As we all know, I consider the 1980's the apex of Western Civilization; then $ale of the Century went off the air, and it was all downhill from there, straight into the OJ trial.
And now, WGN America (DISH Network 239) is for one night recreating what was perhaps the strongest sitcom lineup in the history of television: Thursdays of 1984. The network is running the bloc in order, just as it did in The Year of Mary Lou Retton, and and it's doing it just as viewers slog through the usual parade of lameness which is a new television season.
The stunt takes place on Sunday, September 20 (oh, what a nostalgia bomb this would be were it actually dropped on a Thursday.) Beginning at 8 PM EST, it includes The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, and Hill Street Blues. I haven't dug up which episodes are going down, or whether or not they'll all be shows from the same date. I have my fears, if non-1984 liberties are taken. Oh please, don't let the program director pull from the Great Cosby Era of Suck, which may be dated from the first moment the Cosby home played host to a be-ruffled Raven Symone, four years old and already finding it necessary to go about with a last name. And oh please, don't let this be one of the many Very Special Episodes which waterfalled from the Keaton kitchen, especially the one with Elise's suddenly dear-to-the-family aunt contracting Alzheimer's. Big laughs!
It's bound to be a bittersweet experience: For all its strengths, How I Met Your Mother's MacLaren's Pub is no Cheers. But for one brief sitcommy moment, jelly shoes are worn, cola wars are raging, and OJ is starring in The Naked Gun. Enjoy.
