Television of the 80's (Action Shows)

Since I was on the topic of '24' it got me thinking about what shows I grew up with and how it influenced me as a storyteller. I was born in 1975 so a lot of television I grew up with and loved was all concieved in the cocaine loving 80's. While most of the 90's was all about doctors and lawyer shows and this new decade is all about washed up actors doing "reality TV" I've slowly noticed a slow resurgence of the 'nerdshows' as I like to call them. Only this time, they have more of an edge.
This is just a short list of the many shows I watched as a kid (I was kind of a junkie) In my point of view I noticed a popular theme...See if you can spot it. Once you go through this list you'll see that it's no surprise as to how I come up with the lame stuff that I do.

AIRWOLF- Crime fighting helicopter starring a guy named "Jan-Michael Vincent" playing a guy named "Stringfellow Hawk"

BLUE THUNDER- Yet another crime fighting helicopter show only the helicopter wasn't as cool and it co-starred SNL's Dana Carvey.

A-TEAM- A group of crime fighting ex military soldiers who served in Vietnam who "discreetly" hop into a highly stylized red and black van and go town to town to help out hot chicks with their struggles against "the man" and blow shit up all over town.

KNIGHT RIDER- David Hasselhoff, (a popular pop star in Germany and part time liifeguard) fights crime with his talking black sports car KITT.

THE DUKES OF HAZZARD- Lose the Hasselhoff coolness and talking car and add two rednecks with their redneck family trying to annoy their local town officials. Great Banjo music though.

BJ AND THE BEAR- A trucker and his pet monkey travel the highways of America, getting into various adventures and misadventures along the way. I forget which one was named BJ.

STREET HAWK- A man and his crime fighting motorcycle. The show was on UPN so no one really cared.

MISFITS OF SCIENCE- A group of people who all have superpowers.....and fight crime.

MANIMAL- Jonathan Chase is a British college professor at New York University who has the unusual ability to transform into any kind of animal he wants....and fights crime

BUCK ROGERS- Spandex wearing future hero fights space villains with his short gay robot. Apparently, everyone wants to dress as a ballet dancer in the future.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA- Same premise, only everyone wears cloaks and 'brown' is the in color

THE MASTER- Lee Van Cleef (a white guy who often plays as a Mexican cowboy villain in features but somehow landed the role as a Japanese guy) plays a ninja who mentors a kid into becoming a ninja as well.....and they fight crime

THE GREAT AMERICAN HERO- A nerd gets superpowers and crashes into everything while fighting crime

MAGNUM PI- A private investigator drives around Hawaii in his Ferrari and his friends chopper and solves cases

RIPTIDE- Same idea but they threw in a robot, a nerd, and a much cooler helicopter

MIAMI VICE- Undercover cops fighting drug lords in Florida in cars waay too cool to be used by cops and their salary bracket. I also learned what Jai Alai was.

HART TO HART- Jonathan Hart was a self-made millionaire--the CEO of Hart Industries, a global conglomerate. His gorgeous wife Jennifer was a freelance journalist. They were both amateur sleuths, and in every episode found themselves up to their eyeballs in murder, smuggling, theft and international espionage. They also managed to find time to snuggle together, as they loved each other very much. Somehow they managed to take everything that was cool about detective shows and make it completely lame.

VOYAGERS- A member of a league of time travelers and a boy travel through time repairing errors in world history. You learn that there's an asshole in all moments in time. Kinda like fighting crime. Imagine Quantum Leap, only not as cool.

And I'm spent..... And this was just the action shows! I could go on all day but let's not let our IQ's  continue to degenerate as we speak ok?

Seacrest out!

Comments

[Mike Blevins]

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me the name of an 80's show where the main character drove a rig that opened up and transformed into a helicopter . I know this show wasn't on long but a buddy of mine mentioned it to me the other day and we have been racking our brains trying to think of the name of it .
Thanks Mike

[Misty Spies]

I am going crazy trying to figure this one out...There was an action show in the 80's. The star was a white guy, really fit, that accidentally shot himself in the head with a prop gun loaded with blanks. What is the name of this show and this guy?!?!

[David]

the show was titled Cover Up. The deceased actor's name is Jon-Erik Hexum. Accidental suicide with a prop gun. He was replaced by actor Antony Hamilton. The show was not the same. Premiered Sep. 22, 1984 and ended April 6, 1985.

[Dave Howlett]

The show with the rig that had a helicopter in the back was called The Highwayman. He could call up a satellite which could make his truck invisible (although you could still hear it) and he had a cool gun.

[cortez young]

what was the name of the t.v show where the semitruck trund into a hellicopter. It came out in the mid 80s

[dsantat]

THE HIGHWAYMAN! I thought I was the only sucker who watched that show!