9/20 - What '80s TV Parents Were Born on the Same Exact Day?
Plus trivia on Notorious B.I.G. on Martin, Cal Ripken, Siskel and Ebert, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
September 20th, 2024 • Issue 222
Be Kind, Rewind
What happened on this day in the ‘80s and ‘90s — plus lots of bonus trivia
September 20th
1977 - The episode of Happy Days where the Fonz literally jumped a shark premiered.
1980 - Ozzy Osbourne’s debut solo album was released.
1984 - Who’s the Boss? premiered on ABC and The Cosby Show premiered on NBC.
1986 - Huey Lewis and the News’ single Stuck with You hit number one.
1990 - The Flash premiered on CBS.
1991 - Step by Step premiered.
1991 - Tom Cochrane’s single Life Is a Highway was released.
1996 - Sheryl Crow’s single If It Makes You Happy was released.
1996 - The First Wives Club hit theaters.
1998 - Cal Ripken Jr.’s record-breaking streak of MLB games played ended.
The game where Cal Ripken Jr. broke his streak is the only game he missed during the 1998 MLB season.
Ripken made the call to sit out the September 20th game at home against the New York Yankees. That ended his streak at 2,632 games — 501 more than Lou Gehrig.
Ripken sat that entire game, but started the next day. September 20th was the only game during the whole season that Ripken skipped entirely.
He played a lot fewer games in his next and final three years in baseball (86 games in 1999, 83 in 2000, and 128 in 2001).
1999 - Blind Date premiered.
1999 - Law & Order: SVU premiered.
2001 - President George W. Bush declared a “war on terror”.
September 21st
1982 - The first-ever NFL players’ strike began.
1985 - Dire Straits’ single Money for Nothing hit number one.
1991 - Color Me Badd’s single I Adore Mi Amor hit number one.
I Adore Mi Amor was a number one hit — unlike Color Me Badd’s more enduring first single, I Wanna Sex You Up.
Despite the cultural phenomenon around I Wanna Sex You Up, it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
But it lit a brief, raging fire under Color Me Badd. I Adore Mi Amor was a number one hit, as was their third single, All 4 Love.
They’d never even crack the top 10 again — but what a run they had in 1991.
1991 - The roster of the U.S.A. basketball Dream Team was announced.
1993 - Nirvana’s album In Utero and Melissa Etheridge’s album Yes I Am were released.
1993 - Salt-n-Pepa’s single Shoop was released.
1995 - No Doubt’s single Just a Girl was released.
1995 - Caroline in the City and The Single Guy premiered.
1996 - JFK Jr. married Carolyn Bessette.
1998 - King of Queens, Will & Grace, and Felicity all premiered.
1998 - Florence Griffith-Joyner passed away.
2001 - Ghost World and Mariah Carey’s movie Glitter hit theaters.
September 22nd
1981 - Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
1982 - Family Ties premiered on NBC.
The parents on Family Ties were born on the exact same day in real life.
Meredith Baxter Birney and Michael Gross were both born on June 21st, 1947.
That’s a top-notch coincidence and absolutely useless trivia, which is the best kind of trivia.
1984 - Scandal’s one hit, The Warrior, peaked at number 7 and Twisted Sister’s one hit, We’re Not Gonna Take It, peaked at number 21.
1984 - John Waite’s single Missing You hit number one.
1985 - The first Farm Aid benefit was held.
1986 - ALF premiered on NBC.
1989 - TGIF debuted on ABC along with the new show Family Matters.
1989 - Baywatch premiered.
1992 - Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper premiered.
1992 - Bruce Springsteen played an electric guitar on MTV Unplugged.
1993 - Nolan Ryan pitched his final game.
1994 - Friends premiered on NBC.
1995 - Se7en, Showgirls, and Empire Records all hit theaters.
1997 - Elton John’s Candle in the Wind 1997, a tribute to Princess Diana, was released.
1998 - Barenaked Ladies’ biggest hit, One Week, was released as was the Goo Goo Dolls’ album Dizzy Up the Girl, Dru Hill’s single How Deep Is Your Love, and Shawn Mullins’s single Lullaby.
1999 - The West Wing premiered.
September 23rd
1986 - Congress voted the rose as the official flower of the U.S.
1987 - The original My Little Pony aired its series finale.
1989 - Milli Vanilli’s single Girl I’m Gonna Miss You hit number one.
1991 - CeCe Peniston’s single Finally was released.
1992 - Mad About You premiered.
1992 - Manon Rheaume became the first female athlete to compete in one of the major U.S. sports league.
1994 - Gloria Estefan’s single Turn the Beat Around was released.
1994 - The Shawshank Redemption hit theaters.
1995 - The Notorious B.I.G. made a guest starring appearance on Martin.
The Notorious B.I.G.’s cameo on Martin was the rapper’s only guest appearance ever on a sitcom.
In the Martin episode, the Notorious B.I.G. is in Detroit and holds auditions on Martin’s show to find background singers.
Biggie also had a cameo on one episode of the drama series New York Undercover.
Other than that, he was never had appearances in any other scripted shows before his murder in 1997.
1995 - Luniz’s one hit, I Got 5 on It, peaked at number eight.
