12/27 - What '90s Show Had Mr. Rogers' Only Acting Role Ever?
Plus trivia on Fried Green Tomatoes, 12 Monkeys, Karyn White, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
December 27th, 2024 • Issue 236
Be Kind, Rewind
What happened on this day in the ‘80s and ‘90s — plus lots of bonus trivia
December 27th
1986 - Timbuk 3’s one hit, The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades, peaked at number 19.
1989 - WWF aired a pay-per-view featuring Hulk Hogan’s movie No Holds Barred as well as a cage match featuring him against his co-star, Tiny Lister.
1991 - Fried Green Tomatoes hit theaters.
The author of the book Fried Green Tomatoes was hired to write the screenplay for the movie — but quit halfway through.
Fannie Flagg’s novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe was published in 1987, and she was hired to write the screenplay for the movie adaptation. (After another writer initially made it a musical.)
But she struggled so much trying to translate her book to a movie that she wound up quitting the project before it was done.
The movie’s director, John Avnet, finished the screenplay and Flagg gave it her blessing.
1991 - The Prince of Tides hit theaters.
1998 - Bill Goldberg’s 173-match winning streak ended when he lost to Kevin Nash at WCW Starrcade.
1999 - Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker gave an interview to Sports Illustrated filled with racist and homophobic statements.
2002 - Chicago hit theaters.
December 28th
1981 - The first test tube baby was born in the U.S.
1991 - Nine people were killed during a riot at a Puff Daddy-promoted hip-hop event.
1993 - Andrea Bocelli made his classical concert debut.
2000 - Montgomery Ward announced it was going out of business.
2001 - Black Hawk Down and I Am Sam hit theaters.
2002 - LinkedIn was founded.
December 29th
1982 - Jamaica issued a Bob Marley postage stamp.
1982 - Dolby released the first home surround sound system.
1989 - Wayne Gretzky and Martina Navratilova were named athletes of the decade by the Associated Press.
1990 - Do the Bartman, from The Simpsons Sing the Blues, peaked at number 24 on the Billboard charts.
1993 - Todd Bridges was arrested for transporting drugs.
1995 - Mr. Holland’s Opus hit theaters.
1995 - Dead Man Walking hit theaters.
1995 - 12 Monkeys hit theaters.
12 Monkeys is based on a French short film.
The original film was a 1962 short called La Jette. It’s also about an enslaved time traveler, though the crisis in the short is nuclear radiation rather than a pandemic.
Though the writers of 12 Monkeys used La Jette as their inspiration, director Terry Gilliam admitted he never watched it. “If I do something based on something else, I make it a principle not to read or see the original.”
1998 - Lenny Kravitz’s single Fly Away was released.
1998 - Mankind won the WWF Championship at a taped Monday Night Raw which would famously air the following week.
1999 - The Hurricane hit theaters.
December 30th
1980 - NBC canceled The Wonderful World of Disney after 25 years.
1981 - Stevie Wonder’s single That Girl was released.
That Girl was a new track featured on a Stevie Wonder greatest hits album — and helped make it his highest-charting compilation.
That Girl was one of four new tracks on Stevie Wonder’s Original Musquarium I.
One of the other new tracks was Do I Do, and with those two hits, Stevie Wonder’s Original Musquarium I reached number four on the Billboard album charts.
None of his other (many) greatest hits albums ever even cracked the top 30.
1990 - George Harrison and his wife were attacked during a robbery.
1990 - Scott Skiles set the NBA single-game assist record with 30.
1991 - Genesis’ single I Can’t Dance was released.
December 31st
1981 - CNN2 debuted.
CNN2 was renamed Headline News just eight months in.
CNN began broadcasting on its new network, CNN2, at 11:45 P.M. on December 31st, 1981.
Their plan with the network was to just broadcast top stories all day because, as unfathomable as this sounds now, that way people wouldn’t have to wait for the evening broadcasts to get the news.
Because of the network’s focus, its name changed to Headline News in August of 1982.
1984 - Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in an accident.
1985 - Singer Ricky Nelson died in a plane crash.
1990 - The Sci-Fi Channel debuted.
1992 - Mega Man 5 was released.
1993 - Howard Stern held his infamous New Year’s Rotten Eve Pageant.
1994 - Boyz II Men’s single On Bended Knee hit number one.
1999 - The U.S. officially gave control of the Panama Canal to Panama.
1999 - Vladimir Putin took over as acting president of Russia.
1999 - Prince’s “Rave Un2 The Joy 2000” concert aired.
1999 - The Y2K panic loomed large as the turn of the century approached.
January 1st
1980 - The Far Side comic strip debuted, and would end exactly 15 years later to the day.
1983 - Evil Dead hit theaters.
1983 - The Apple Lisa was released.
1985 - VH1 debuted on cable TV.
1985 - The domain name system was created and the first domain was registered.
1990 - Mr. Bean premiered.
1993 - Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman premiered.
Mr. Rogers’ one and only acting role ever was on an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Yes, Fred Rogers — Mr. Rogers himself — was a huge fan of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
He asked if he could do a guest starring role on the show. So he appeared in an episode in 1996, playing a kind clergyman who comes to town named Reverend Thomas.
That was his one and only acting role ever — every other appearance he ever made on any TV show (including his own) was as himself.
1994 - Bill Gates and Melinda French were married.
1994 - NAFTA went into effect.
1995 - History Channel debuted.
1995 - Taxicab Confessions premiered.
1995 - The World Trade Organization began.
1996 - Betty Rubble appeared as a Flintstones vitamin for the first time in the brand’s 27 years.
1998 - California’s smoking ban in bars went into effect.
1999 - The Euro was introduced.
1999 - The Biography Channel and DIY Channel both debuted.
January 2nd
1979 - Sid Vicious’s trial began for the murder of Nancy Spungen.
1989 - Karyn White’s single Superwoman was released.
Karyn White was launched by L.A. Reid and Babyface — then married their biggest rival.
When Karyn White debuted, she worked with the team of L.A. Reid and Babyface — they wrote and produced Superwoman as well as her other early hits The Way You Love Me and Secret Rendezvous.
At the time, Reid and Babyface were in heavy competition with the “other” big R&B production hitmakers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Jam and Lewis’s biggest star was Janet Jackson, and Reid and Babyface wanted Karyn White to be their Janet Jackson.
Then, a few years later… Karyn White married Terry Lewis.
And he wrote and produced the song that would be her biggest hit of all, 1991’s Romantic.
1998 - Chris Farley’s autopsy revealed his cause of death from opiates and cocaine.
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Here’s the new teaser trailer for Happy Gilmore 2, which comes out on Netflix sometime early next year.
The Anaconda reboot with Jack Black and Paul Rudd will come out on Christmas 2025.
Jared Leto has been confirmed for the role of Skeletor in the upcoming live-action Masters of the Universe reboot.
In a new interview with director Chris Columbus, he says the original Gremlins script was a lot darker with more of the family dying… and that he was originally the director of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation but left because he knew he couldn’t work with Chevy Chase.
Burt, the crocodile from Crocodile Dundee, died this week at approximately 90 years old.
Get Your Book-It Stickers Here
Recommended articles about ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, and never knew existed
Check out the 31 best sci-fi movies of all time, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. A whole lot of the entries on the list are from the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Total Eclipse of the Heart was almost a Meat Loaf song? Here’s the story.
Modern engineers are studying ‘80s video games like Super Mario Bros. — because the bugs in those games help them better understand today’s software glitches.
Have a great week!
-Sam