Television Series of the 1980s

Essential Facts and Quirky Details

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by Vincent Terrace

Type

Encyclopedias

Subject

Genre > TV Series

Keywords

TV Series, 1980s

Publishing date

2017

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 254 pages
6 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches (16 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-4422-7830-1

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Book Presentation:
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.

About the Author:
Vincent Terrace is a television historian for BPOLIN Productions, a film/TV production company. He has written more than thirty books, including Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2nd ed. (2011) and Television Introductions: Narrated TV Program Openings since 1949 (Scarecrow, 2013). Terrace is also the author of Television Series of the 1950s: Essential Facts and Quirky Details (2016), Television Series of the 1960s: Essential Facts and Quirky Details (2016), and Television Series of the 1970s: Essential Facts and Quirky Details (2017), all published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Press Reviews:
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. ― American Reference Books Annual

See the publisher website: Rowman & Littlefield