THE A TEAM

‘(Ten years ago / In 1972), a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire… The A-Team.’ Read more

MUSICALS (AND FILMS THAT MAKE YA WANNA SING!)

Like millions of others I love the TV show Glee. The whole theatrics and singing stuff is right up my street, as I’ve been a fan of musicals-type TV shows and movies since I was a child. And although I can’t sing to save my life, that doesn’t mean I don’t give it a good go, (as painful as those in listening shot can find it). In recent years we’ve had Dreamgirls, Chicago, Moulin Rouge and of course the High School Musical trilogy, but nothing compares to the old school ones.

Growing up I used to rinse certain films, watching them over and over again on video, whether my brothers liked it or not. One summer we watched Grease every single day, for six weeks straight, and then there was Annie…. Don’t get me started on that one. Me and my brothers can still recite all the words to the movie, including the tunes, although they won’t thank me for exposing them.

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CHILDREN’S TV SHOW THEMES

One of the best things about growing up in the 80s and 90s was how great the kids TV shows were. I know I keep harping on about the fact that today’s films, music, TV show, culture and everything else can’t touch that of yesterday, but the site is called I Miss The Old School and the fact that you are here signifies that you probably agree with me to some degree. For every great cartoon and kids TV show that I remember from back in the day, the theme tune and accompanying visuals, are two of the things that stick out most. A lot of them are so catchy I can still sing/hum along to them till this day. Below I have listed some of my faves, as always I couldn’t fit them all in this time, but stay tuned as plenty more will pop up in various posts in this site over the coming weeks, months and years. Long live the old school, as it never gets… erm… old! Lol! Read more

Prisoner Cell Block H

Who remembers this show? UK, US and of course Australian visitors will be aware of this popular prison drama/soap opera (originally screened in Australia from 1979-86), which was more like a thriller-borderline horror for me, but in a good way. Really. Lol! I think at one point it was getting about 10 million viewers here and in the States viewing figures reached 39 million. I was in my early teens when it used to come on over here in the UK on ITV  in the late 80s and I remember watching it with my mum and my three brothers. It was on ridiculously late, which didn’t help! I remember going to bed afterwards and being shit scared that ‘The Freak’ was hiding in my bedroom! Lol! Read more

TV SHOW THEME MUSIC

One of the great things I really love about old school TV shows is the theme music. There are some great theme songs from back in the day, which I still can’t get enough of, such as the one from classic 80s US drama The Equalizer (left).

I tried to put together my top 10 themes but ended up with about 30! Then I cut them down again, taking out the shows I have in the pipeline to write posts about.I’m not sure how many I ended up with, about 15 I think, but anyhow  below are some of my fave TV theme tunes, from back in the day, in no particular order. Read more

DIFF’RENT STROKES – R.I.P GARY COLEMAN

*Updated* Just heard the news that Gary Coleman passed away yesterday (28 May, 2010). He was rushed to a Utah hospital following a fall in his Salt Lake City home, a few days ago. The fall reportedly resulted in an intracranial hemorrhage, (bleeding in the brain), which resulted in the actor going into a coma. He was on life support in very critical condition and died shortly afterwards. He was just 42.

Another icon from the 80s passes and it is real sad. Most of us grew up watching Gary on Diff’rent Strokes, and most of us know he hasn’t had a great life following on from the show, or even before, with his kidney problems which affected his growth and meant he was on a lot of medication throughout his life. Then there was the money issues and the run-ins with the law. But despite all that, the catchphrase: ‘Watchu talking about Willis?’ will always a have a special place in our hearts.

*Original post from March 19th*

Recently Todd Bridges, best known for his role as Willis in hit 80s TV sit-com Diff’rent Strokes, released his autobiography Killing Willis: From Diff’rent Strokes to the Mean Streets to the Life I Always Wanted.

The book talks in great detail about his experiences growing up as a child star and the spiral of drug abuse and run-ins with the law he endured after the show went off the air in 1986. the book also speaks openly on the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, who according to Todd was a hard drinker and used his son as a punch bag, and his childhood publicist who sexually abused him.

A lot of  Todd’s story has already been well-documented over the years by the media, often alongside similarly tales of the downfall of his former co-stars Dana Plato who played his adopted sister Kimberly and Gary Coleman, who played his little brother Arnold, who has had his own share of run-ins with the law, including a recent arrest for domestic assault.

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BOYZ N THE HOOD

‘Either they don’t know, don’t show… Or don’t care about what’s going on in the hood’. One of the most powerful lines delivered in the history of film, in my humble opinion and I’m sure many of you who have watched Boyz N The Hood will agree. Spoken by the character Doughboy (played by rapper/actor Ice Cube in his first acting role), a drug dealer/gang-banger, he was referring to life in the crime ridden district of South Central L.A, a vicious cycle that leaves a lot for young black men with the mentality of kill or be killed.

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COREY HAIM R.I.P

So doing this site has been a trip so far. I enjoy writing all the posts, but there are several posts that I REALLY look forward to putting out there. These are the ones that I often save for a time when I’m really in the zone so that I can give it as much justice as I know it deserves. The list is kind of long and I haven’t really touched many of them yet. Corey Haim (above as a child star and as an adult) was definitely on this list, along with Corey Feldman, the two 80s American child actors, who I had a big crush on as a pre-teen.  Sadly I never thought I would be writing this post under these circumstances – which is upon hearing the news that Corey Haim passed away earlier today (10th March, 2010) from a suspected drug overdose, at the age of just 38.

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SAVED BY THE BELL

US teen sit-com Saved By the Bell was my ish back in the day. That show,  made by US network NBC and syndicated to 85 countries around the world, was one of the only things that could get me out of bed on a Saturday morning as a child. Well that and my mum threatening to beat my ass if I didn’t get up and start my weekend chores. It was based on a group of six high school students who attended the fictional Bayside High in California and the shenanigans they used to get up to. Read more

RAW

He may not have released a decent movie in a minute, and shamefully tried to shirk his fatherly duties when he knocked up a Spice Girl (that still seems so unreal of a situation to me, even a coupla years down the line), but for me Eddie Murphy will always be first and foremost one of the funniest to have ever done it. And when I say ‘done it’, I don’t mean impregnate a Spice Girl, I mean ‘funny-ass comedy’. Read more

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