80's TV MADE ME WHO I AM TODAY

I've spent far too much time investigating the rich history of 1980's TV movies and mini-series (what is the plural of "mini-series"?  Mini-serieses?). Long before Netflix was putting the best scripts into production, the TV movie was the event of the week, usually because of a story rife with scandal and a sexy bit or two. Here are some of my favorites:

1) Swimsuit: The Movie
1989 was the birth year of Baywatch, the flagship of PG-13 sexy shows, but let's not forget this absolutely terrible but nonetheless fun movie about a swimsuit designer looking for models. 80's icons like Catherine Oxenberg, Nia Peeples, and Jack Wagner had roles, as did William Katt from "The Greatest American Hero," who is in this scene featuring a man wearing a ridiculous Speedo while talking about financial investments, to show models really are smart, you guys. http://www.nitrovideo.com/video/swimsuit-video-clip-04-20201.html

2) V: The Final Battle
This show was THE BEST. It was a combination of dystopian drama, alien invasion (the aliens wore prosthetic human faces that they could peel off! so cool!), and a bit of soap opera thrown in to the mix to make things interesting. It started as a 2-part TV movie, and it was so successful it expanded into a regular TV series for 2 years. When the series ended, I wrote a letter to the network begging them to keep it going. My letter was ignored.

3) Secret Weapons
Linda Hamilton, who was a big name at the time after The Terminator, played a Russian spy who pretends to be an American woman so she could gather secrets and overthrow The West. And of course she gathered her secrets by using her sexy naked body. I seriously researched careers in espionage after I saw this movie, because I wanted to be a spy just like Linda Hamilton. And of course I did not tell anyone about my career aspirations. What kind of a spy would I have been if I told people what I was doing?

4) Consenting Adult
Grace and Frankie is not the first time Martin Sheen has had a role in a drama about gay life, although Grace and Frankie is a much more affirming portrayal of gay men than this 1985 TV movie. In Consenting Adult, Sheen joins the fabulous Marlo Thomas as parents of a young blond man who figures out that he is attracted to dudes. And he refers to himself as a "homosexual" like 1,000 times. Although the script is a bit slow, there is a particularly memorable scene where the blond guy gets picked up at a restaurant, they go for a drive in the other guy's van, and they park in a parking lot and do unmentionable things to each other, off-camera. (click the link in the title for that scene...) My parents were SHOCKED that they put that on TV. I pretended to be confused by it. I wasn't.

5) A Bunny's Tale
Kirstie Alley was the perfect combination of gorgeous and sneaky, in this story based on the true experiences of famed feminist Gloria Steinem as she worked "undercover" at a Playboy Club to show what life was really like for the women there. (Plot spoiler: it wasn't very nice.) As a bonus, Delta Burke has a supporting role, as did Diana Scarwid who played the adult Christina in Mommie Dearest. Genius casting.

 

 

 

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[Mike Nagorski]

For me some big ones were:

An Early Frost
The Day After
Always Remember I Love You
The Tracy Thurman Story
Strange Voices
Kate's Secret