those were probably the main

ones. I do not remember him in Beverly Hills

Cop. I don't remember a lot of these people.

I'd have to go back and watch the shows and be

like, oh, there they are. It has a younger version

of themselves. I do want to mention this though.

Helen Slater stars in Supergirl as Kara Zor -El

aka Supergirl. I had not seen her since Supergirl

and when she did a cameo as Clarke's mom on Smallville,

I was like, wow, Supergirl grew up to be really

hot. I haven't seen her in anything between the

film Supergirl and the Smallville TV show. As

far as the highest grossing films of 1984, Because

we'll soon be having an episode at GCRN where

Jan and I revisit our box office predictions

for 2014. And one of the things we said when

we were making our predictions that in order

to be in the top 10 for 2014, you're probably

going to have to be over 200 million. Back in

1984, there was only two movies that surpassed

that 200 million mark. Obviously, a different

time, a different... dynamic as far as the box

office goes. Number one at the box office in

1984 would have been none other than Ghostbusters.

Go ahead and talk about Ghostbusters for a second.

I know you like that movie. Ghostbusters is awesome.

It just is awesome. The funny thing is is I think

that at some point I mixed up Rick Moranis in

two different roles that he did. between Louis

Tully and Wayne Zelinsky in Honey I Shrunk the

Kids. I swear to God. Rick Moranis is just an

amazing, amazing actor. To have the whole Key

Master and Gatekeeper thing, that was pretty

awesome. I think this probably, as a kid, was

the first Bill Murray movie I saw. But just the

chemistry amongst all these guys, Bill Murray,

Ackroyd, Ramus, may he rest in peace, and even

Ernie Hudson. Ernie Hudson's character, Winston

Zedmore, comes into this as a skeptic and he

leaves as a believer. Between that, between Slimer,

the Ecto -1, the Firehouse... This is just amazing

just an amazing amazing movie and I should qualify

that somewhat Ghostbusters is currently the highest

Grossing movie that was released in 1984 if we

just took the year 1984 The number one movie

would have actually been Beverly Hills Cop Well

because of rereleases Ghostbusters has since

passed Beverly Hills Cop But if we were back

in 1984 the number one grossing film would have

been Beverly Hills Cop Then we get to number

three, which would be Indiana Jones and the Temple

of Doom. Number four, that's the highest grossing

film in 1984. It actually was Gremlins. I think

a lot of people don't realize how much money

that movie made. Number five, Karate Kid. Number

six, Police Academy. Number seven, Footloose.

Number eight, Romancing the Stone. Number nine,

Star Trek III, The Search for Spock. And number

ten, the tenth highest grossing film of 1984,

Splash. So, I don't know what that says about

1984. As far as your favorite films of 1984,

how would you break it down, sir? You know, between

Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, Police Academy,

Gremlins, and The Karate Kid, you know, 84 was

an amazing year for movies. You know, I didn't

get into Star Trek until and I'm still more of

a casual fan today than than anything else But

I didn't get into Star Trek until next generation.

So all these original series movies. I Just didn't

care about as a kid It just I'm sorry, it's just

I'd rather you know go to a galaxy far far away

than be transported between The Enterprise and

some barren planet I mean karate kid, you know,

you've got Pat Morita and mr. Miyagi and and

and Daniel son and all that stuff and that movie

did a damn good job of showing us how you know,

we can accomplish what we put set our minds to

do right You know and just Miyagi was always

so fun. He really really was Beverly Hills cop

as a kid. I don't think I saw I think I You know,

like you mentioned earlier in the show. I Don't

think I saw it obviously, I mean I was four years

old But I honestly don't think I saw it until

like 90 because I saw the second one before I

saw the first one That's because because I kept

I kept watching the second one saying You know,

what is he talking about when when the guy says?

