25 awesome openings to ’80s action shows (and five they missed)
We’ve talked a lot here about theme songs and how they just don’t make them like they used to. The openings to shows used to be a lot longer, a real part of the show. Today we’re lucky if we get a few bars of music and maybe a credit or two. Heck, one show, Lost, only plays one note and shows the logo.
The Popcorn Trick has a list of the Top 25 Opening Credits of ’80s Action Shows, and you can’t argue with most of the picks. Magnum P.I. is on the list, as is Riptide, Miami Vice, and The A Team. I would quibble a little bit with the choice of The Rockford Files. One of my favorites, but it was really more of a ’70s show than ’80s (it ended in 1980). I was 13 years old when Vegas premiered (in 1978 - it ran until 1981) and I wanted to be Dan Tanna and live in Vegas and have hot girlfriends and drive around with a lion in my sports car.
Cagney and Lacey shouldn’t be on the list though. It should be replaced with one of several other shows from the ’80s. After the jump, the five shows they missed.
Stingray: Yeah, I know, I’ve been talking about this show a lot lately, but I don’t see how they missed this opening. It has everything: cool techno song, exploding helicopters, mysterious symbols, shots of the hero.
Macgyver: Come on, a list of ’80s action show openings and this isn’t listed? Nonsense! Watch Richard Dean Anderson slide down a desert hill on a map, use his Swiss Army knife, and look cool in a leather jacket!
Spenser: For Hire: Maybe I’m just biased because this show was set (and filmed!) in Boston, but this was a intelligent, well-written, well cast show, and the opening conveys what the show is about. You get shots of Boston Common and Avery Brooks looking menacing and Robert Urich and Barbara Stock taking a shower together. Besides, how many TV show openings show Larry Bird shooting a basket and the show’s hero eating spaghetti?
Strike Force: This wasn’t the best show, but I have to include it because it’s such a great example of 80s action shows. You have the military-sounding theme song (sorta A Team-ish), all the heroes running and getting into cars to chase someone, an incredibly cheesy logo, the team walking towards the camera all together, and three scenes where the hero aims a gun and shoots! Awesome.
Mister T: If you’ll excuse the inclusion of a cartoon here, I’d just like to point out that this cartoon features Mister T (in probably the only time his name was spelled that way and not Mr.) as the leader of some sort of gymnastics team that fights crime? I barely remember this show, but it looks insane. When the gymnasts are doing their thing, why does it sound like someone ripping up a piece of paper? Also, the team drove around in the world’s biggest van.
Every time I see this I think of the TV Funhouse spot on SNL. Drink your school! Stay in drugs! Don’t do milk!
Monica Bellucci Biography
This regally beautiful stage-trained black performer has distinguished herself on stage, TV and film, often playing intelligent but long-suffering women who exhibit strength, patience and quiet elegance. Bassett has played opposite some of contemporary Hollywood’s most illustrious black leading men including Laurence Fishburne, Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy. She has also worked with such notable black filmmakers as Ossie Davis, Spike Lee and John Singleton. Bassett, however, has not been confined to “black subjects” as she has also been featured prominently in diverse TV projects and in film collaborations with writer-directors John Sayles and Wes Craven.
Bassett learned her craft at the Yale School of Drama where she began a valuable association with the dean–celebrated stage director Lloyd Richards who directed Bassett on Broadway in two August Wilson plays: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (1985) and “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” (1988).
Bassett’s screen career began in 1985 with a guest shot on the ABC detective drama “Spenser: For Hire” and a brief turn as a hooker on the CBS miniseries “Doubletake”. While the action thriller “F/X” (1986) marked her move into features, Bassett remained more regularly employed in TV during the late 1980s and early 90s with guest shots, brief stints as recurring characters and roles in high-profile TV-movies and miniseries. Some fans may remember her from the “Spencer” spin-off, “A Man Called Hawk” (ABC, 1989), as Avery Brooks’ “pseudo-cryptic clandestine girlfriend” (her phrase). Bassett registered more strongly as the wife of ill-fated astronaut Ronald McNair in the 1990 ABC Theater presentation “Challenger”. She won raves for her portrayal of Katherine Jackson, Michael’s mom, in the miniseries “The Jacksons: An American Dream” (ABC, 1992).
