Television Series of the 1980s

Essential Facts and Quirky Details

By (author) Vincent Terrace

Hardback - £41.00

Publication date:

10 November 2017

Length of book:

254 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

236x159mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781442278301

Television screens in the 1980s reflected some of the most memorable programs of all time. In that decade, such critically acclaimed shows as Cheers, The Golden Girls, Hill Street Blues, Newhart, and St. Elsewhere debuted. In that same decade, iconic shows like The A-Team, Baywatch, Cagney & Lacey, Knight Rider, MacGyver,Miami Vice, and Roseanne appealed to millions of viewers. Even after these shows departed the airwaves, they live on in syndication and on DVDs, entertaining many generations of viewers.

In Television Series of the 1980s: Essential Facts and Quirky Details, Vincent Terrace presents readers with a cornucopia of information about more than seventy programs from the decade. For example, did you know that Sam Malone had an ex-wife named Deborah? Or that MacGyver’s alias was Dexter Fillmore? Or Dan Fielding’s license plate on Night Court read “Hot to Trot”? These are just a handful of hundreds of fun and intriguing specifics found inside this volume. Programs from all four major networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC)—as well as select syndicated programs—are represented here.

This is not a book of opinions or essays about specific television programs but a treasure trove of facts associated with each show. Fromthe name of Roseanne’s diner to the title of Jessica Fletcher’s first novel, readers will discover a wealth of fascinating information that, for the most part, cannot be found elsewhere. In some cases, the factual data detailed herein is the only such documentation that currently exists on bygone shows of the era. Television Series of the 1980s is the ideal reference for fans of this decade and anyone looking to stump even the most knowledgeable trivia expert.
This collection of 1980s television trivia is fourth in a series of volumes that take a microlevel look at television programs of the 1950s through the 1980s. This book covers 56 programs that premiered between January 1980 and December 1989. For each program there is a cast list, a brief summation of what the show is about, and a list of facts about each major character: birthplace, parents, occupation, education, marital status, spouse, children, hobbies, pets, and so forth (the precise details given depend upon the character). Diane Chambers (of Cheers), for example, named her cat Elizabeth Barrett Browning after her favorite poet and Alex Keaton (of Family Ties) had an IQ of 137…. [T]his trivia compilation is easy to use and may be a rich resource for trivia-obsessed pop culture fans.