Oh, he was the guy with the cigarette truck that

one day and I'm like, wait what? And then I realized,

oh, there's a first movie to the series. Since

then, Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2, two of the best

cop comedy action movies we've ever had. Outside

of Lethal Weapon, maybe. Well, I said two of

the best. I didn't say they are. I said two of

the best. Gotcha. So what about you? First, a

couple that didn't make my top 10 that I'd like

to mention at least. Conan the Destroyer. Romancing

the stone the natural once upon a time in America

16 candles and revenge of the nerds all came

out in 1984 Not saying those are bad movies where

they didn't quite make my top ten number ten

would be police academy for me And we're nine

would be Star Trek search for Spock Number eight

would be karate kid seven Beverly Hills cop six

the Terminator Terminator came out in 1984 folks

Did not do well at the box office, but it came

out in 1984 number five in the never -ending

story Number four Muppets take Manhattan three

Ghostbusters two gremlins and one Indiana Jones

and the temple do Interesting. So I wanted to

give the Muppets and Never Ending Story a mention

in there. So you can let us know again what your

favorite films of 1984 are and we're gonna buckle

up and go on to our next stop on our voyage through

1984 so we'll be right back. Nobody should be

surprised that in our next stop, I mean come

on, it's TFJ1 Mike and myself here. We're going

to be talking about some cartoons. Cartoons of

1984, especially in 1984, we're talking about

cartoons. We're going to talk about some cartoons

that debuted in 1984. We're going to talk about

some cartoons that ended in 1984. And then of

course, our favorite cartoons of 1984. So that's

how this section will break down. Cartoons debuting

in 1984. Let's start with the one that we need

to get out of the way Probably first and foremost

and go months and nobody should be surprised

here the Transformers Debuted in 1984 would go

on to release 98 episodes from 1984 to 1988 We'll

both be talking about that when we get to our

favorite cartoons in 1984. All right The Mighty

Orbots debuted in 1984 that would go on to release

124 episodes Heathcliff 86 episodes started in

1984. Challenge of the Gobots started at 65 episode

run in 1984. Jim Henson's The Muppet Babies started

its 107 episode run in 1984. Then we had stuff

like Kid Video, Pink Panther and Sons, Pole Position,

Rainbow Brite, The Snorks, Super Friends the

Legendary Superpower Show, Turbo Teen, Dragon's

Lair, My Little Pony and Friends, and Thomas

and Friends started its 400 Plus episode run

in 1984 that is still going Is that the Thomas

the Tank Engine? Yes, the UK show started in

1984 I cannot believe that thing is 30 years

old. I thought that was like 10 or 15 years old

That's definitely the show that had the longest

run starting in 1984 a couple younger Aged audience

pointed shows that ended in 1984 here. We have

the biscuits Shirt Tales, and Monchichis. So

those shows ended in 1984. Nobody's crying over

the ending of those shows, I don't think. No.

Although I did watch Shirt Tales when I was a

kid, but getting into your favorite shows, I

mean, you could talk about some of the shows

that debuted. I mean, obviously Transformers

was probably the biggest debut. Outside of that,

I would probably say Muppet Babies was the biggest

one for me. Once again, you left one off here

for the debuts. Which one do you have? Voltron

oh, it's probably listed under a different country

Voltron no Voltron came to the u .s. It's based

off a gold lion from Japan, but Voltron came

to the u .s. 1984 with Peter Cullen and all those

guys and everybody else but but Between Transformers

and Voltron I was set in 84 for cartoons if you

add in what we've already gotten with like GI

Joe and he man and I'll be it I'm saying if you

add it into what we've already gotten from 82

and 83, oh That's when the toys came. Hey Anyway,

you know you added in with he man And you know

the following year you'd get a whole bunch of

stuff You know 84 was interesting pink panther

and sons. I honestly don't remember a lot about

it Um, I remember the classic pink panther as

an adult looking back on some of these cartoons

like super friends Super friends all as it was

was Hey This week, let's see how dark side gained

into Wonder Woman's pants. That's really all

it was half the time when dark side was involved

You know, you talk about a really over -the -top

show. You know, Snorks. Snorks was awesome, because

it was the first time we heard Donatello without

it being Donatello, because Junior was voiced

by Barry Gordon. And you've got Michael Bell

as all -star. I'd have to say, outside of the

action cartoons, probably Muppet Babies would

be my favorite, because everybody was into the

Muppets. Yeah. This point what's your top ten

for 1984 because it's definitely a good year

to be watching cartoons Well, sadly, I only have

eight. I'll make it up and I'll give you 12 Pig

panther and sons at number eight super friends

at number seven Actually, I only have seven anyway,

uh cuz Are we talking like debuts or? Everything

that was airing new shows in 1984. Okay, so then

I only have seven. He -Man, Snorks, Muppet Babies,

Voltron, and Transformers. Alright, I will make

up for you because I couldn't decide on ten,

so I actually have twelve. I don't necessarily

have them in order, so I'll just give them to

you. I'll start with the shows that were returning.

The shows that are returning in 1984 from previous

debuts would have been He -Man, Smurfs, Dungeons

and Dragons, Inspector Gadget, and Alvin and

the Chipmunks. As far as the new shows, Adventures

of the Little Koala was definitely a show I was

actually watching in 1984. You have to go back

and get that clip out of Tooncast beyond episode

55. Which one? The clip with the with him asking,

you know, why is she all wet? But the Adventures

of the Little Paula was a show I loved as a kid

and as a three -year -old I would have been watching

that as well as I would have been watching My

Little Pony and Rainbow Brite because I had an

older sister. So those two would also be on my

list. Challenge of the Gobots was a show I was

watching back then. Jim Henson's The Muppet Babies,

Heathcliff and then of course Transformers. So

those are some great. cartoons that were airing

in 1984. There was a little something for everybody

back then. Great year for cartoons. All right,

we're going to take a quick trip to our next

stop. You'll have to listen to see what's coming

up here in 1984. is more powerful a weapon than

any fleet or army on Earth. We are one people,

with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies

shall talk themselves to death, and we will bury

them with their own confusion. We shall prevail.

