June 12, 2025 • 19 mins
Welcome back, Afterschool Gang! Get ready to travel back in time to an era when homework was still a distant threat and the TV was our most trusted tutor. This week, we're dusting off our Trapper Keepers and taking a joyous, lighthearted stroll down memory lane to revisit a true cultural phenomenon: the ABC Afterschool Specials!
From 1972 to 1997, these iconic television movies were more than just entertainment; they were our sometimes-cheesy, always-earnest guides through the perplexing maze of growing up. Remember gathering around the TV, a bowl of cereal (or maybe something a little more adventurous, like a Pop-Tart!) in hand, bracing ourselves for an hour of emotional rollercoasters and life lessons? We certainly do!
Join your hosts, Alex and Kelly, as we hilariously dissect some of the most memorable (and sometimes utterly bizarre) episodes. We'll be chatting about the surprisingly heavy topics tackled by these seemingly innocent shows – everything from bullying and drug abuse to… well, that one about the kid who really wanted to be a gymnast. We’ll reminisce about the fashion choices that make us wince today, the dramatic musical cues, and the always-predictable but deeply satisfying moral at the end.
Expect plenty of laughs as we share our personal favorite (and least favorite!) Afterschool Specials, discuss the famous faces who got their start in these mini-dramas (hello, future Hollywood A-listers!), and ponder how these shows might have shaped our young, impressionable minds. Did they truly teach us valuable life lessons, or did they just make us acutely aware of how awkward puberty could be? We’ll debate!
So, grab your milk and cookies, pull up a beanbag chair, and get ready for an episode packed with nostalgia, chuckles, and a healthy dose of "can you believe that actually aired?" Whether you were a dedicated viewer or you're just curious about this unique slice of television history, this is one afterschool special you won't want to miss. Tune in, and let's relive the glory days of the ABC Afterschool Specials!
Drop us a quick text and we’ll reply in the next episode!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kelly (00:07):
Hey, Kelly, how's it going? Man, good. Alex, how are
you doing? I'm
Alex (00:11):
doing all right. Hey, when you were a little kid and like,
you know, first, second, thirdgrade, fourth grade, elementary,
you know, growing up, how, whenyou came home from school be
like, what, three o'clock or so?
Yeah, three 330 what'd you do? Iknow you've already established
that you used to play with youroff brand video
Kelly (00:35):
game television, yes, well,
Alex (00:39):
take me, take me through, like, what you do? You
Kelly (00:41):
know, okay, okay. You know, latchkey kid. Come in. My
mom and dad were both at work.
Maybe my sister was with me.
Maybe she wasn't depended onbecause I was a little older.
So, you know, if we were in adifferent school, she might not
have been there. First thing Ido is go to the kitchen. See if
we have any ice cream. See if wehave any snacks. You know, get
(01:01):
get that. And then a lot oftimes I would watch good times I
liked watching good like thatcame on, like, pretty much
perfect timing for watchingthat. And then after that, I'd
eat my little snack. I'd usuallygo outside and play for a while,
you know, go, go see what myfriends were up to and then my
(01:23):
parents would come home andthey'd call me in and have
dinner, do homework, go to bed.
Yeah,
Alex (01:29):
I'd kind of the same. I'd come home and I'd latch key kid,
or my key around my neck like alittle necklace. I'd come in and
I'd get one piece of sliced theAmerican, you know, craft
American size, yeah, and abanana. That was my go to your
snack. And then, and then I dokind of the same thing. I'd
(01:53):
maybe watch the monkeys, okay,or the Brady Bunch, or whatever,
yeah, yeah. And do kind of thesame thing. Maybe go outside. I
was telling my wife the otherday when I remember my
childhood. For some reason Iremember a lot of is spent in
the woods. For some reason,that's, I don't know if you had
(02:13):
that same I'm like, why are wein the woods? And she had the
same thing. But I don't want totalk about that once a month,
about once a month. Uh, I'd flipon the TV and I'd be captivated
by the ABC after school special.
Kelly (02:31):
Oh, wow. Okay, okay, you didn't really plan for it. It
was just, it just happened.