1997 - Boyz II Men’s album Evolution was released.
1999 - Netflix launched its mail-in subscription model.
September 24th
1979 - Compuserve launched a commercial online service.
1982 - Prince’s single 1999 was released.
1983 - Billy Joel’s single Tell Her About It hit number one.
1985 - Growing Pains premiered.
Growing Pains wasn’t the first time Kirk Cameron and Tracey Gold played brother and sister — they appeared together in a McDonald’s commercial three years earlier.
In 1982, Cameron and Gold played brother and sister in a McDonald’s commercial.
They were reunited as as two of the (eventual) four siblings of the Seaver family.
1987 - A Different World premiered.
1988 - Bobby McFerrin’s one hit, Don’t Worry, Be Happy, hit number one.
1988 - Ben Johnson of Canada won the 100m event at the Olympics, only to get disqualified three days later.
1988 - James Brown got into a high speed chase.
1990 - Tevin Campbell’s single Round and Round was released.
1991 - Nirvana’s album Nevermind and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ album Blood Sugar Sex Magik were both released as was A Tribe Called Quest’s album The Low End Theory.
1991 - Dr. Seuss passed away.
1992 - The Sci-Fi Channel debuted.
1993 - The Program, Dazed and Confused, and The Good Son all hit theaters.
1993 - Boy Meets World premiered.
1993 - Myst was released.
1994 - The Norm MacDonald era of SNL’s Weekend Update began.
1995 - The Colin Firth TV movie of Pride and Prejudice debuted on BBC.
1998 - eBay went public.
September 25th
1980 - Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham died.
1981 - Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in as the first-ever female Supreme Court justice in the U.S.
1982 - Silver Spoons premiered.
1987 - The Princess Bride hit theaters.
1993 - Ace of Base’s album The Sign was released in the U.S.
1993 - “Milton” shorts — the origin of Office Space — debuted on SNL.
1993 - Cypress Hill’s Insane in the Brain peaked at number 19.
1997 - Marv Albert plead guilty to biting a woman.
1999 - Freaks and Geeks premiered.
Freaks and Geeks was one of the last scripted shows NBC ever tried airing on Saturday nights.
Saturday nights had long been considered a dead night for primetime by the end of the ‘90s.
But NBC, in essentially a vote of no confidence, still put Freaks and Geeks on that night.
Worse yet: It was up against a show that actually was succeeding on Saturday night, the still-fresh Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on ABC.
Freaks and Geeks lasted just one shortened season, and was one of the last original shows NBC ever tried on Saturday night primetime.
(Their Saturday night primetime pick the following year? The XFL.)
2000 - Vince Carter performed one of the greatest dunks of all time, jumping over 7’2 Frederic Weis of France at the Olympics.
2001 - Undeclared premiered on FOX.
2001 - Michael Jordan announced his (second) return to the NBA.
September 26th
1975 - The Rocky Horror Picture Show hit theaters in the U.S. for the first time, and it’s never left.
1982 - Knight Rider premiered on NBC.
1982 - At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert premiered in syndication.
Siskel and Ebert flipped a coin to decide whose name would be first in the title of their show.
Gene Siskel won the toss and the duo was known as “Siskel and Ebert” for the entirety of their run.
1984 - Prince’s single Purple Rain was released.
1986 - Run-DMC became the first rap group to have a top 10 hit, with Raisin’ Hell.
1986 - Crocodile Dundee hit theaters.
1986 - The episode of Dallas where Bobby Ewing returned from the dead because his death was all just a bad dream premiered.
1987 - Whitney Houston’s single Didn’t We Almost Have It All hit number one.
1989 - Biz Markie’s Just a Friend was released.
1990 - The NC-17 movie rating was established.
1990 - Cop Rock premiered on ABC.
1991 - Eight people entered Biosphere 2.
1993 - The eight people emerged from Biosphere 2.
1995 - The Goo Goo Dolls single Name was released.
1995 - JFK Jr.’s magazine George debuted.
1997 - The series finale aired of Lamb Chop’s Play Along.
2001 - Star Trek Enterprise premiered on UPN.
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
It’s a known “almost casting” moment that David Schwimmer turned down the lead in Men in Black — the role that ultimately went to Will Smith. Now Schwimmer says it was “a brutal decision… I’m really aware, whatever 20 years later maybe more, [Men in Black] would’ve made me a movie star… my career would have taken a very different trajectory.”
Leaked set photos from Happy Gilmore 2 show Happy competing in what appears to be the 1998 U.S. Open.
Jaleel White says he “damaged [his] voice” doing the high, nasally Steve Urkel voice all those years.
Heather Locklear says she went on one date with Tom Cruise in the ‘80s. But she says she wasn’t into him because she was a “rock and roll girl” at the time.
Warrant’s drummer Steven Sweet says looking back, the video for Cherry Pie was “misogynistic… in hindsight.”
Get Your Book-It Stickers Here
Recommended articles about ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, and never knew existed
It’s not just your fuzzy nostalgia: Here’s why the best year for blockbuster movies was 1989.
SWV was on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series a few months back and they’ve still got their full ‘90s energy.
Check out this oral history of ‘80s text-based computer games.
Have a great week!
-Sam