On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce

Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like

1984. Alright, next up in 1984 we're talking

video games. We're not gonna have a top list

for video games because I was three years old

and Mike was four years old. We weren't playing

a lot of video games and video games really,

for all intents and purposes, don't really take

off for another year. So, 1984 was much more

dealing with... Stuff that was available in arcades

maybe a little bit of computer type stuff, and

then you know some arcade type or Atari type

games, but Not enough for us to make like an

actual top five or ten list or whatever The fifth

arcade awards were held in 1984 for games released

during the previous year pole position one coin

op game of the year miss pac -man one console

video game of the year load runner one computer

game of the year and cubert wins Dedicated Standalone

Game of the Year. For the second Golden Joystick

Awards, Night Lore takes Game of the Year. On

June 6th, Alexei... something... Patinov created

the Tetris video game for the Electronica 60

in the Soviet Union. Atari Games and Sega both

released arcade versions in 1988, and obviously

Nintendo released its version in 1989, but it

was created in 1984, so that's probably the biggest

video game thing was Tetris being created. May

10 Tetris was the new Tetris was the new pong

It really was on May 10th King's Quest from Sierra

and IBM PC the first animated adventure game

The first game in the King's Quest series and

the first game to use the AGI engine is released

on June 4th Nintendo releases a conversion of

their own Donkey Kong 3 for the Famicom NES system

December 17th, Nintendo releases the Ice Climber

and Balloon Fight games for the Famicom NES system.

Interesting to note that the video game Grand

Theft Auto Vice City Stories takes place actually

in 1984, as does Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom

Pain. Yeah, I'm assuming you weren't playing

many video games in 1984? Not unless you count

Barnstormers on the Atari 2600. There you go.

Namco also released Pac -Land. Donald R. LeBow

developed Gauntlet, which is later released in

a bunch of different versions. Also, David Relson

developed Paperboy, which would come out to Atari

in the next year. So a lot of stuff coming out

as far as first ideas are first being developed,

but... Not a lot of games or anything that I

would have been playing in 1984. I mean we had

the pong system and we had it in television So

I but I don't remember exactly what year we had

those or what year I would have been playing

them I don't believe it was back when I was three

though Yeah So the thing about paperboy is I

didn't play that until it came to the you remember

those old tiger electronic handheld games Didn't

play paperboy until then which was 87 88 something

like 80 be somewhere between 87 and 89 You know,

so that's that's when I first heard about paperboy

I do remember the inquest series, but I wouldn't

have been playing it back in 1984. Yeah, I remember

it but I Never played it. Like I said, you know

video games for me really didn't Take off until

85, you know when the Nests put out the Mario

Duck Hunt pack and all this and all that and

everything else. Right. Well, a good thing then

that the time machine is fueled up. Tank's full

and we're ready to go then. Just a quick stop

at video games this time, but probably a longer

stop at our next stop. So stay tuned to see where

we go next in 1984. And you'll see why 1984...

America's top ten with Casey case of this week

The exclusive review of the Top Ten on Billboard's

Pop, Soul, Country and Album charts for the weekending

May 20th, 1984. Now, here's Casey Caso. Thank

you and hello again, everybody. Welcome to America's

Top Ten. Let's turn right to the action on the

Billboard Pop Singles Chart and run through the

top hits in the land this week. Now, last week,

Hello by Lionel Richie moved into the number

one spot. Will it be at number one again this

week? Let's find out. Falling two notches to

number ten is Kenny Loggins with his recent number

one smash, the title song from the movie Footloose.

At number nine is the song we saw in our pop

spotlight last week, The Cars, and You Might

Sing. Up a notch number eight is the first top

ten solo hit for Steve Perry, Old Sherry. Hanging

on at number seven is Rick Springfield with the

second of the four movie songs in our countdown.

From the movie Hard to Hold, it's Love Somebody.

and leaping a fast four notches to number six

with her second top ten hit is a woman from Queens,

New York, Cindy Lauper with Time After Time.

Up a notch to number five, a song that's also

a big hit on the country chart, Julio Iglesias

and Willie Nelson with To All The Girls I've

Loved Before. After two weeks at number three,

the Thompson twins slip a notch to number four

with Hold Me Now. At number three is Bill Collins

and the title song from the movie Against All

Odds. Up two notches to number two, the highest

ranking of the four movie songs in our survey,

Denise Williams and Let's Hear It For The Boy.

And holding on at number one for a second week

is a master of the modern day romantic ballad.