Alex (02:36):
Actually, I was the type that planned for it, like stuff
was coming out, it was cameabout a month, once a month,
about once a month during theschool year, so about six to
eight times a year. Yeah. Andfor those of you who are younger
than me and Kelly, ABC afterschool special was this odd
thing where once a month on theABC show station work at around
(03:00):
three o'clock or four o'clock,not prime time, but definitely
after you get home from school.
They would show before the news.
Oh yeah, they would show like adrama with usually had stars
from other shows that were bigat the time, or movie stars, or
just up and coming, but bignames for us at the time, like,
(03:23):
yeah, that kids knew, and theywould show these very
melodramatic episodes aboutcontroversial, sometimes topics,
things that maybe some teenagerswere going through. And it would
be completely geared towards us.
We would be the top. We wouldn'twatch it with our parents, yeah,
and somehow they, they got us towatch these things, super
(03:46):
cheesy, like, by today'sstandards. And I think even at
the time, we knew they werecheesy, but, but everyone
watched them.
Kelly (03:57):
So I didn't, I didn't really, I was, I don't think I
would ever like basically, Iwould if the Brady Bunch was on,
or good times, or theJeffersons, or Laverne and
Shirley, or happy days, some,some syndicated sitcom, I would
watch that, but I never reallywatched the after school
specials. Maybe that's what'swrong with me. Yeah, you
Alex (04:20):
never got the lessons. I was into it, and they always
felt like a big, a big deal. Solet me tell you a little bit
about the ABC after schoolspecials, and it was specific to
ABC the network. Yeah, it wascalled the ABC. Oh, okay, now I
know you didn't watch them, butyou definitely heard of them,
right? Sure, sure. Yeah, I sawthe application and the tropes,
(04:41):
yeah, yeah, yeah. The very firstone came out 1972 Okay, so this
is before I would have beenwatching it, and the very last
one was 1997 Wow. After longrun, would have watched it,
yeah, long run. And every singleyear, uh. Know, continuously. So
(05:01):
the first episode was called TheLast of the curlews. And that
was about, it was animated.
Actually. That was about afather and son who go hunting
and debate whether or not tokill a curlew, which is like a
bird that was about to beextinct. It's now is extinct.
Okay, wow. So, I guess they madethe wrong choice there and then,
(05:22):
like the next one was about, youknow, the Underground Railroad,
and it was just, and as we gotfurther or further down the
line, they became kind of more,they hit their stride, and they
would deal with themes that youknow, kids would have to kind of
come up with. So I've got thelist here. I could read you some
(05:46):
titles, and you could tell memaybe, what the, yeah, what the,
what the theme was, was about,yeah, sure, sure. Go ahead, um,
1973 I want to tell you aboutone that was called Rookie of
the Year, and that was starringJodie Foster as a matter of
fact, Oh, wow. She was a childactor. Yeah, she was an 11 year
old girl who joined herbrother's Little League team now
(06:07):
seven, the year before 1972 waswhen girls were allowed to be on
Little League teams. Okay, sothat was kind of a big deal. So
these were all ripped from theheadlines, you know, like Title
Nine stuff. Sure, there's one in1973 called my dad lives in a
downtown hotel. So I think thatone's about, I
Kelly (06:35):
think that's basically different strokes, right? About
two, two boys that get adoptedby a rich man who lives in a
penthouse. No, no.
Alex (06:44):
This was about like separation and divorce. My dad
doesn't live in our houseanymore, okay? 1976 blind
Sunday,
Kelly (06:56):
oh, this is about a family that makes ice cream
sundaes, and one of the peoplecan't see, so he always makes
them wrong
Alex (07:06):
No, in order to better understand his blind girlfriend,
teenager Jeff, spends an entireday blindfolded. Okay, that's
really kind of things. 45minutes, I'd be riveted. How
about 1977 my Mom's having ababy.
Kelly (07:24):
Okay? I have no idea what that's about.
Alex (07:27):
It's about the birds and the bees. Man, Mom's having the
baby. Oh, and he wants to knowwhat it's how it happened. There
was a sequel in 1980 calledWhere do teenagers come from?
That was all about puberty.
Okay? There was one in 1978called it's a mile from here to
glory. It was about a teenagerthat was in a car accident and
became disabled. That onestarred a young Anthony Kiedis,
(07:52):
wow.
Kelly (07:56):
Okay, wow. He's singing for the Red Hot Chili choppers.