Bassett first gained notice in features as the estranged, ambitious wife of Laurence Fishburne in John Singleton’s “Boyz in the Hood” (1991). Her impressive resume grew to include playing the “do-gooder” wife of politician Joe Morton in John Sayles’ “City of Hope” (1991) and an outstanding portrayal of Betty Shabazz, the quietly strong wife of activist and preacher Malcolm X in Spike Lee’s epic biopic “Malcolm X” (1992). A lean and pumped up Bassett earned raves, celebrity and a Best Actress Oscar nod in her debut as a feature lead in “What’s Love Got To Do With It” (1993). Her riveting and thoroughly convincing portrayal of three decades in the life of pop icon Tina Turner transformed her career.
After a hiatus, Bassett returned to the screen with leads in three highly publicized 1995 Hollywood releases: the millennial sci-fi actioner “Strange Days”; the Eddie Murphy horror comedy vehicle “Vampire in Brooklyn”; and the adaptation of Terry McMillan’s best-selling novel “Waiting to Exhale”. Whereas the first two films built upon her image as a strong black woman by giving her firearms and fangs, the latter paired her with recording superstar Whitney Houston in a character-driven comedy-drama that proved a box-office success. Bassett undertook another McMillan heroine playing a fortyish divorcee who embarks on a relationship with a much younger man in “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” (1998). In 2002, Bassett was cast as Rosa Parks in the CBS biopic “The Rosa Parks Story”. For her portrayal of the civil rights icon, Bassett received an Emmy nomination.
Bassett turned in a finely etched performance as a Florida-born woman return to confront her tangled past in writer-director John Sayles’ pleasing “Sunshine State” (2002). After appearing as herself on a 2003 episode of the Fox sitcom “The Bernie Mac Show” she teamed with the series’ titular star for the baseball comedy “Mr. 3000″ (2004).
- Born:on 08/16/58 in New York, New York
- Job Titles:Actor, Appointment booker for beauty salon, Photo cataloger (at US News and World Report)
Family
- Aunt: Golden. first Ph.D. in family; raised Bassett until she was four or five years old
- Mother: Betty Bassett. divorced from Bassett’s father; raised both Angela and her sister after the collapse of her week-long second marriage (she had the union annulled after an incident of abuse); worked for Florida’s Health and Human Services Agency
- Sister: D’nette Bassett. younger
Significant Others
- Husband: Courtney Vance. married October 12, 1997
- Companion: Mark Jenkins.
Education
- Boca Ciega High School, St Petersburg, Florida, 1976
Milestones
- 1974 First exposed to theater through the Upward Bound program for academically gifted low-income children; inspired to act after an 11th grade class trip to Washington, DC during which she saw James Earl Jones star in a Kennedy Center production of “Of Mice and Men” (date approximate)
- 1984 Worked at the Hartford Stage Company performing in “The Mystery Plays”
- 1985 Appeared in first TV-movie, “Doubletake”
- 1985 Broadway debut, August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” directed by Lloyd Richards
- 1985 First primetime TV guest spot, “Spenser: For Hire”
- 1986 First feature role, “F/X”
- 1988 Appeared in the Broadway production of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”, directed by Lloyd Richards
- 1988 Moved to California
- 1989 Recurring role (two appearances) in the Vietnam war series, “Tour of Duty”
- 1989 Recurring role (two appearances) in the detective spin-off series, “A Man Called Hawk”
- 1991 First film with independent writer-director John Sayles, “City of Hope”
- 1991 First notable feature supporting role, John Singleton’s feature directorial debut, “Boyz N the Hood”, as Laurence Fishburne’s estranged wife
- 1991 Recurring role on the short-lived ABC medical comedy series “STAT”
- 1992 Portrayed Betty Shabazz, the wife of “Malcolm X”, in Spike Lee’s feature biopic
- 1992 Starred as Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the Jackson family, for the ABC-TV mini-series “The Jacksons: An American Dream”
- 1993 Feature lead debut as Tina Turner in the biopic “What’s Love Got To Do With It” opposite Fishburne’s Ike; garnered Oscar nomination for Best Actress
- 1994 Provided the voice of writer Zora Neale Hurston for “A Century of Women”, a TBS documentary miniseries
- 1995 Co-starred with Whitney Houston, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon in “Waiting to Exhale”, based on the novel by Terry McMillan
- 1995 Reprised the role of Betty Shabazz for an uncredited cameo in Mario Van Peebles’ “Panther”, a historical drama about the Black Panther Party
- 1998 Headlined second adaptation of a McMillan novel, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”
- 1999 Cast as a school principal in “Music of the Heart”