The great Lionel Richie has the most popular

song in the USA again this week with Hello. Now,

our pop spotlight song of the week. It's the

first top ten solo hit for Steve Perry, the lead

singer of the supergroup Journey. If you listen

carefully, you'll notice that Steve's solo style

is a bit different from the way he sounds when

he sings with Journey. He says that's because

he's gone back to the way he used to sing rhythm

and blues back in the 60s. Steve says, quote,

Journey stuff is very melodic and polished. What

I sing on my solo album is much more gutsy. The

Journey sound doesn't allow me to do this kind

of singing. What I'm doing has the flavor of

the early Motown era." End of quote. In our pop

spotlight, here's Steve Perry in a video that

features his real -life girlfriend Sherry Swofford

in Oh Sherry. That's right, it's time to talk

the music of 1984. First, a couple of talking

points here. Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler on

September 14th, 1984, host the first ever MTV

Video Music Awards at New York City's Radio City

Music Hall. An event... Which included Madonna's

performance of the song Like A Virgin. So the

first ever MTV Video Music Awards all the way

back in 1984. It surprises me what stars they

got back then to do these awards. Not just the

MTV Video Music Awards, but any award show. I'm

always really surprised then and now who they

get, whether it's people in pop culture, whether

it's actual musicians. whatever movie star it

just it always surprises me who they get to host

the stuff because outside of Billy Crystal you

know like Billy is the standard and I know this

isn't music this isn't music really here but

Billy Crystal is the standard man to do a hosting

job because he knows how to do it he has the

timing everybody else that I've seen in the last

30 years they've all sucked in one way or another

On January 27th, 1984, Michael Jackson's scalp

is burned during the filming of a Pepsi commercial,

and he is admitted to the hospital. That was

when he was about to release the Thriller album,

so you might remember his head catching on fire

during a Pepsi commercial. On March 1st, 1984,

Sting plays his last concert with the police

at the end of the Synchronicity tour. The band

takes a pause after the tour and only play a

few special events together after this until

2007, when they would or reunite as kind of a

reunion tour thing. So, 1984, the last time for

staying in the police. April 1st, 1984, on a

sad note, Marvin Gaye is shot and killed during

an argument with his father. September 2nd, 1984,

Van Halen concludes his 1984 world tour with

a show in Nuremberg, Germany, as part of the

Monsters of Rock Festival tour. This would be

the last concert with David Lee Roth as lead

singer until they reunited in 2007. Alright gotta

ask. Are you David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar? Neither.

Really? Not a big Van Halen fan. But apparently

2007 was a good year to reunite since Sting and

the Police and Van Halen and all this other stuff.

Alright, September 21st, 1984. The first compact

disc manufacturing plant in North America opens

in Terre Haute, Indiana. CDs previously had been

too expensive because they were imported from

Japan or West Germany. Bruce Springsteen's Born

in the USA is designated as the first CD ever

made in the United States. This happened in 1984.

I had that. So compact disc coming to the United

States in 1984. November 20th, 1984, Michael

Jackson receives a star on the Hollywood Walk

of Fame directly in front of Mann's Chinese Theater.

Jackson leaves after only three minutes at the

request of security as the crush of five thousand

onlookers becomes a safety concern. Some groups

musical groups formed in 1984 diamond Rio Yeah,

I can't imagine them forming it is some of these

groups that are on here I can imagine but some

like diamond Rio like I didn't know about them

of course I wasn't listening to country music

back in the 80s, but It's a long journey for

them to become big. I know right expose a new

kids on the block the offspring and Soundgarden

all forming in 1984 a couple oldies as far as

groups disbanded in 1984 the end of sticks and

the end of kansas a lot of people like those

bands um just getting in i don't know if you

picked uh artists or if you picked albums i went

with songs and these are my favorite songs of

1984 in no particular order um time after time

by cindy lopper when doves cry by prince wake

me up before you go go theme from ghostbusters

Madonna's Like a Virgin, 99 Red Balloons, Bruce

Springsteen, Born in the USA, Forever Young,

Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA. That's a pretty

iconic song. I want to know what love is. Summer

of 69 and you spin me right round, baby, right

round. What about you? I didn't write too many

in my head and the only album I wrote I wrote

down in that one album because it just Even today

I can listen to at least six or seven of the

songs off of it. I can agree with all your selections

But for me it all came down to Hall and Oates

and their album Big Bam Boom Hall and Oates was

They were and still are the duo to beat they

really are There's not a lot of duos in music.

There just isn't. There's either, you know, four

or five, three, four or five member groups, or

they're solo artists. No Sonny and Shea love?

Not really. Just kidding. But I mean, in the

80s, where the hell were Sonny and Shea? You

know what I mean? It's like in the 80s, Hall

and Oates was the duo to beat and nobody could

do it. But with Big Bam Boom, they had stuff

like Method of Modern Love, Out of Touch, Dance

on Your Knees, stuff like that. I actually just

wrote up a retrospective album review about their

Big Bam Boom album because it was obviously the

30th anniversary and whatever else that's over

on keycastradio .com. You know, I'd have to go

back and look at songs and stuff, but there really

wasn't many Outflake full albums that I was listening

to as a kid like born in the USA I destroyed

that cassette from listening to the same tracks

over and over and over again I mean like the

tape actually wore out in my tape player I Can

believe that I wasn't listening to CDs at the

time This is more of a retro look back at what

songs I like now that came out in 1984 in 1984

I would have been listening to strictly oldies

or whatever my parents were listening to which

probably would have been a variety of things

that wouldn't have been airing on any type of

radio station. So it wasn't until 1989 that I

was allowed to listen to pop music. Okay, now

let's talk about this because you weren't allowed

to listen to pop music. For a long time. I mean,

I didn't have control of the radio when I was

a kid, obviously, and I didn't have a radio in

my room like everybody does now or a computer

or this, that and the other. So it was basically

whatever the family would put on on the tape

player, the record player, the eight track player,

whatever it would be, which was a variety of

old classical, not classic, like classical music,

but like Simon and Garfunkel type stuff, stuff

like some old, old country stuff. Talking like

Dolly Parton Johnny Cash era type stuff Maybe

some Gospel music of some sort. I'm guessing

Different stuff like that, but I wasn't really

you know We had our major stations that would

play like your top 40 hits or whatever I was

not allowed to listen to that stuff My first

exposure was on a field trip in school on the

bus and the bus played Red hot chili peppers

under the bridge Was the first song that I'd

heard that was probably like a top 40 song that

I was hearing on the radio And I was like the

blew my mind But yeah as far as like in my room

or this that and the other I was allowed to listen

to like oldies of you know 40s 50s music maybe

a tiny bit of early 60s music not not like the

Hippie 60 70 stuff, but like the yeah the oldest

stuff Yeah, so that's all I was allowed to listen

to as a kid which I don't necessarily regret

because I don't like a lot of the music that

was out at that time but Looking back at it.