Yeah, Hollywood all the way.
Alex (08:01):
So 1979 did I remember this one well, called Make
Believe marriage, and it wasabout some kids, and I think
they actually did this in a lotof high schools. I don't know if
it was before or because of thisepisode where they took a class
on marriage, and they would pairup the kids, and they would have
(08:25):
to do, like everyday things thatmarried, married life couples,
just to teach you about, like,domestic partnership, what that
was all about, huh?
Kelly (08:34):
You saw that one? Huh?
You actually watched that one?
That one? Well, yeah,
Alex (08:37):
yeah, there was one. I watched them all, man, 1980
there was one called stoned.
Kelly (08:45):
Oh, this was about, this was about somebody in Jesus's
time who had cast the firststone.
Alex (08:56):
You're not very good at this. This one starred Scott
Baio, okay, as a motivated highschooler until, until he gets
with marijuana and falls whenwith a fast crowd or
Kelly (09:10):
the slow crowd, dude.
Then
Alex (09:12):
1987 this was one of the, the most notorious, kind of
worst episodes. And this is kindof where I, I was off the I
mean, I was in college by then,so I wasn't really into this.
But this is known as kind of
Kelly (09:26):
one of the what they when they jumped the shark, so to
speak. Sure
Alex (09:30):
this was called, this was called the day my kid went punk.
It was about a teenage musician,Terry hopes to distinguish
himself from the crowd bybecoming a punk rocker starring
Bernie copell from The Love Boatand and the thing is, they were
(09:53):
never able to, they weren't ableto use real like punk rock
music. So they had to use like,you know, a. Copyright, yeah,
yeah, funk rock, or whatgrandmas thought punk rock would
would have been like, wow. Andthe guy who had a pink Mohawk
and an earring, like a safetypin, you know, earring, kind of
(10:16):
like you did back in the day,
Kelly (10:17):
was Bernie Bernie CAPELL, was he doc? He was doc, yeah,
okay. And was he? Was he the kidor the father? He wasn't the
Alex (10:25):
kid. Think it was the one of the one of the parents. Wow.
But yeah, they got more and morekind of ridiculous. Or Daddy
can't read.
Kelly (10:37):
I mean, that's pretty obvious.
Alex (10:38):
Michael Jackson was in that one as himself. This was
1988 there's one called tattle,when to tell on a friend. Okay,
it was about four inseparablefriends on their high school
swim team until two of themexperiment with cocaine and get
hooked. Whoa. There's one calledjust tipsy honey, okay? About a
(11:05):
mother who had a drinkingproblem, all right? And it was
always like, from the teenagers,you know, point of view, my dad
can't be crazy, can he? It'sabout schizophrenia, okay, but
then you'd have one called, likeall that glitters. Several high
school students learn aboutethics versus seductive power
(11:28):
when they start a cookie companyas their class project starring
William H Macy, huh? So a lot ofthese people like right on the
way up, yeah, Adam Sandler wasin one in 1990 called Testing,
testing dirty as a competitiveswimmer that was taking
amphetamines or tested positivefor amphetamines, they they
(11:51):
tackled scenes like things liketeen pregnancy, but I was from a
very safe point. There was onecalled I want to keep my baby in
1976 where was a teenage girlthat got pregnant and decided to
keep the baby, but they neveronce mentioned abortion in the
show, okay, um, even thoughthey, like they did, but they
(12:13):
didn't right, pretty, prettyconservative themes. But at the
time, they were talking aboutthings that nobody was talking
about. So right, from thatperspective, that wasn't
conservative, but the way theyhandled it was, yeah, there was
one called a very delicatematter. What do you think that
was about?
Kelly (12:29):
Very maybe about telling somebody something that you
like, telling a secret. What wasthe secret?
Alex (12:40):
I don't know it was gonorrhea. Kelly, teenage girl,
contracts a sexually transmitteddisease from her boyfriend, a
very that was a big deal. Imean, that was 1982 that was a
delicate matter, man, yeah. Um,
Kelly (12:57):
and itchy, too, sure, sure, sure.
Alex (13:02):
So yeah. I mean, from bitchy to itchy, that's what
they should have called it.