- 2000 Appeared in the less than stellar sci-fi flick “Supernova”
- 2000 Co-starred with Danny Glover in “Boesman and Lena”, adapted from Athol Fugard’s play
- 2001 Cast as Robert De Niro’s love interest in “The Score”
- 2001 Played the owner of a waterfront joint in 1960s Louisiana who begins a relationship with a white male singer in the Showtime movie “Ruby’s Bucket of Blood”; also served as one of the producers
- 2002 Starred in “Sunshine State” with Edie Falco as a failed actress who goes with her friend home to their northern Florida town
- 2002 Starred in title role of the CBS biopic “The Rosa Parks Story”
- 2003 Cast in the Bob Dylan film “Masked & Anonymous”
- 2004 Cast opposite Bernie Mac in the comedy “Mr. 3000″
- 2004 Joined the Cast of Alias (ABC) as the new CIA director
- Acted in off-Broadway productions
- Acted on the daytime soap, “The Guiding Light”
- Acting debut at age 15, as Mama in “A Raisin in the Sun”, in a school production at Boca Ciega High School in St. Petersburg, Florida
- Became the first black student at her high school to be accepted into the National Honor Society
- Born in NYC’s Harlem
- Moved to NYC
- Moved with mother and sister to St. Petersburg, Florida
- Performed in school and other productions while at Yale
- Performed monologues and poetry readings at church conventions
- Worked with the Negro Ensemble Company as an understudy
Angela Basset Biography
This regally beautiful stage-trained black performer has distinguished herself on stage, TV and film, often playing intelligent but long-suffering women who exhibit strength, patience and quiet elegance. Bassett has played opposite some of contemporary Hollywood’s most illustrious black leading men including Laurence Fishburne, Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy. She has also worked with such notable black filmmakers as Ossie Davis, Spike Lee and John Singleton. Bassett, however, has not been confined to “black subjects” as she has also been featured prominently in diverse TV projects and in film collaborations with writer-directors John Sayles and Wes Craven.
Bassett learned her craft at the Yale School of Drama where she began a valuable association with the dean–celebrated stage director Lloyd Richards who directed Bassett on Broadway in two August Wilson plays: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (1985) and “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” (1988).
Bassett’s screen career began in 1985 with a guest shot on the ABC detective drama “Spenser: For Hire” and a brief turn as a hooker on the CBS miniseries “Doubletake”. While the action thriller “F/X” (1986) marked her move into features, Bassett remained more regularly employed in TV during the late 1980s and early 90s with guest shots, brief stints as recurring characters and roles in high-profile TV-movies and miniseries. Some fans may remember her from the “Spencer” spin-off, “A Man Called Hawk” (ABC, 1989), as Avery Brooks’ “pseudo-cryptic clandestine girlfriend” (her phrase). Bassett registered more strongly as the wife of ill-fated astronaut Ronald McNair in the 1990 ABC Theater presentation “Challenger”. She won raves for her portrayal of Katherine Jackson, Michael’s mom, in the miniseries “The Jacksons: An American Dream” (ABC, 1992).
Bassett first gained notice in features as the estranged, ambitious wife of Laurence Fishburne in John Singleton’s “Boyz in the Hood” (1991). Her impressive resume grew to include playing the “do-gooder” wife of politician Joe Morton in John Sayles’ “City of Hope” (1991) and an outstanding portrayal of Betty Shabazz, the quietly strong wife of activist and preacher Malcolm X in Spike Lee’s epic biopic “Malcolm X” (1992). A lean and pumped up Bassett earned raves, celebrity and a Best Actress Oscar nod in her debut as a feature lead in “What’s Love Got To Do With It” (1993). Her riveting and thoroughly convincing portrayal of three decades in the life of pop icon Tina Turner transformed her career.
After a hiatus, Bassett returned to the screen with leads in three highly publicized 1995 Hollywood releases: the millennial sci-fi actioner “Strange Days”; the Eddie Murphy horror comedy vehicle “Vampire in Brooklyn”; and the adaptation of Terry McMillan’s best-selling novel “Waiting to Exhale”. Whereas the first two films built upon her image as a strong black woman by giving her firearms and fangs, the latter paired her with recording superstar Whitney Houston in a character-driven comedy-drama that proved a box-office success. Bassett undertook another McMillan heroine playing a fortyish divorcee who embarks on a relationship with a much younger man in “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” (1998). In 2002, Bassett was cast as Rosa Parks in the CBS biopic “The Rosa Parks Story”. For her portrayal of the civil rights icon, Bassett received an Emmy nomination.
