Janine Melnitz: [answers the phone] Hello, Ghostbusters… Yes, of course they’re serious… You do?… You have?… No kidding! Just gimme the address… Oh sure, they will be totally discreet. Thank you!
[hangs up]
Janine Melnitz: WE GOT ONE!
Happy 67th birthday to Annie Potts!!!
If you’d like to get this movie from Amazon, click on the poster below:
Woman at Party: [coming up to Louis during party] Do you have any Excedrin or extra-strength Tylenol?
Louis: [opening cabinet] Gee, I think all I got is acetylsalicylic acid, generic. See, I can get six hundred tablets of that for the same price as three hundred of a name brand. That makes good financial sense, good advice…
[takes platter back into living room]
Louis: Hey, this is real smoked salmon from Nova Scotia, Canada, $24.95 a pound! It only cost me $14.12 after tax, though.
[walks up to a hapless guest, speaking confidentially]
Louis: I’m givin’ this whole thing as a promotional expense, that’s why I invited clients instead of friends. You havin’ a good time, Mark?
[heads across the room, greeting other guests]
Louis: How you doing? Why don’t you have some of the brie, it’s at room temperature!
[to the Tall Woman]
Louis: You think it’s too warm in here for the brie?
Tall Woman at Party: [standing] Louis, I’m going home.
Louis: Aw, don’t leave yet. Well, listen, maybe if we start dancing other people will join in!
Tall Woman at Party: [pauses] Okay!
[Louis and the Tall Woman begin disco dancing. Suddenly the doorbell rings]
Louis: Oh, don’t move, I just gotta get the door.
[opens door, greeting guests]
Louis: Ted! Annette! I’m glad you could come, how you doin’, give me your coats. Everybody, this is Ted and Annette Fleming! Ted has a small carpet cleaning business in receivership; Annette’s drawing a salary from a deferred bonus from two years ago! They got fifteen thousand left on the house at eight percent.
[throws the guests’ coats in the closet, oblivious that they hit the demon Vinz Clortho hiding there]
Louis: So they’re okay! So, does anybody wanna play Parcheesi?
[Vinz Clortho growls from inside the bedroom]
Louis: [grinning] Okay, who brought the dog?
Happy 65th birthday to Rick Moranis!!!
If you’d like to watch/rent/buy this movies from Amazon, click on the movie poster below:
Welcome back to a new podcast episode! This week is another 80s crossover event from the 80s League! This month’s topic is 80s Movie Villains. Robert and Paul go through some of their favorite/most hated 80s movie villains. Paul also broke down and watched last year’s Ghostbusters movie. Come hear the exclusive review in this show. There is a new Play This, Not That, featuring Survivor. We had a Remember That Song winner, so there is a new one this week.
We would love to hear who some of your favorite 80s villains are. Please comment below, or email us at returnto80s@gmail.com.
Opening Segment of this 80s Crossover Event
Check out these sites that are participating this month:
Hi Everybody, we are preparing our Ghostbusters episode for the Return to the ’80s podcast. We need your help. Have any of you seen the recent Ghostbusters movie? We would love to hear from you, and get your thoughts on it, whether it be positive or negative. Also, we would love to hear your thoughts on the original Ghostbusters, as well as Ghostbusters II. Did any of you watch the Ghostbusters cartoons? We would love to hear from you. Please email us at Returnto80s@gmail.com.
You can also email us about anything ’80s. We will most likely read your email on the air. And if you haven’t caught the previous episode yet, go ahead and check it out. It is about Sitcom Theme Songs. There is also a Remember That Song and ’80s Trivia on the episode that have not been answered yet (as of the time I am writing this).
Again, you can email us at Returnto80s@gmail.com. Thank you very much!