These are songs that I can enjoy now Absolutely.

Yeah, I mean my parents were definitely they

weren't necessarily filtering like the cartoons

I was watching or you know I would watch like

primetime shows with them, but they definitely

tried to filter the music Yeah, see the reason

why I bring this up is because I have an interesting

story about this there's Third or fourth grade,

so probably somewhere around 88 89 I know we're

talking about 84 but somewhere on 88 or 89 My

elementary school had a rule that you could not

say or Write anything about you're listening

to Hard rock or thinking about girls I don't

know why the school had this rule but if you

got if you said any of those things or You know

wrote down any of those things in a journal or

whatever else they would You know Give you detention

or whatever suspend you or whatever else it was

really really weird, but for me where the story

comes in is When I you know growing up in Massachusetts

I don't know what it's like and you know for

you in Illinois Chicago and all that stuff But

growing up in Boston, you know suburbs of Boston,

Massachusetts South Shore, Massachusetts That's

all we had was the top 40 pop. And I mean, they

played classic stuff, you know, 60, 70, you know,

50, 60, 70 stuff. But most of it was what's now

what's what's going on now. And that's all the

music like 80s pop and New Age and New Wave or

whatever the hell you want to call it. That's

pretty much all I knew. So when I had to move

here to Kentucky in 93. I'm like, okay, well,

this is a complete culture shock. There are no

flipping mountains or trees anywhere. This place

is just so barren. It's nothing but corn and

tobacco fields. It's like, oh my God, like for

three and a half years, 93 to 95, 96, all as

I listened to was country music, because that's

the only music I thought they had here. The channel

like oh that's music I remember from when I was

a kid, you know It's like, you know the 80s 90s

and now channel or whatever else. It's like hey,

I remember that. Yeah, I don't have to listen

to country anymore. That's good Nice Yeah, definitely

some stuff to choose from in 1984 Obviously a

lot of Michael Jackson with Thriller, made a

lot of headlines, a lot of awards and stuff like

that. I was trying to think as far as Grammys

go, I know Michael Jackson's Thriller was song,

or not song of the year, was album of the year.

The song of the year was actually Every Breath

You Take by Sting. I thought that was him and

the police. And the police, Sting and the Police,

Song of the Year, Every Breath You Take. Best

New Artist was Culture Club. Record of the Year

was Beat It by Michael Jackson, Album of the

Year, Thriller by Michael Jackson. So yeah, as

far as the awards winners go. And as far as the

number one albums of 1984. Just a real quick

rundown, you had Michael Jackson's Thriller,

the soundtrack to Footloose, Huey Nuis and the

Loose, Sports, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the

USA, Prince's Purple Rain. Those were the only

albums that hit the number one spot for the year.

So, all right, two more stops on our voyage through

1984, so we'll take a quick break and be right

back with our next pit stop in 1984. All right,

next up. On our trip through 1984, you probably

can't quite tell based on those sound clips,

but we're talking about things that began or

ended in 1984. So it's beginnings and endings.

And first up, some people that were born, there's

a trend here of female pop stars, I guess. Catherine

McPhee, Mandy Moore, Fantasia, Avril Lavigne,

Ashley Simpson, and Kelly Osborne, all born in

1984. For the acting world, I guess you have

Olivia Wilde and Scarlett Johansson. And from

the sports world, you have Prince Fielder, Carmelo

Anthony, Tim Lincicum, and LeBron James, among

some others. So those are the people that were

born in 1984 that we wanted to bring up. As far

as some deaths from 1984, we already talked about

Marvin Gaye being shot. English comedian Tommy

Cooper suffers a massive heart attack and dies

while live on TV. Count Basie, Jack Berry, Andy

Kaufman, Vincent J. McMahon, Richard Burton,

Sherman Capote, and Jack Mercer. You wanna talk

about those for a second? Sure, I guess. Vincent

J. McMahon, that's Vince's dad, right? So that's

wrestling. With the burst, it's kind of... interesting

that some of these women are only 30 years old

because some of them nowadays they look so much

older I mean Avril Lavigne she still looks like

she's 10 years old and that's not her fault because

of her height Mandy Moore Mandy Moore has done

an interesting uh interesting turn with her career

she started out as a pop princess and then she

went into acting and has never looked back she

was recently in a role that I love on a show

that I love. Sadly, it's not coming back. She

was on Red Band Society. It was interesting.

She actually made a joke about her being, you

know, a pop star. I was like, I don't know anything

about being a pop star. I just thought it was

ironic. Olivia Wilde loved her in Tron Legacy.