Bassett turned in a finely etched performance as a Florida-born woman return to confront her tangled past in writer-director John Sayles’ pleasing “Sunshine State” (2002). After appearing as herself on a 2003 episode of the Fox sitcom “The Bernie Mac Show” she teamed with the series’ titular star for the baseball comedy “Mr. 3000″ (2004).
- Born:
on 08/16/58 in New York, New York - Job Titles:
Actor, Appointment booker for beauty salon, Photo cataloger (at US News and World Report)
Family
- Aunt: Golden. first Ph.D. in family; raised Bassett until she was four or five years old
- Mother: Betty Bassett. divorced from Bassett’s father; raised both Angela and her sister after the collapse of her week-long second marriage (she had the union annulled after an incident of abuse); worked for Florida’s Health and Human Services Agency
- Sister: D’nette Bassett. younger
Significant Others
- Husband: Courtney Vance. married October 12, 1997
- Companion: Mark Jenkins.
Education
- Boca Ciega High School, St Petersburg, Florida, 1976
Milestones
- 1974 First exposed to theater through the Upward Bound program for academically gifted low-income children; inspired to act after an 11th grade class trip to Washington, DC during which she saw James Earl Jones star in a Kennedy Center production of “Of Mice and Men” (date approximate)
- 1984 Worked at the Hartford Stage Company performing in “The Mystery Plays”
- 1985 Appeared in first TV-movie, “Doubletake”
- 1985 Broadway debut, August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” directed by Lloyd Richards
- 1985 First primetime TV guest spot, “Spenser: For Hire”
- 1986 First feature role, “F/X”
- 1988 Appeared in the Broadway production of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”, directed by Lloyd Richards
- 1988 Moved to California
- 1989 Recurring role (two appearances) in the Vietnam war series, “Tour of Duty”
- 1989 Recurring role (two appearances) in the detective spin-off series, “A Man Called Hawk”
- 1991 First film with independent writer-director John Sayles, “City of Hope”
- 1991 First notable feature supporting role, John Singleton’s feature directorial debut, “Boyz N the Hood”, as Laurence Fishburne’s estranged wife
- 1991 Recurring role on the short-lived ABC medical comedy series “STAT”
- 1992 Portrayed Betty Shabazz, the wife of “Malcolm X”, in Spike Lee’s feature biopic
- 1992 Starred as Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the Jackson family, for the ABC-TV mini-series “The Jacksons: An American Dream”
- 1993 Feature lead debut as Tina Turner in the biopic “What’s Love Got To Do With It” opposite Fishburne’s Ike; garnered Oscar nomination for Best Actress
- 1994 Provided the voice of writer Zora Neale Hurston for “A Century of Women”, a TBS documentary miniseries
- 1995 Co-starred with Whitney Houston, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon in “Waiting to Exhale”, based on the novel by Terry McMillan
- 1995 Reprised the role of Betty Shabazz for an uncredited cameo in Mario Van Peebles’ “Panther”, a historical drama about the Black Panther Party
- 1998 Headlined second adaptation of a McMillan novel, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”
- 1999 Cast as a school principal in “Music of the Heart”
- 2000 Appeared in the less than stellar sci-fi flick “Supernova”
- 2000 Co-starred with Danny Glover in “Boesman and Lena”, adapted from Athol Fugard’s play
- 2001 Cast as Robert De Niro’s love interest in “The Score”
- 2001 Played the owner of a waterfront joint in 1960s Louisiana who begins a relationship with a white male singer in the Showtime movie “Ruby’s Bucket of Blood”; also served as one of the producers
- 2002 Starred in “Sunshine State” with Edie Falco as a failed actress who goes with her friend home to their northern Florida town
- 2002 Starred in title role of the CBS biopic “The Rosa Parks Story”
- 2003 Cast in the Bob Dylan film “Masked & Anonymous”
- 2004 Cast opposite Bernie Mac in the comedy “Mr. 3000″
- 2004 Joined the Cast of Alias (ABC) as the new CIA director
- Acted in off-Broadway productions
- Acted on the daytime soap, “The Guiding Light”
- Acting debut at age 15, as Mama in “A Raisin in the Sun”, in a school production at Boca Ciega High School in St. Petersburg, Florida
- Became the first black student at her high school to be accepted into the National Honor Society
- Born in NYC’s Harlem
- Moved to NYC
- Moved with mother and sister to St. Petersburg, Florida
- Performed in school and other productions while at Yale
- Performed monologues and poetry readings at church conventions
- Worked with the Negro Ensemble Company as an understudy