Welcome to another episode of Return to the ’80s! This episode is the first in a series of television theme songs. Robert and Paul each pick 5 sitcom theme songs, and discuss them. A special thanks goes out to Return to the ’80s team member Sandy from Jersey for putting together these show notes. As usual, if you have any questions or comments about this episode, or anything ’80s, we would love to hear from you! Our next episode will be about Ghostbusters. Let us know if you’ve seen the new Ghostbusters movie. Also, Ghostbusters II gets trashed alot. Are there any fans if that sequel out there to defend this film? You can email us at returnto80s@gmail.com.
Opening
– Talks of Ghostbusters: new one being released on video
Stranger Things
– Stranger Things coming out and how it’s a mix of 80s movies.
– Talk of inconsistency of one of the songs in Stranger Things. (Late 80s)
– Talk if how great the kids were in the show.
– Talk of Matthew Modine in Stranger Things.
Bon Jovi
– Bon Jovi coming back out. Spoke about that. Played clip of “This House Is Not For Sale“. Has 1.7 mil hits on YouTube.
– Remember that Song – Tina Marie got the answer to the question, which was “The Way It Is“, sung by Bruce Hornsby.
– Plays song.
– Robert talks of how he saw him and Huey Lewis and the News in the same month
– Tim Cook also got song right.
– Reads note that Tim wrote.
– Robert gives a new Remember That Song. Can you name the artist and song:
Working in a factory eight days a week
Try to make dollar, damn what a beat
Cartoon capers happen in reality
Rich man, poor man, living in fantasy
Write in to returnto80s@gmail.com and put Remember That Song in the subject line to submit your answer.
Trivia
“Who was the producers original choice to play Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties.?” Answer was Matthew Broderick which was answered by Tina Marie.
– Matthew had to decline role because his father became ill.
– New trivia- Which 2 songs in the U.S., that were sung in German, were #1 and #2 songs.
Write in to returnto80s@gmail.com and put Trivia in the subject line to submit your answer.
Main Topic – Sitcom Theme Songs
– Paul talks of old intro styles to TV shows and how he misses them, and misses opening credits.
– Covering sitcoms on this podcast, and the other categories will be split up.
Theme songs covered:
– ALF (great theme song)
– Growing Pains (a personal fave of mine) spoke of the show and how Leo and Matthew Perry were on it and how it was one of Paul’s favorite shows (mine too).
– Charles in Charge – Version 1 and Version 2
– Gimme a Break
– Head of the Class – Paul talks of when he was in the Navy and Khrystyne Haje and the Pointer Sisters came on his ship during the Gulf War.
– Cheers
– Fresh Prince of Bel Air
– My Two Dads (one of my favorites)
– Talks about Red Oaks – the show that is on Netflix [But Paul remembered after recording this, that it is actually on Amazon).
– Night Court (another great show)
– Diff’rent Strokes – talks about how a reunion can’t be because a lot of the characters have passed away.
Wrapping Up
– Ending – talks of covering more show tunes and speaks of Blu Ray coming out Tuesday for Ghostbusters.
– And speaks of the soundtracks.
– And rewatching Ghostbusters 2
Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”? Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff. Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly. Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes… Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave! Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria! Mayor: All right, all right! I get the point!
Most of us have heard by now of the passing of Harold Ramis. Most of us know him as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters. But, he was so much more than that. In fact, he may have more of an influence on comedy in the ’80s (and beyond) than anybody else.
Ramis was born on November 21, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois. He with Chicago’s Second City improvisational comedy troupe. In 1974, John Belushi brought Ramis and and other Second City performers, including Bill Murray, to New York to work together on the radio program The National Lampoon Radio Hour.
During this time, Ramis, Belushi, Murray, Joe Flaherty, Christopher Guest, and Gilda Radner starred in the revue The National Lampoon Show.
Ramis would go on to become the head writer of the late-night sketch-comedy television series SCTV during its first three years (1976–1979), and also played some characters on the show, such as Officer Friendly, exercise guru Swami Bananananda, board chairman Allan “Crazy Legs” Hirschman, home dentist Mort Finkel and /SCTV station manager Moe Green as seen here:
Ramis left SCTV to pursue a film career and wrote a script with National Lampoon magazine’s Douglas Kenney which would eventually become a movie you may have heard of – National Lampoon’s Animal House.