That's what, yeah. There was,yeah. I mean, they touched on
all kinds of different things,but there was some things they
never touched on, like theynever once had. You know, there
was 20 years of episodes, theynever once touched on any gay or
(13:23):
queer themes ever. That wassomething that I think was was
they were afraid of bridge toofar. Right again, they never
really touched on abortion, eventhough they touched on teen
pregnancy, there was never anyepisodes, though that got
(13:45):
boycotted. Or I thought for surethat when I started researching
this, I would find that, youknow, the Memphis station or
the, you know, the right, theywouldn't play it. Wouldn't play
it that never happened, becauseI think they were always walking
that line. And typically theywere probably done with
psychologists and all kinds ofadults, you know, overseeing
(14:07):
these scripts. Scott Baio was ina ton of these, yeah, that was
Yeah, his sweet spot, sure. Infact, all the happy day stars
did their little parts. MarionRoss was in a bunch of these,
Kelly (14:21):
oh yes, always the mom, yeah,
Alex (14:24):
yeah. I mean, a lot of the the girls from facts of life, oh
yeah, would be on these showsBlair and tutti. There were
people that would berecognizable to you at the time
and like, wow, that's a that's agood get. Nancy McKeon, Nancy
McKeon was definitely in, insome of these. She was, she was
(14:45):
in one particular one called,please don't hit me mom in 1983
Oh, that was actually nominatedfor Outstanding Children's
Program in the Emmy Awards. Itwas about child abuse. Yeah.
Wow. I. Yeah, heavy. So it wasalways these kind of very
special episode. And like, Isay, I was into it. I was just
(15:07):
into the fact that they wereusually talking about something
that we weren't allowed to talkabout, or something that was a
little out there, little taboo,yeah. And the cool part was, I
was watching it by myself, likeit wasn't part of the family
lineup, and being an only child,I was all into it. Didn't have
to be embarrassed. It didn'tfeel tab you taboo, um, but I
(15:30):
was never really satisfied atthe end of these things. I
always thought, Oh, I could havedone that better, yeah. Or that
was a stretch for Scott Baio or,but then the month later, I'd
forget about my criticism and Igo watch right back and watching
them. And the funny part is, Inever remember comparing, like I
said, Everyone watched them. Ithink they got pretty good
ratings, but I think this is thefirst time I've ever talked
(15:53):
about it with anybody. I've
Kelly (15:54):
never, I've never seen any of those. I'm familiar with
them, I'm familiar with them,but I've never, actually, I
never actually watched any ofthose that would have just, I
don't know, I feel like thatwould have just been way too
preachy for me well,
Alex (16:05):
and because you would have had to watch it with your
sister. And so imagine me beinghome by myself, yeah, thinking I
was on a real gold mine here,
Kelly (16:14):
I'm gonna be so smart and well rounded. Thanks. ABC, yeah.
Alex (16:18):
I mean, I knew about gonorrhea before you did. Kelly,
Kelly (16:21):
well, that's because you got it right,
Alex (16:25):
all right, man, well, that's ABC after school special.
Kelly (16:29):
It's something that used to be here, and now it's gone,
gone forever. Gonorrhea.
Unknown (16:42):
We gathered round the old TV globe, lessons learned in
a scripted show, awkward momentspacked with heart, where every
tale played its moral part, O,B, A, B, C, after
(17:02):
school. A, B, C, after school,rhymes, cheesy lines and plots
combined teenage love with tearsof hope, lessons wrapped in a
moralbow, feeling stars with their
big debut, trying hard, but weall knew dialog, step like a
wooden chair, but the heart wasalways there. Oh the ABC after
(17:24):
school, rhymes, cheesy lines androcks come by.
Cheesy lines and pots combined,glances, life's big problems and
(17:59):
polyester dances, a lot ofpride. Is a
laugh. Every cringe was a pageclunky scripts, but we all
(18:20):
stayed for the wisdom awkwardlyconveyed. Life's a mess, but the
message clear even in thecheese, there's love, sincere.
You.
(18:56):
After school, grind cheesy linesand plots. Combine
teenage love with tears thatflow lessons wrapped in a moral
bowl, O, B, A, B, C, afterschool, grind cheesy lines and
(19:18):
plots combine teenage love withtears that flow lessons left in
a mobile.
