Tuesdays nights on NBC 25 years ago was a triple bill of action and adventure. Starting off the night was the high octane live-action cartoon called THE A-TEAM.
THE A-TEAM premiered in January 1983 and was an instant hit. Mr. T. quickly became a household name and o culture icon. I was never a fan of the show due to it's hyper-military theme, even though the violence was so over-the-top, it was more a comedy than war show. The series ran for 4 seasons in its Tuesday night berth and was eventually replaced by the much mellower
MATLOCK in 1986. Team leader George
Peppard passed away in 1994 and plans for a feature film version have been announced, and cancelled and then re-announced.
At 9PM, RIPTIDE came from the same producers as THE A-TEAM, and co-starred Perry King and Joe Penney as two old war buddies who ran a detective agency from a boat. The show
benefited from its
timeslot and became a ratings champ for two seasons, until a little
detective show called MOONLIGHTING came along on ABC. RIPTIDE sailed away in 1986, never to be heard from again.
Finishing up the evening was REMINGTON STEELE, a quirky detective show from
MTM that premiered two years earlier. The show introduced audiences to future James Bond, Pierce Brosnon and to rumored lesbian Republican Stephanie
Zimbalist. The enjoyable series, which I watched on a regular basis, followed the adventures of Laura Holt (
Zimbalist) the "brains of the operation" and
Remington, the pretty face who was basically a con man who fit the tuxedo. Doris Roberts was featured as their
assistant Mildred. The show was a moderate hit, running for four full seasons and ending in 1986. Then the producers of the Bond film franchise offered Pierce the dream role of 007, creating tons of publicity. Suddenly NBC was interested in a
fifth season of the show, and Brosnon lost the lead in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS to Timothy Dalton. The final season was a series of two-hour TV-movies set in exotic locales. Nine years later, Pierce finally became Bond, replacing Dalton. He later appeared in many film roles, including being terribly miscast in MAMMA MIA.
Zimbalist has kept an extremely low profile in recent years. I wonder why? Tomorrow: the Wednesday line-up.
THE A-TEAM premiered in January 1983 and was an instant hit. Mr. T. quickly became a household name and o culture icon. I was never a fan of the show due to it's hyper-military theme, even though the violence was so over-the-top, it was more a comedy than war show. The series ran for 4 seasons in its Tuesday night berth and was eventually replaced by the much mellower MATLOCK in 1986. Team leader George Peppard passed away in 1994 and plans for a feature film version have been announced, and cancelled and then re-announced.
At 9PM, RIPTIDE came from the same producers as THE A-TEAM, and co-starred Perry King and Joe Penney as two old war buddies who ran a detective agency from a boat. The show benefited from its timeslot and became a ratings champ for two seasons, until a little detective show called MOONLIGHTING came along on ABC. RIPTIDE sailed away in 1986, never to be heard from again.
Finishing up the evening was REMINGTON STEELE, a quirky detective show from MTM that premiered two years earlier. The show introduced audiences to future James Bond, Pierce Brosnon and to rumored lesbian Republican Stephanie Zimbalist. The enjoyable series, which I watched on a regular basis, followed the adventures of Laura Holt (Zimbalist) the "brains of the operation" and Remington, the pretty face who was basically a con man who fit the tuxedo. Doris Roberts was featured as their assistant Mildred. The show was a moderate hit, running for four full seasons and ending in 1986. Then the producers of the Bond film franchise offered Pierce the dream role of 007, creating tons of publicity. Suddenly NBC was interested in a fifth season of the show, and Brosnon lost the lead in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS to Timothy Dalton. The final season was a series of two-hour TV-movies set in exotic locales. Nine years later, Pierce finally became Bond, replacing Dalton. He later appeared in many film roles, including being terribly miscast in MAMMA MIA. Zimbalist has kept an extremely low profile in recent years. I wonder why? Tomorrow: the Wednesday line-up.
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