memories of the ’80s – Alf

Aliens returned as a humourous theme to 1980s sitcoms with the debut of Alf.

Short for alien life form, the series Alf was created by Paul Fusco and Tom Patchett. The series revolved around Alf, who had landed on Earth from the planet Melmac, arriving on the garage of the Tanner Family.

Deciding to hide Alf rather than let him be captured by the US military, the family allows him to stay, and then they learn his home planet has been destroyed by a nuclear bomb.

Alf decides to stay with the Tanner family, learning the ways of Earth. He is a troublemaker, a slob and eats constantly, but the family learns to deal with him and keep him a secret, despite the nosy Ochmonek neighbours who claim to spot something or someone but can never really be sure what they’re seeing next door.

Alf’s character is the comedian – he has all the one liners and draws attention to himself all the time, but at the same time is sympathetic to the family, likes to learn about humans and helps the family whenever he can.

Fusco portrayed Alf, and revolved everything around him, which didn’t capture viewers right away when the series debuted in 1986, but by the second season, the rating increased to place the NBC series at number 10.

Merchandise was popular from the series – with all the typical kids’ items from posters to lunchboxes as well as comic books based on Alf series by Marvel Comics.

A prequel series for kids was created for Saturday mornings: ALF – The Animated Series, showcasing the character on Melmac.

For the actors, the series was difficult as the main character who got all the focus was a puppet and the focus was always on Fusco and Patchett, the coproducer, writer and creator.

After four seasons, the series ratings had slipped and the show was cancelled by NBC, but the pop culture influence of an alien puppet was seen everywhere in the late 1980s.

memories of the ’70s – Mork & Mindy

Anything is plausible for a sitcom, and in the 1970s, it meant a couple who represented Earth and Space in the half hour series Mork & Mindy.

The character of Mork, played by Robin Williams, first debuted on Garry Marshall’s flagship show Happy Days, as a resident of Ork who tries to bring Richie back to his home planet as a specimen, but is foiled by Fonzie.

Impressed by Williams dedication to his character and crazy antics as a comedian, Marshall created this series, with Mork transplated to Earth in the 1970s by his handler Orson, to observe humans.

He befriends Mindy (Pam Dawber) one night when she is stranded and when she learns he is an alien, she decides to take care of him and lets him live in her attic as she deals with his interests and exploration in Boulder, Colorado.

Each episode brought wacky, bizarre and frenetic humour from Williams, who made Mork as off the wall as possible, yet made viewers sympathetic to someone who doesn’t understand the society and its rules.

Mork ends up working with Mindy at her Dad’s music store, who tolerates Mork and becomes friends with Mindy’s music student Eugene. Thanks to his creative mind, Williams created many unique attributes of Mork, including his greeting – “nanu nanu”, the accompanying hand gesture and his rainbow suspenders.

Debuting in September 1978, the series was popular with viewers, hitting number three in the Nielsen ratings after Laverne & Shirley and Three’s Company, and in front of Happy Days, who were at #4. All of these shows were on ABC, the leading network in the late 1970s.

The series was nominated for two Emmy Awards for its inaugaral season and in season two added new characters, but by the third season were losing viewers and the quirkiness of the show. In season four the network married Mork and Mindy, and added more guest stars, but was cancelled at the end of the season.

The pop culture influences were fast and furious thanks to Mork’s distinct habits and although the series wasn’t watched by many after the first two seasons, including this writer, the creativity and craziness of Robin Williams was always remembered to have started with Mork from Ork.

memories of the ’80s – Village Lip Lickers Lip Balm

When the ’80s started, it wasn’t surprising that certain girls wanted the cute lip balm and became fans of the Village Lip Lickers Lip Balm.

Created in 1979, this old-fashioned lip balm came in newfangled flavours, but was packaged in a rectangular tin with a sliding lid and old-style design.

Girls of the early 1980s kept these tins in every purse and pocket, ready to shine up the lips with watermelon, strawberry, green apple, vanilla, peach and spearmint.

And for those girls who wanted something special, the company introduced tins with two different flavours – such as a raspberry and cream, cherry and cola, watermelon and ice or banana and strawberry.

Newer flavours included butterscotch, tropical punch and fruit punch, but the all time bestseller: strawberry.

I had many of these tins in my school bag and purses – the size of two stamps so that it was easily taken anywhere but easily lost, which is why I accumulated many of these lip balms and don’t remember finishing any of them.

memories of the ’70s – Bonne Bell Lip Smackers

For pre-teens of the 1970s, make-up may have been not yet allowed, but a fancy lip balm? Well that was allowed and most of us girls wanted Bonne Bell Lip Smackers.

Debuting in 1973, Lip Smackers was a flavoured lip pomade, marketed to the pre-teen market. The first flavour offered was strawberry, but soon it was joined by generic flavours such as  Fruit Punch, Sour Grape, Bubblegum, Orange Pop, Banana and Lime Sherbert.

But those girls loved their Lip Smackers, and to tie into their favourites, the company worked with well-known brands to create lip flavours such as Seven-Up, Tootsie Roll, Orange Crush, Hires Root beer, Good & Plenty licorice, Lemon Tree and Dr. Pepper.

A rousing success for the cosmetics company, the Lip Smackers were sold at cosmetic counters and drug stores, and soon every girl had her share of Lip Smackers, which she could also wear as a necklace thanks to new packaging.

I was a big fan of the Lip Smacker and had several flavours with me at all times. It probably contributed to my lip obsession to this day, where you’ll always find a lip balm, lip gloss and lipstick in my bag, trying to achieve that sheer colour and unique flavour of the Lip Smacker.

memories of the ’80s – They Don’t Know by Tracey Ullman

For those listeners of music in the 1980s, Brit sounds dominated the airwaves and one hit came from an actor/comedian – Tracey Ullman’s They Don’t Know.

Ullman had been a successful performer in London’s West End productions, including Grease, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Starlight Express.

Thanks to a theatre competition, Ullman’s star began to rise, and she was offered a record deal with Stiff Records, with her debut album in 1983, You Broke My Heart in 17 Places.

The single that became a hit was Breakaway, with Ullman’s comedic turns in the video making it a UK hit. But the follow up single became an international hit: They Don’t Know.

Originally performed by Kirsty MacColl, the song had been a hit in 1979, rising up to number two on the UK music charts. Ullman recorded the song, with MacColl singing backup and the in 1983, the song hit number two again, as well as number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 11 on the US Adult Contemporary charts.

With a silly video to accompany the single, the song was played endlessly and eventually became the theme song of Ullman’s comedic show Tracey Takes On.

Ullman continued her career with the success of The Tracey Ullman Show, the second series produced by the fledgling FOX TV Network, but it was her unique combination of voice and comedic style that made her cover song a radio gem.

memories of the ’70s – Don’t Give Up on Us

For those tv viewers of the 1970s, the radio airwaves were soon playing one of their favourites – David Soul’s Don’t Give Up on Us.

The co-star of Starsky & Hutch, which had debuted on screen in 1975, used his notoriety to go back into the studio, and record a single written by Tony Macaulay, a well-known British songwriter and composer.

Released as a single in the UK in early 1977, the single shot to the top of the charts, spending four weeks at number one in January and February.

When released in North America, the single shot to the top of the charts, and grabbed the number one spot for one week in April on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as hitting number one on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart.

Thanks to his weekly appearance on television, the single was a popular one on radios across North America, but David Soul became a  one hit wonder, never achieving musical success again.

As a flash in the pop culture history timeline, this song made a quick splash, but showed the power of tv and music to combine and benefit one another.

memories of the ’80s – Designing Women

These southern ladies showed their feisty, funny selves in a unique ensemble comedy of the 1980s: Designing Women.

Created by Linda Bloodworth Thomason, the series focused on four women: Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter) the elder, elegant liberal sister to Suzanne Sugarbaker (Delta Burke) the flashy former Miss Georgia beauty queen, who start a interior design firm. Mary Jo (Annie Potts) is a recent divorcee and designer, while Charlene (Jean Smart) is the office manager and the dumb blonde of the group.

Debuting in September 1986, the series focused on the relationships of the four women, and used comedy to show the bonds as well as the unique characteristics of being different kinds of Southern ladies.

As Suzanne marries, divorces and remarries, her sister Julia and Mary Jo deal with family, friends, boyfriends and clients, and Charlene shows off her lack of smarts, but also her loyalty. Meshach Taylor portrayed Anthony, an ex-con who becomes the only man among the women and an employee of Sugarbaker Designs.

Notable reoccurring husbands/exhusbands/boyfriends were played by Gerald McRaney, Hal Holbrook, Scott Bakula and Douglas Barr.

Although the series never achieved top 10 ratings, it was a viewer favourite and when CBS moved it around and then attempted to cancel it, viewers wrote in to save the show, returning it to the Monday night line-up and landing the show in the top 20.

But in the early 1990s, the viewers slowly disappeared and the show was cancelled in 1993.

This first series by Linda Bloodworth-Thomas led to several more series, all focusing on the southern US and its unique characters, which is what made this show a viewer favourite. These four ladies were never to be ignored, embracing the 1980s in its style and at times, over the top approach to life.

memories of the ’70s – Rhoda

Brash, outspoken and an independent woman, this gal pal of Mary’s became the focus of a spin-off in the sitcom Rhoda.

Starring Valerie Harper, the half hour comedy was taken from her character as one of Mary Richard’s gal pals on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, where she was very popular with viewers as the outspoken neighbour from New York City.

Launched in 1974 on CBS TV, Rhoda Morgenstern goes back to her native NYC on holiday, spending time with her sister Brenda (Julie Kavner). She meets Joe (David Groh), a recently divorced Dad, who at the end of her two week holiday asks her stay in New York City. 

The debut episode of Rhoda is the only first episode of a series ever to have hit number one in the Nielsen ratings, besting Monday Night Football for the record.

Initially Rhoda lives with Brenda, dates Joe and babysits his son, as well as dealing her Mother (Nancy Walker). She then moves in with her parents, but realizes that won’t work and then decides to live with Joe.