You know, just simply. Simply awesome. Kelly

Osborne right now, she's got one of the best

voice roles out there. She is the voice of one

of the villains from Disney Channel's new animated

series, The 7D. She is Hildy Gloom. I didn't

know that. Yes, she is Hildy Gloom, opposite

Jess Harnell as Grim Gloom. Anyone, and I know

we're talking about 1984, but seriously, anyone

who is looking for a good cartoon series nowadays,

go to the Disney Channel and watch The 7D. It's

amazing. Amazing I've heard amazing things about

it All right as far as some products introduced

in 1984 January 24th the Apple computer places

the Macintosh personal computer on sale in the

United States That's a big one The Chrysler Corporation

introduces the first vehicles to will be officially

labeled as minivans They are branded as the Chrysler

Town and Country the Dodge Caravan and the Plymouth

Voyager the birth of the minivan Holy crap, it's

only 30 years old. I thought I was older than

that Disc man, but I'm not sure if that's like

the official like an actual disc man or if that's

a brand -name disc man that started someone right

do it Educate us on that. How about the drink

slice? Slice the drink coming out between slice

and crush and all these other weird if it's not

diet coke or root beer something like Grapes

hell even grapes on it. I always thought slice

and Sprite were the same thing No, there's no

way back in the day because I didn't do any white

pop. That's what I call that white pop Seven

up Sprite slice being so racist against the white

Okay, then moving on some board games that came

on 1984 of all their dash and scruples Advil

did not start in 1984. That's got to be a typo

Advil started in 1984 That seems so weird to

me that seems like it's been around forever Advil

is manufactured by Pfizer and has been on the

market since 1984 Wow, I remember Advil commercials

back in the I just thought Advil was around forever

No Tylenol has been around forever. Oh Air Jordans

or the first Jordan shoe in 1984. I don't know

if it was technically called their Jordans back

then, but what we kind of know them by now. One

of my favorite cereals of all time started in

1984, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, folks. Okay, can

we talk about this for a minute? Because since

this time, they have put out several different

flavors. They have the classic Cinnamon Toast

Crunch. They had and now have again, French Toast

Crunch. They're bringing French Toast Crunch

back after eight years off the market. I know,

I know. And they also have Chocolate Toast Crunch.

Now I can speak from experience because I was

curious. I've tried Chocolate Toast Crunch. It's

not For a long time. I was actually on the search

for cinnamon toast crunch I couldn't find it

in a couple of stores near me and I actually

went to Facebook to be like where can I get cinnamon

toast crunch? Give me a store. I could find it

at I love cinnamon toast crunch The adult diaper

depends 1984 moving on so that has not been around

forever only 30 years guys the gum extra I'm

sure picture Extra commercials in your head started

night. I can picture the double mint twins a

little bit more. Yeah talk and play the toy Started

in 1984 pop secret of microwave popcorn Started

that's only 30 years old. Holy crap. I thought

that was around for and a plane talk Which is

the one of the first which would eventually?

Be like the type of talking like Mac talk or

stuff like when you hear like Wally they use

Yeah, it's voice modulation. Yeah. Stuff like

that kind of first developed in 1984. So yeah,

a lot of stuff coming out in 1984 for the first

time. Even some stuff that we thought was around

for much longer than that. Maybe some other cars

that I would bring out that came out in 1984.

The Dodge Daytona. We talked about the Dodge

Caravan. Ferrari Testarossa. Bentley Eight. Austin

Montego, Saab 9000, Toyota 4Runner, let's see,

Pontiac Fiero, Mercedes -Benz W124 Jeep Cherokee,

Ford Tempo, so those are some of the cars of

1984. Anything else that began or ended that

you wanted to bring up about 1984? No, I think

that's about it. All right, then we have one

more stop to go to. We'll be right back. to talk

about some other notable events of 1984. even

hanging out with this dude too long. Alright,

our last stop in our voyage through 1984, the

Notables. Any other notable event or fad for

1984 is stuff we're going to be talking about

right now. A few things here, United States researchers

announced their discovery of the AIDS virus in

1984. The world renowned, critically acclaimed

Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil

is founded in 1984. Vanessa L. Williams becomes

the first of Miss America to resign when she

surrenders her crown after nude photos of her

appear in penthouse. November 6, 1984. Guess

what? This is an election year. Ronald Reagan

defeats Walter Mondale with 59 % of the popular

vote, the highest since Richard Nixon's 61 %

in 1972. Walter Mondale only won his home state.

That was all. Tom Clancy wrote The Hunt for Red

October. Interworld of sports. Los Angeles Raiders

win the Super Bowl over the Washington Redskins

38 -9. In the Orange Bowl, the Miami Hurricanes

won their first national championship over the

Nebraska Cornhuskers 31 -30. Doug Flutie won

the Heisman Trophy. In the World Series, the

Detroit Tigers win four games to one over the

San Diego Padres. Donald Sterling relocates the

San Diego Clippers to Los Angeles Clippers. By

the way, back to that World Series, the Cubs

did make the playoffs in 1984. I would just like

to point that out. But I said earlier that how

long has it been since they had a championship.

That's what I said. They have made the playoffs

a few times. This was one of those years. Before

you move on, we got to talk about Sterling. Oh

my God. It's 30 years from when he relocates

the the Clippers from San Diego to LA 30 years

from 84 He would then be pushed out because of

comments. He made right Full circle here And

then C double -a men's basketball championship

Georgetown beat Houston 84 to 75 in the NBA finals

Boston Celtics beat the Lakers four games to

three NBA draft notes. A new era in the NBA is

born in 1984 when Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan,

and Charles Barkley are all drafted. World figure

skating championships. I bring this up just because

I was watching it probably because my mom loves

figure skating. The men's champion was Scott

Hamilton. The ladies champion was Katarina Witt.

