One last find in my treasure trove of 1984 nostalgia: A TV Guide. Remember these? Yup, before the internet, people had to actually look through this periodical to find the shows on, what, ten channels? I remember the great invention of the table (seen below) that showed prime time at a glance. Why not the whole day? Well, because much like today, the shows that ran during the day were talk shows and soap operas (now replaced with talk shows and reality TV). Not very exciting.

Check out a week in January, 1984.

I wasn’t a fan of Airwolf or T.J. Hooker. I must have been doing other things on Saturday nights. This would make me 12 going on 13 at the time. Middle School reading or playing video games.

Now I was totally addicted to Knight Rider (the remake was nowhere near as good).

For those of you who recall, Quincy was the early 80s predecessor to CSI. Loved that show.

Another must watch for me was A-Team. I know some people might be thinking, why did you have to choose? Why not watch A-Team and Nova? Although there were VCRs, the ability to record from one channel and watch another was beyond us.

Another great find was the Carol Burnett show at 7:30. I’d still watch this if it were on. I guess I should troll YouTube.

There wasn’t much on Wednesday that interested me. Sure I tuned into Family Feud or Carol Burnett. I could never get into Highway to Heaven. Too schmaltzy.

Here you see the birth of NBCs fabled “Must See TV” on Thursday’s. Friends would be about a decade later, but the network dominated the slot with the Cosby Show. I however, sometimes did time with the Dukes of Hazzard.

Long before the dominance of X Files on Friday’s there was V. Such a great series. And so painfully 80s. I mean the aliens even had shoulder pads.

Hope you enjoyed your tour of early 80s TV.

Tim Kane