But the two of them decide to get married, and the hour-long wedding episode became the most-watched television episode until 1977, when mini-series Roots aired. It also became the second most watched episode of all time in television at the time, after the birth of Little Ricky on I Love Lucy.

Fans were so excited for Rhoda and Joe, they hosted parties to celebrate and watch the episode and gifts were sent to CBS to the fictional couple.

For the next couple of seasons, the viewers loved the married life of Rhoda and Joe, but the writers weren’t as thrilled. Deciding to upset the apple cart, Joe was shown less and less in the series and then the couple was separated. Eventually the couple divorced, with the focus back on insecure single gal Rhoda, her sister Brenda and her parents.

Viewers kept with Rhoda, but by the fifth season, the obsession was gone. CBS moved the show to another time slot and then cancelled the series in 1978 in mid-season.

I remember watching Rhoda all the time – especially to see her relationship with her sister Brenda, who was insecure and a self-doubter. It fascinated me as I didn’t have a sister.

But although the series was cancelled, Valerie Harper’s portrayal of a single woman and the trials of tribulations of being an independent woman in the 1970s was an accurate, comedic showing of the change in women’s reality and portrayal on television.

memories of the ’80s – The Year of Living Dangerously

In 1982, a film about the 1960s in Indonesia broadened the career of actor Mel Gibson and became a fave of movie goers: The Year of Living Dangerously.

Based on the 1978 Christopher Koch book, which had been an award-winning novel in Australia, the film was successfully optioned by Peter Weir, and with David Williamson adapted for the big screen.

The first co-production between an Australian film company and a Hollywood studio, the film is set in Indonesia in 1965, when the possibility of the overthrow of President Sukarno could happen, thanks to the machinations of the PKI, the Communist Party of Indonesia.

Guy Hamilton (Gibson) is a neophyte Aussie journalist, sent to Jakarta to cover the politics, but left without resources from his predecessor. He becomes part of the journalist community, but struggles to get any stories until he becomes friends with Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt), a Chinese Australian camera man and informant.

Kwan helps Hamilton make the right contacts and eventually introduces him to British Embassy attache Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver). Hamilton and Bryant are soon in a relationship, as Hamilton and Kwan find out more information about the connection of the Communist Chinese and the PKI, the threesome are in conflict.

Bryant and Kwan abandon Hamilton to his dogged pursuit of information about the Communists, and as the overthrow of the Sukarno government occurs, the threesome all fight to survive and flee Indonesia.

Although initially to be film in Indonesia, permission was denied, so the film was mainly filmed in The Phillipines, but after numerous death threats against Weir and Gibson, the production was moved to Australia. When the film was released in December 1982, it was banned by Indonesia.

Made for AUD $6 million, the MGM film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983, and was praised for its unique story, and the acting of Linda Hunt and Mel Gibson.

The film was successful at the box office, making almost $3 million in Australia and $10 million plus in the United States. Hunt was nominated and won the Best Supporting Actress award at the Academy Awards for her role as Billy Kwan.

I remember seeing the film and loved the dangerous backdrop to the romance, as well as seeing the culture of Indonesia and its history.

After Gibson’s turn in Mad Max, this role firmly made Mel Gibson an international star.

memories of the ’70s – Mad Max

With a planet on the brink, and the access to oil only for the few, the futuristic film Mad Max was a view of the possible future.

Produced in 1979, Mad Max was written and directed by George Miller, and was set in Australia, and starred then unknown actor Mel Gibson.

The film’s storyline is based on how society breaks down because of oil shortages. Max Rockatansky (Gibson) is an MFP, a Main Force Patrol, trying to enforce the law and chase down the gang members who are causing havoc, like the Beserk Motorcycle Gang and the Nightrider Gang.

But the ruthless and violent pursuit of the gangs makes Rockatansky question his need to be on the MFP and he decides to resign. His boss, Chief Macaffee convinces him to take a holiday instead.

The Nightrider Gang goes after Rockatansky’s wife Jessie and now the game has changed. Rockatansky takes his anger out on the gang, hunting down those who came after his family and showing them the true meaning of rage.

Miller’s ideas came out of his work as a doctor, seeing injuries from a variety of accidents and crimes. He believed viewers would find it easier to watch the violence if it was set in the future, and he was inspired by the gas shortages that had occurred in Australia in the early 1970s.

Made for $400,000 (AUD), the film was completed in and around Melbourne and featured several unique vehicles, including souped up versions of a 1974 yellow Ford Falcon, 1973 black XB Ford Falcon, a 1972 Holden Monaro coupe and 14 KZ1000 Kawasaki motorcycles.

Released in Australia in 1979, the film was dubbed for North America to mask the Australian slang and accent and released in 1980. Although in limited release, it was a success making US$8 million.

Initially banned in New Zealand and Sweden due to a couple of extremely violent scenes, the film did very well internationally, making an estimated $100,000,000 worldwide.

This film became a cult favourite and led to two sequels released in the 1980s, as well as a favourite of the video generation for its brash view and extreme violence of a future world that is fighting for every bit of power, as well as making Mel Gibson well known around the world.