9/22 - What TGIF Pilot Had an Unknown Ryan Reynolds as the Love Interest?
Plus the 50 best teen movies and trivia on ALF, the Olympics, Office Space, Crocodile Dundee, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
September 22nd, 2023 • Issue 170
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
September 22nd
1981 - Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
1982 - Family Ties premiered on NBC.
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.
ALF’s puppeteer also did his voice.
Paul Fusco was both the voice of ALF and his puppeteer — at least when ALF was shot from the torso up.
In the rare moments when the show used a full-body shot of ALF, instead of a puppet, a two-foot-nine actor named Mihaly Meszaros wore an ALF costume. (Fusco still did the voice.)
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.
Mad About You was almost called The Paul Reiser Show.
During development, the show had working titles like Reiser and The Paul Reiser Show — which was standard naming convention at the time for shows build around a comedian.
But even though Paul Reiser’s agents pushed for Reiser’s name, NBC wanted to give the show a title that better represented how it was about the couple.
They didn’t settle on Mad About You until late in the summer before the show debuted.
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 BIG made a guest starring appearance on Martin.
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.
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 - East Germany’s Christa Luding-Rothenburger became the first athlete to win Summer and Winter Olympic medals in the same year.
Christa Luding-Rothenburger was the first — and will remain the only — athlete to win medals at the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics in the same year.
Christa Luding-Rothenburger was the first person to medal at both Winter (speed skating) and Summer (cycling) Olympics in the same year.
And she remains the only athlete to medal at both in the same year — since the winter and summer Olympics are now staggered and no longer held the same year.
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.
The shorts that inspired Office Space focused heavily on Milton’s desire for his stapler.
The “Milton” shorts made it almost verbatim into the movie Office Space. The character is forced to move his desk… he laments having his stapler taken away… and threatens to set the building on fire out of anger.
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.
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.
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.
Crocodile Dundee was completely financed by 1,400 small investors in Australia.
Those investors included Paul Hogan himself, along with cricket stars, Australian businesspeople, and INXS’s lead singer Michael Hutchence.
Those investors put in about $7 million — and wound up making great money when the film brought in $300 million worldwide.
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.
September 27th
1989 - Technotronic’s single Pump Up the Jam was released.
1989 - Two guys went over Niagara Falls in a barrel and were the first to survive.
1991 - Necessary Roughness hit theaters.
1992 - The Ben Stiller Show premiered.
1994 - Brandy’s self-titled debut album was released.
1995 - O.J. Simpson tried on the glove and it didn’t fit.
1996 - Sabrina the Teenage Witch premiered.
The unofficial pilot for Sabrina the Teenage Witch was a made-for-Showtime movie — which featured a then-unknown Ryan Reynolds as the love interest.
The TV movie Sabrina the Teenage Witch, starring Melissa Joan Hart, premiered on Showtime in April of 1996.
Pretty much everything about it was different than the TV show — the cast, the setting, even Sabrina’s last name (it was Sawyer in the movie and Spellman in the series).
The movie did feature Ryan Reynolds as Sabrina’s love interest — like virtually everyone else in the cast, he didn’t get the call for the TV show.
1998 - Mark McGwire hit his record-setting 69th and 70th home runs of the season in the final game.
1998 - Google was canonically born; this is the day Google now celebrates as its anniversary even though it launched earlier in the month.
1998 - The superimposed yellow first down line appeared on televised football games for the first time.
September 28th
1980 - Carl Sagan’s Cosmos premiered on PBS.
1981 - Olivia Newton-John’s single Physical was released.
1983 - The Big Chill hit theaters.
1984 - Miami Vice premiered on NBC.
1987 - Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in syndication.
1988 - Orel Hershiser set a record for pitching consecutive scoreless inning.
1990 - Game Boy was released in Europe.
1991 - Michael Jordan made his one and only hosting appearance on Saturday Night Live as Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and Julia Sweeney joined the cast.
1991 - Garth Brooks’s album Ropin’ the Wind became the first country album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200.
1992 - Shai’s single If I Ever Fall in Love was released.
1994 - Ed Wood hit theaters.
The writers of Ed Wood only had two credits before the movie: the family films Problem Child and Problem Child 2.
Screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski came up with the idea for Ed Wood and wrote the screenplay.
They wrote it because they were worried they’d be pigeonholed into writing so-so family comedies after doing the Problem Child movies.
1997 - Apple launched its Think Different ad campaign.
1998 - Internet Explorer passed Netscape for browser market share.
2001 - Zoolander hit theaters.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
ABC has canceled The Wonder Years reboot after two seasons.
Good Burger 2 will premiere on November 22nd on Paramount+.
On an episode of Hot Ones, the reunited NSYNC named their five best songs. Two of the five are surprising.
98 Degrees says NSYNC’s reunion “stole [their] thunder” since 98 Degrees is currently doing its 25th anniversary tour. They were joking… but behind every joke is some truth.
The cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the TV show) is reuniting for… an Audible original. So audio, not video. It’s called Slayers: A Buffyverse Story and focuses on the Spike character.
Bob Odenkirk says he was “too young” when he got hired as a writer on Saturday Night Live in 1987.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Entertainment Weekly just ranked the 50 best teen movies of all time. The list is chronological but there’s a lot from the ‘80s and a decent amount from the ‘90s.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
Here’s a brief history of Unsolved Mysteries — including how it led to 340 cold cases being solved.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
Believe it or not, in what appears to be the early ‘90s, Michael Jordan once appeared in a McDonald’s employee training video. (He’s at the very beginning, comparing “putting on a show” on the basketball court to providing good customer service to fast food customers.)
Have a great week!
-Sam