Ramis next co-wrote the comedy Meatballs, starring Bill Murray. The movie was a commercial success and became the first of six film collaborations between Murray and Ramis. Growing up, I loved this movie. Even though it was released in 1979, I consider it an honorary ’80s movie.
OK, so far the first two movies he wrote was Animal House and Meatballs. You may have also heard of the third movie he wrote. It was a little golf movie called Caddyshack! This was also his directorial debut.
The next movie he was involved with was an acting gig, starring along with Bill Murray and John Candy – 1981’s Stripes. He played John Winger’s (Bill Murray) best friend, Russell Ziskey. Here is Russell teaching a Basic English class before John Winger talks him into joining the Army:
If that isn’t enough for you, he also directed National Lampoon’s Vacation. Oh, and see if Marty Moose’s voice sounds familiar:
In 1984, Ramis collaborated with Dan Aykroyd on the screenplay for Ghostbusters (as well as the forgettable sequel), which became one of the biggest comedy hits of the summer.
Here is Ramis as Egor Spengler along with Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz:
He also wrote and produced the Rodney Dangerfield movie, Back to School (1986). Then came the disappointing sequels to close out the ’80s – Caddyshack II (although we did get Kenny Loggins’ “Nobody’s Fool” out of that) and Ghostbusters II.
However, he did have a huge comeback writing, producing, directing, and acting in the 1993 Bill Murray film, Groundog Day.
Harold Ramis’ movies have influenced many comedians and comedy writers, such as Jay Roach (Austin Powers), Jake Kasdan (Orange County), Adam Sandler, and Peter and Bobby Farrelly. There is a really good article about his influences in The New Yorker.
In May 2010, Ramis contracted an infection that resulted in complications from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis. He lost the ability to walk; after relearning to do so, he suffered a relapse of the disease in late 2011. He died of complications of the disease on February 24, 2014, at his home on Chicago’s North Shore, at age…69. C’Mon now!! Did he plan that! A great comedian to the end!
We may have lost a great one, but his legacy will last forever.
Question: What McDonald’s product bore the slogan, “The hot stays hot and the cool stays cool.”?
Last Question: What artist had a #1 hit with the theme from the movie Ghostbusters?
Answer: Ray Parker Jr.
Ray Parker, Jr.’s smash hit “Ghostbusters”, from the film of the same name, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 11 in 1984, and stayed there for three weeks. It also peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart on 16 September 1984, where it stayed for three weeks. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song, but lost to Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You”.
Producers of the Ghostbusters movie had first approached Huey Lewis & the News to develop the theme song for the movie. The band decided not to, so Ray Parker Jr. was selected.
According to The Mad Music Archive, later in 1984, Huey Lewis & the News sued Parker, citing the similarities between the Ghostbusters theme song and their earlier hit, “I Want a New Drug”. According to Huey Lewis and the News, this was especially damaging to them since the Ghostbusters theme song was so popular, rising to #1 on the charts for three weeks. Parker and Lewis later settled out of court. Huey Lewis has stated that his experiences with the producers of Ghostbusters may have been indirectly responsible for getting his band involved with the movie Back to the Future.
On his 2001 Behind the Music special, Huey Lewis stated: “The offensive part was not so much that Ray Parker Jr. had ripped this song off, it was kind of symbolic of an industry that wants something — they wanted our wave and they wanted to buy it. [I]t’s not for sale. …In the end, I suppose they were right. I suppose it was for sale, because basically, they bought it.”
As a result of this statement, Ray Parker Jr. has filed a suit against Huey Lewis, claiming he violated the lawsuit’s confidentiality agreement and seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney fees. The lawsuit is ongoing.
I had never heard about the lawsuits, and I never had noticed the similarities before. I liked both songs anyway.
Here is the “Ghostbusters” music video:
And here is “I Want a New Drug” just in case you want to compare: