"I Love the '80s" (2002) TV series

User Rating:

8.8/10   

Writer:

James Eatock (additional material)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

16 December 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Documentary

Plot:

A humorous, year by year look through the decade that saw hair size become a statement, ratty clothes become cool...

Plot Keywords:

Nostalgia | Digits In Title | 1980s | Number In Title

Cast

Michael Ian Black	...	Himself (1 episode)
Lionel Richie	...	Himself (1 episode)
Hal Sparks	...	Himself (1 episode)

Runtime:

USA:60 min (10 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-14

Company:

MTV Networks

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The song "Addicted To Love" by Robert Palmer was featured in a segment for the 1987 episode, but it was actually released in the spring of 1986 and was one of the biggest songs of that year. 1987 was when he won the Grammy for it.

Quotes:

Michael Ian Black: Give me short skirts, give me roller skates, give me "Xanadu." I'm a happy man.

Movie Connections:

Features Ms. Pac-Man (1981) (VG)

Rose-colored (as opposed to coloured) glasses time, people...

"I Love the '80s" is the US version of BBC2's "I Love the 1980s" series of "Remember when...?" shows. It's shorter due to ad breaks, has less interviews with the people who were actually behind the items in each show (though given that more than a few items overlap - "Diff'rent Strokes," for instance - and given that reusing the interview segments would have caused some serious mismatching of footage, maybe not cannibalizing the original shows was wise... although why couldn't it just have been a co-production in the first place, with some area-specific items removed depending on where it was shown?), and whereas each episode had a different host, this series goes for a voiceover approach ("Because you've still got those neat Swatches, admit it!").

But while it's inferior to the original in some aspects, it's superior in others; the year-specific lists - Bret Michaels's babes, Soleil Moon Frye's charts of who or what was first born in a year, Andrew Dice Clay's "Mr and Mrs" - are amusing, and though it has its share of talking heads, they're still preferable to the ones in BBC2's show (or would you really rather have Jeremy Spake and Zoe Ball?). Plus growing up outside the UK meant that ultimately this series speaks to me more than the UK version...

Followed by "I Love the '70s." Yes, the 1970s. Unlike some broadcasters I could mention, VH-1 seems to have realised that it's too soon to feel nostalgic about the decade that gave us "Sex and the City," Britpop, Beavis and Butthead, and John Major. Assuming, of course, that some of us ever will.