Hey, Kelly, how's it going? Man, good. Alex, how are
you doing? I'm
Alex (00:11):
doing all right. Hey, when you were a little kid and like,
you know, first, second, thirdgrade, fourth grade, elementary,
you know, growing up, how, whenyou came home from school be
like, what, three o'clock or so?
Yeah, three 330 what'd you do? Iknow you've already established
that you used to play with youroff brand video
Kelly (00:35):
game television, yes, well,
Alex (00:39):
take me, take me through, like, what you do? You
Kelly (00:41):
know, okay, okay. You know, latchkey kid. Come in. My
mom and dad were both at work.
Maybe my sister was with me.
Maybe she wasn't depended onbecause I was a little older.
So, you know, if we were in adifferent school, she might not
have been there. First thing Ido is go to the kitchen. See if
we have any ice cream. See if wehave any snacks. You know, get
(01:01):
get that. And then a lot oftimes I would watch good times I
liked watching good like thatcame on, like, pretty much
perfect timing for watchingthat. And then after that, I'd
eat my little snack. I'd usuallygo outside and play for a while,
you know, go, go see what myfriends were up to and then my
(01:23):
parents would come home andthey'd call me in and have
dinner, do homework, go to bed.
Yeah,
Alex (01:29):
I'd kind of the same. I'd come home and I'd latch key kid,
or my key around my neck like alittle necklace. I'd come in and
I'd get one piece of sliced theAmerican, you know, craft
American size, yeah, and abanana. That was my go to your
snack. And then, and then I dokind of the same thing. I'd
(01:53):
maybe watch the monkeys, okay,or the Brady Bunch, or whatever,
yeah, yeah. And do kind of thesame thing. Maybe go outside. I
was telling my wife the otherday when I remember my
childhood. For some reason Iremember a lot of is spent in
the woods. For some reason,that's, I don't know if you had
(02:13):
that same I'm like, why are wein the woods? And she had the
same thing. But I don't want totalk about that once a month,
about once a month. Uh, I'd flipon the TV and I'd be captivated
by the ABC after school special.
Kelly (02:31):
Oh, wow. Okay, okay, you didn't really plan for it. It
was just, it just happened.
Alex (02:36):
Actually, I was the type that planned for it, like stuff
was coming out, it was cameabout a month, once a month,
about once a month during theschool year, so about six to
eight times a year. Yeah. Andfor those of you who are younger
than me and Kelly, ABC afterschool special was this odd
thing where once a month on theABC show station work at around
(03:00):
three o'clock or four o'clock,not prime time, but definitely
after you get home from school.
They would show before the news.
Oh yeah, they would show like adrama with usually had stars
from other shows that were bigat the time, or movie stars, or
just up and coming, but bignames for us at the time, like,
(03:23):
yeah, that kids knew, and theywould show these very
melodramatic episodes aboutcontroversial, sometimes topics,
things that maybe some teenagerswere going through. And it would
be completely geared towards us.
We would be the top. We wouldn'twatch it with our parents, yeah,
and somehow they, they got us towatch these things, super
(03:46):
cheesy, like, by today'sstandards. And I think even at
the time, we knew they werecheesy, but, but everyone
watched them.
Kelly (03:57):
So I didn't, I didn't really, I was, I don't think I
would ever like basically, Iwould if the Brady Bunch was on,
or good times, or theJeffersons, or Laverne and
Shirley, or happy days, some,some syndicated sitcom, I would
watch that, but I never reallywatched the after school
specials. Maybe that's what'swrong with me. Yeah, you
Alex (04:20):
never got the lessons. I was into it, and they always
felt like a big, a big deal. Solet me tell you a little bit
about the ABC after schoolspecials, and it was specific to
ABC the network. Yeah, it wascalled the ABC. Oh, okay, now I
know you didn't watch them, butyou definitely heard of them,
right? Sure, sure. Yeah, I sawthe application and the tropes,
(04:41):
yeah, yeah, yeah. The very firstone came out 1972 Okay, so this
is before I would have beenwatching it, and the very last
one was 1997 Wow. After longrun, would have watched it,
yeah, long run. And every singleyear, uh. Know, continuously. So
(05:01):
the first episode was called TheLast of the curlews. And that
was about, it was animated.
