12/8 - What Comedy Classic Was Originally Written for Mick Jagger & David Bowie?
Plus a ranking of all the Home Alone movies (there are more than you think)
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
December 8th, 2023 • Issue 181
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
December 8th
1978 - The Deer Hunter hit theaters.
1980 - John Lennon was shot and killed.
1980 - Bravo debuted on cable.
1982 - Sophie’s Choice hit theaters.
Meryl Streep won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Sophie’s Choice… then lost her next 12 nominations in a row.
Meryl Streep won Best Supporting Actress for 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer, then three years later she won Best Actress for Sophie’s Choice.
But the dynasty was not meant to be. She lost her next 12 nominations for Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress and didn’t break the losing streak for 29 years, until 2011’s The Iron Lady.
She’s been nominated four times since then without a win.
1984 - The series finale aired of Captain Kangaroo.
1984 - The series finale of He-Man aired.
1984 - Larry Flynt was found innocent of libel against Jerry Falwell.
1984 - Hall and Oates’s single Out of Touch hit number one.
1990 - Stevie B’s single Because I Love You (The Postman Song) hit number one.
1993 - NAFTA was signed into law in the U.S.
1994 - The 111th element on the Periodic Table was given the fantastic name Unununium with the symbol Uuu.
1995 - The Grateful Dead announced they were breaking up.
1997 - Celine Dion’s single My Heart Will Go On was released.
2000 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon hit theaters.
December 9th
1983 - Scarface hit theaters.
1983 - Sudden Impact and Christine hit theaters.
1984 - The Jacksons played their final show.
1987 - Windows 2.0 was released.
1988 - Twins, Mississippi Burning, and My Stepmother Is an Alien hit theaters.
1988 - Ninja Gaiden was released for the NES.
1989 - Billy Joel’s single We Didn’t Start the Fire hit number one.
Billy Joel’s original plan for the We Didn’t Start the Fire melody was a song called Jolene.
Maybe he’d never heard Dolly Parton’s Jolene from 1973? Because his Jolene was going to be totally unrelated.
1989 - The Saved by the Bell pilot called “King of the Hill” finally aired as the 15th episode of season one.
1992 - Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation.
1994 - Disclosure hit theaters.
1995 - The Beatles’ single Free As a Bird was released as their first new song in 25 years.
1997 - Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz’s single Deja Vu (Uptown Baby) was released.
December 10th
1982 - 48 Hrs. and Airplane II both hit theaters.
1983 - Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson’s single Say, Say, Say hit number one.
1988 - Chicago’s single Look Away hit number one.
1992 - Naughty by Nature’s Hip Hop Hooray was released.
Naughty By Nature put out a remix of Hip Hop Hooray featuring Rita Wilson.
When Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks locked down for COVID in 2020 and the world turned upside-down, a quarantining and cabin fever-y Rita Wilson put a video on Instagram where she rapped along to Hip Hop Hooray.
And unexpectedly, Naughty By Nature liked the video enough that they released a remix of Hip Hop Hooray that included Rita Wilson’s vocals.
1993 - Doom was released.
1993 - Wayne’s World 2 and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit both hit theaters.
1994 - The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Yasser Arafat.
1996 - Whitney Houston’s single I Believe in You and Me was released.
1997 - Amistad hit theaters.
1999 - The Green Mile, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, and The Cider House Rules all hit theaters.
December 11th
1980 - Magnum P.I. premiered on CBS.
1981 - Muhammad Ali lost his final fight.
1987 - Throw Momma from the Train and Wall Street were released.
1991 - Hook hit theaters.
1992 - A Few Good Men and The Muppet Christmas Carol hit theaters.
1993 - Janet Jackson’s single Again hit number one.
1993 - K7’s one hit, Come Baby Come, peaked at number 18.
1998 - Rushmore hit theaters.
1998 - Shakespeare in Love hit theaters.
Winona Ryder says her then-best friend Gwyneth Paltrow stole the lead role in Shakespeare in Love from her — which ended their friendship.
Winona’s version of the story is that she was due to star in Shakespeare in Love. But Gwyneth saw the script at Winona’s apartment… read it… fell in love with it… and demanded that her agent get her a chance to audition. Gwyneth wound up with the part, and won the Oscar for Best Actress.
Gwyneth denies that things went down that way… but does acknowledge that she and Winona are no longer friends.
December 12th
1980 - Apple filed its IPO.
1986 - Three Amigos hit theaters.
The actor who played El Guapo in Three Amigos had previously starred in a 1970 Spanish-language film called Tres Amigos.
I couldn’t find many details about Tres Amigos, but Alfonso Arau — who played the villain El Guapo in Three Amigos — played the role of a police officer.
1987 - Fraggle Rock premiered.
1987 - George Michael’s single Faith hit number one.
1989 - Leona Helmsley was sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud.
1997 - Scream 2 hit theaters.
1998 - The Alec Baldwin “Schwetty Balls” sketch premiered on Saturday Night Live.
2001 - Winona Ryder was arrested for shoplifting.
December 13th
1985 - Clue, A Chorus Line, and Jewel of the Nile hit theaters.
1986 - Bruce Hornsby & the Range’s single The Way It Is hit number one.
1989 - Tecmo Super Bowl was released.
1989 - Driving Miss Daisy hit theaters.
Driving Miss Daisy is the only adaptation of an off-Broadway play to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
Plenty of on-Broadway adaptations have won, but Driving Miss Daisy is the only off-Broadway adaption to achieve that feat.
It’s also the last PG-rated movie to win Best Picture.
1990 - C+C Music Factory’s single Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) was released.
1996 - Jerry Maguire and Mars Attacks hit theaters.
1997 - Charles Woodson became the first defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy.
1997 - Norm MacDonald anchored SNL’s “Weekend Update” for the final time.
2000 - Al Gore conceded the presidential election to George W. Bush after the Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount.
December 14th
1979 - The Jerk hit theaters.
1984 - Dune, Starman, A Passage to India, and 1984 hit theaters.
1988 - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels hit theaters.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was written to be a vehicle for Mick Jagger and David Bowie.
Jagger and Bowie wanted to do a movie together, and asked screenwriter Dale Launer to write a vehicle for them.
He put together a few ideas, including reworking a 1964 Marlon Brando comedy Bedtime Story — and that idea became Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. But someone in either Mick or David’s camps passed because the guys wanted to do something more serious.
Eventually the movie found its way to Michael Caine and Steve Martin.
1988 - I’m Gonna Git You Sucka hit theaters.
1989 - Glory hit theaters.
1990 - Mermaids hit theaters.
1990 - Look Who’s Talking Too hit theaters.
1999 - Charles Schulz announced his retirement from drawing the Peanut comic strip.
2000 - Miss Congeniality hit theaters.
2001 - Vanilla Sky, Not Another Teen Movie, and The Royal Tenenbaums hit theaters.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Monster in My Pocket, the toy that debuted in 1989, is getting a live-action TV series adaptation. Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s production company iss developing it.
Amazon Prime has given the Cruel Intentions reboot series an eight-episode order.
The Road House reboot will not get a theatrical release, much to the chagrin of director Doug Liman and star Jake Gyllenhaal. They say they tried everything they could to get Amazon Prime to put it in theaters — including getting Jeff Bezos to screen it on his yacht — but the people at Amazon Studios held firm that it would go straight to streaming.
The director of The Legend of Zelda movie says it will not be like Lord of the Rings but more like a “live-action [Hayao] Miyazaki” movie.
Director Edgar Wright says his reboot of 1987’s The Running Man is “in active development.”
Jane Seymour says a reboot of her ‘90s Western drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is not happening.
Suicide Squad director David Ayer finally shared why his Scarface reboot never happened: “It wasn’t too violent… I created this rich, soulful journey through the drug trade… the studio just wanted something more fun.”
Sega is rebooting five ‘80s and ‘90s video games: Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, and Streets of Rage.
Andrea Fay Friedman, an actress with Down Syndrome who starred on Life Goes On, passed away this week at age 53.
Sandra Day O’Connor, who became the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981, passed away last week at age 93.
TV legend Norman Lear passed away this week at age 101.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
40 years after Cabbage Patch Kids pioneered the concept of a “Christmas toy frenzy,” here’s an article that looks into why everyone remembers their Cabbage Patch Kid’s name.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
Here’s Cracked.com’s list of 13 ill-advised reboots that ruined the legacy of the original.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
Did you know there are *six* Home Alone movies? I thought there were four. Anyway, Slashfilm ranked all six of ‘em… and the original is not their pick for number one.
Have a great week!
-Sam