1984 Summer Olympics take place at Los Angeles.

USA wins the most medals and the most gold medals.

The Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics

in Los Angeles 1984 Winter Olympics take place

at Sarajevo USSR wins the most medals and The

GDR wins the most gold medals. I Don't know what

the GDR is Probably something German. All right

How about some wrestling notes in May of 1984

and what becomes a failed attempt to garner a

greater appeal outside the Northeast? Vince McMahon

bought a controlling interest in Georgia Championship

Wrestling an NWA member which held the lucrative

Saturday time slot on Atlanta -based independent

station WTBS, known as obviously the Superstation

TBS, which would later be dubbed Black Saturday.

WWF programming began airing in the TBS time

slot, formerly occupied by GCW. They were not

successful though. Due to low ratings and viewer

protest, TBS began airing wrestling by Ole Anderson's

promotion, as well as Bill Watts' Mid -South

wrestling. both of which garnered higher ratings

than McMahon's WWF show. Later, McMahon sold

the TBS time slot to rival promoter Jim Crockett

for $1 million, which would obviously then later

become WCW on that channel and in that time slot.

In the WWE documentary, The Rise and Fall of

WCW, Crockett explained that his purchase of

the time slot basically paid for McMahon's first

WrestleMania. I had to take a quick break, hold

on. Pick up with your reaction to the WWF thing.

Yeah, there's gonna be a bit of a silence so

402 Yeah, WWE or WWF or whatever the hell they

call themselves these days One million dollars

to put on the first wet WrestleMania. That's

crazy. Yeah, and you think about it a million

dollars today to someone like Vince McMahon is

chump change Yeah You know, back then, I can

only imagine what a million dollars gets you

for a WrestleMania. And WrestleMania has been

around for 30 something years now. And it's just

amazing. Yeah. It was definitely a major, major

event considering I never knew that they had

that TBS time slot and they had that, uh, that

they sold that would eventually become WCW and

pay for WrestleMania. I didn't know that angle.

Also, 1984 was the year that Hulk Hogan returned

to the WWF. He had been fired by the company,

by Vincent McMahon Sr. for appearing in the film

Rocky III, which he saw as a breach of both etiquette

and character, but was welcomed back by Vincent

K. McMahon, who obviously, you know, parlayed

the popularity and the notoriety that he got

from Rocky into a kind of a celebrity status.

And we all know what happened to Hulk Hogan afterwards.

Oh my God, Hulk. He was pushed to number one

status main event status in 1984 as number one

contender for iron cheeks WWF championship He

defeated the iron cheek at Madison Square Garden

January of 1984 and obviously became the most

recognizable and popular face in sports entertainment

Hulk Hogan Is to the 80s what John Cena is now

to the WWE Universe, right? What Steve Austin

was in 90s? Yeah, exactly Steve Austin Kurt Angle

all those guys, but look at Hulk Hulk is the

only one that I remember that actually faced

down the giant Right if faced down Andre the

damn giant like it just doesn't get any better

than that It really doesn't as far as other wrestling

champions back in the day Intercontinental champions

1984 would have been Tito Santana and Greg Valentine

World titles would have gone to like I said Iron

Sheik and Hulk Hogan Tag titles to the soul patrol

Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson and Adrian Adonis

and Dick Murdock and then in the NWA We had Rick

Flair Harley race and Carrie von Eric In the

world of comics the kid who collects spider -man

written by Roger Stern with art by Ron friends

and Terry Austin is published in the amazing

spider -man number 248 story is later selected

as one of the top 10 spider -man stories of all

time by wizard magazine and Teenage Mutant Ninja

Turtles published by Mirage studio premieres

at a comic book convention in Portsmouth, New

Hampshire So that's when that started How far

did a dollar go in 1984 well if you wanted to

go to see a movie it would have only cost you

two dollars and fifty cents And if you wanted

to nail the gas it would only cost you a dollar

ten Now we got to talk about the gas thing because

lately in the last year and a half or so Gas

is fluctuated like there have been some states

when it was at 97 cents a gallon. Yeah You know,

I mean gas is all over the place, but you know

back then in 84 a dollar 10 a gallon that would

be amazing Yeah, I can definitely That would

be It'd be really nice. Yeah exactly you think

Definitely be nice If you had a car because I

think my mom's car is either a 10 or 11 gallon

tank if to fill it up $10 or $11, that would

be just great on the budget. That would be amazing.

Yeah, that is for sure. As far as toys go, talk

a little bit about some toys from 1984. Probably

the top selling toys of 1984. I don't have specific

data because it's really hard to find information

on the internet as far as which companies or

which products actually sold the most. I don't

know if people don't want that to come out because

they think people are going to use that to advantage

in future marketing or whatever. But according

to most sources, Care Bears and Cabbage Patch

Kids dolls were the top sellers in 1984. Obviously,

this is again going to be the year of the debut

for Transformers that would be hitting the market.

Star Wars action figures were still around and

in high demand back in 1984. Hey Man was just

picking up steam. Hey Man figures were definitely

all out there. You had Strawberry Shortcake figures.