Actually. That was about afather and son who go hunting
and debate whether or not tokill a curlew, which is like a
bird that was about to beextinct. It's now is extinct.
Okay, wow. So, I guess they madethe wrong choice there and then,
(05:22):
like the next one was about, youknow, the Underground Railroad,
and it was just, and as we gotfurther or further down the
line, they became kind of more,they hit their stride, and they
would deal with themes that youknow, kids would have to kind of
come up with. So I've got thelist here. I could read you some
(05:46):
titles, and you could tell memaybe, what the, yeah, what the,
what the theme was, was about,yeah, sure, sure. Go ahead, um,
1973 I want to tell you aboutone that was called Rookie of
the Year, and that was starringJodie Foster as a matter of
fact, Oh, wow. She was a childactor. Yeah, she was an 11 year
old girl who joined herbrother's Little League team now
(06:07):
seven, the year before 1972 waswhen girls were allowed to be on
Little League teams. Okay, sothat was kind of a big deal. So
these were all ripped from theheadlines, you know, like Title
Nine stuff. Sure, there's one in1973 called my dad lives in a
downtown hotel. So I think thatone's about, I
Kelly (06:35):
think that's basically different strokes, right? About
two, two boys that get adoptedby a rich man who lives in a
penthouse. No, no.
Alex (06:44):
This was about like separation and divorce. My dad
doesn't live in our houseanymore, okay? 1976 blind
Sunday,
Kelly (06:56):
oh, this is about a family that makes ice cream
sundaes, and one of the peoplecan't see, so he always makes
them wrong
Alex (07:06):
No, in order to better understand his blind girlfriend,
teenager Jeff, spends an entireday blindfolded. Okay, that's
really kind of things. 45minutes, I'd be riveted. How
about 1977 my Mom's having ababy.
Kelly (07:24):
Okay? I have no idea what that's about.
Alex (07:27):
It's about the birds and the bees. Man, Mom's having the
baby. Oh, and he wants to knowwhat it's how it happened. There
was a sequel in 1980 calledWhere do teenagers come from?
That was all about puberty.
Okay? There was one in 1978called it's a mile from here to
glory. It was about a teenagerthat was in a car accident and
became disabled. That onestarred a young Anthony Kiedis,
(07:52):
wow.
Kelly (07:56):
Okay, wow. He's singing for the Red Hot Chili choppers.
Yeah, Hollywood all the way.
Alex (08:01):
So 1979 did I remember this one well, called Make
Believe marriage, and it wasabout some kids, and I think
they actually did this in a lotof high schools. I don't know if
it was before or because of thisepisode where they took a class
on marriage, and they would pairup the kids, and they would have
(08:25):
to do, like everyday things thatmarried, married life couples,
just to teach you about, like,domestic partnership, what that
was all about, huh?
Kelly (08:34):
You saw that one? Huh?
You actually watched that one?
That one? Well, yeah,
Alex (08:37):
yeah, there was one. I watched them all, man, 1980
there was one called stoned.
Kelly (08:45):
Oh, this was about, this was about somebody in Jesus's
time who had cast the firststone.
Alex (08:56):
You're not very good at this. This one starred Scott
Baio, okay, as a motivated highschooler until, until he gets
with marijuana and falls whenwith a fast crowd or
Kelly (09:10):
the slow crowd, dude.
Then
Alex (09:12):
1987 this was one of the, the most notorious, kind of
worst episodes. And this is kindof where I, I was off the I
mean, I was in college by then,so I wasn't really into this.
But this is known as kind of
Kelly (09:26):
one of the what they when they jumped the shark, so to
speak. Sure
Alex (09:30):
this was called, this was called the day my kid went punk.
It was about a teenage musician,Terry hopes to distinguish
himself from the crowd bybecoming a punk rocker starring
Bernie copell from The Love Boatand and the thing is, they were
(09:53):
never able to, they weren't ableto use real like punk rock
music. So they had to use like,you know, a. Copyright, yeah,
yeah, funk rock, or whatgrandmas thought punk rock would
would have been like, wow. Andthe guy who had a pink Mohawk
and an earring, like a safetypin, you know, earring, kind of
(10:16):
like you did back in the day,
Kelly (10:17):
was Bernie Bernie CAPELL, was he doc? He was doc, yeah,
okay. And was he? Was he the kidor the father? He wasn't the
Alex (10:25):
kid. Think it was the one of the one of the parents. Wow.