I'm trying to think of some of the other things

you had, obviously Matchbox, Play -Doh. Was Lightbright

out already? I know Lightbright's kind of a game

and not really a toy, but was Lightbright out

already? You know, I'd have to look that up and

see what year that started. Mattel toys, though,

you definitely had your Hot Wheels, because I

was able to actually find a Mattel toy catalog

for 1984, and about the first six or seven pages

are all... Hot Wheels type type of things you

had your Marvel superheroes the secret wars figures

Yeah So there's a collection of those. I never

remember those though From when I like going

back to light bright for a minute light bright

was around it started in 67 from Hasbro So I

I remember having a light bright as a kid I don't

know if it was specifically in 1984, but I do

remember having the Castle Grayskull and snake

mountain play sets were out as well as a variety

of other He -Man figures and vehicles and that

type of stuff. They were in full swing in 1984,

really. So that was some of the main things that

were out for Mattel. As far as Kenner goes, they

definitely had the Care Bears, like the stuffed

animals or the little plush toys that you could

get from life -size down to a much smaller size.

and all kinds of different accessories for the

Care Bear line. That was huge for Kenner. You

also had, oh gosh, what were some of the other

things here? The Baby Alive. I don't know if

you remember that. The Baby Alive that you could

actually feed. Oh, that came out in 1984? Yeah,

it's Strawberry Shortcake Dolls, of course. We're

out in 1984, like I mentioned before. Let's see.

What else did we have from Kenner besides strawberry

shortcake? We also had She's a ton of strawberry

shortcake Baby needs name baby doll Whatever

that was Yeah, those are some of the major things

Barry baby dolls. I don't remember what those

were because I'm not a girl Flip crash or vehicles

You would rev them up let them go and then they

would crash and they would break in half sort

of I Remember that so those were available from

Kenner. There was also some Knight Rider cars

available through Kenner. Oh Don't even get me

stood don't even get me started. Um this was

like kindergarten, so it was a year after this

but a Quote -unquote friend of mine in kindergarten

uh, first grade, second grade, Brian Reed, I'll

never forget this guy's name and I'm not afraid

to, to say it on air at all. Brian Reed, he had

the talking kit car with Michael Night Figure.

Nice. And he would never let me, he would never

let me hold it, look at it, anything. He was

just one of those really, really stingy kids.

And I understand that because I was one of those

really stingy kids. But I let this kid play with

all my He -Man and Transformers and whatever

else I had. It was like, I just wanted one second

to hold that damn talking Knight Rider car. Also,

Kenner put out a Superpowers collection, which

was obviously all the Batman and DC related characters,

Superman, et cetera. The Easy -Bake oven, Betty

Crocker Easy -Bake dual temp oven. As well as

all the different accessories for that was out

The Spirograph plus Everybody knows what a Spirograph

is. Hopefully otherwise Living under a cave or

a brick rock or something or I guess you're just

not old like we are See what else did Kenner

put out rose petal play styles Don't exactly

remember what those were But apparently they

were a thing And that's about it I think for

oh play -doh, obviously, like I said, I had a

bunch of different stuff that was being put out

by Kenner That I remember playing with play -doh

a lot Yeah, I remember play -doh, but I remember

silly putty a little bit more Silly putty was

cool because then you could take the comics from

the newspaper and like make them appear on your

silly putty Yeah There was also some Ewok like

wicket stuff For like a preschool age to go along

with some of that other thing. So I was kind

of trying to play off of the Star Wars popularity

There was little play sets with Ewoks all over

the place Any other toys that you played with

that you want to bring up? From 84 honestly other

than transformers. Yeah really cuz cuz my toys

all were year -progressive so 83 84 he man transformers

85 86 you know thundercats gem not gem thundercats

mask I even had, you'll be surprised at this,

once 86 came around, I even had all of the original

Silverhawks toys. None of their wings ever survived,

but I had the figures. Also a variety of sit

and spins and game show projectors that were

kind of like Viewmasters that were around back

then as well. You know, you were talking about

some of the preschool age types. toys i remember

i begged this wasn't specific to 84 i think 85

86 i don't remember uh i begged and begged and

begged my mom for one of those fisher price color

change flashlights where if you turn it up the

the light turns green you turn it down it turns

red right and then obviously the middle is just

a regular flashlight so um Remember having speaking

spells and all that kind of stuff I had a whole

bunch of crazy Preschool age toys for when I

was a young kid the best toy though for 1984

Has to be there in the beginning of Transformers.

Oh Absolutely. I just want to get that out there

so everybody can cause bias people So that is

1984 in a nutshell and the TV shows the movies

the music the cartoons the games Sports the toys

everything so if you have comments on your favorite

moments of 1984 or what you think was the best

stuff that came out of 1984 Feel free to let

us know in the episode post and I guess we'll

have to see you next time on GCRN We'll be doing

some more retros here and there so if you like

them, let us know if you don't like them Let

us know anything else you want to say before

we close out the show. I think it's only fitting

that we mention that movie revolt dan was born

in 1984 there we go the best thing to come out

in 1984 movie revolt dan i don't know about that

see if he listens to this all right then uh we'll

we'll see you next time here on the geek cast

radio network