But yeah, they got more and morekind of ridiculous. Or Daddy
can't read.
Kelly (10:37):
I mean, that's pretty obvious.
Alex (10:38):
Michael Jackson was in that one as himself. This was
1988 there's one called tattle,when to tell on a friend. Okay,
it was about four inseparablefriends on their high school
swim team until two of themexperiment with cocaine and get
hooked. Whoa. There's one calledjust tipsy honey, okay? About a
(11:05):
mother who had a drinkingproblem, all right? And it was
always like, from the teenagers,you know, point of view, my dad
can't be crazy, can he? It'sabout schizophrenia, okay, but
then you'd have one called, likeall that glitters. Several high
school students learn aboutethics versus seductive power
(11:28):
when they start a cookie companyas their class project starring
William H Macy, huh? So a lot ofthese people like right on the
way up, yeah, Adam Sandler wasin one in 1990 called Testing,
testing dirty as a competitiveswimmer that was taking
amphetamines or tested positivefor amphetamines, they they
(11:51):
tackled scenes like things liketeen pregnancy, but I was from a
very safe point. There was onecalled I want to keep my baby in
1976 where was a teenage girlthat got pregnant and decided to
keep the baby, but they neveronce mentioned abortion in the
show, okay, um, even thoughthey, like they did, but they
(12:13):
didn't right, pretty, prettyconservative themes. But at the
time, they were talking aboutthings that nobody was talking
about. So right, from thatperspective, that wasn't
conservative, but the way theyhandled it was, yeah, there was
one called a very delicatematter. What do you think that
was about?
Kelly (12:29):
Very maybe about telling somebody something that you
like, telling a secret. What wasthe secret?
Alex (12:40):
I don't know it was gonorrhea. Kelly, teenage girl,
contracts a sexually transmitteddisease from her boyfriend, a
very that was a big deal. Imean, that was 1982 that was a
delicate matter, man, yeah. Um,
Kelly (12:57):
and itchy, too, sure, sure, sure.
Alex (13:02):
So yeah. I mean, from bitchy to itchy, that's what
they should have called it.
That's what, yeah. There was,yeah. I mean, they touched on
all kinds of different things,but there was some things they
never touched on, like theynever once had. You know, there
was 20 years of episodes, theynever once touched on any gay or
(13:23):
queer themes ever. That wassomething that I think was was
they were afraid of bridge toofar. Right again, they never
really touched on abortion, eventhough they touched on teen
pregnancy, there was never anyepisodes, though that got
(13:45):
boycotted. Or I thought for surethat when I started researching
this, I would find that, youknow, the Memphis station or
the, you know, the right, theywouldn't play it. Wouldn't play
it that never happened, becauseI think they were always walking
that line. And typically theywere probably done with
psychologists and all kinds ofadults, you know, overseeing
(14:07):
these scripts. Scott Baio was ina ton of these, yeah, that was
Yeah, his sweet spot, sure. Infact, all the happy day stars
did their little parts. MarionRoss was in a bunch of these,
Kelly (14:21):
oh yes, always the mom, yeah,
Alex (14:24):
yeah. I mean, a lot of the the girls from facts of life, oh
yeah, would be on these showsBlair and tutti. There were
people that would berecognizable to you at the time
and like, wow, that's a that's agood get. Nancy McKeon, Nancy
McKeon was definitely in, insome of these. She was, she was
(14:45):
in one particular one called,please don't hit me mom in 1983
Oh, that was actually nominatedfor Outstanding Children's
Program in the Emmy Awards. Itwas about child abuse. Yeah.
Wow. I. Yeah, heavy. So it wasalways these kind of very
special episode. And like, Isay, I was into it. I was just
(15:07):
into the fact that they wereusually talking about something
that we weren't allowed to talkabout, or something that was a
little out there, little taboo,yeah. And the cool part was, I
was watching it by myself, likeit wasn't part of the family
lineup, and being an only child,I was all into it. Didn't have
to be embarrassed. It didn'tfeel tab you taboo, um, but I
(15:30):
was never really satisfied atthe end of these things. I
always thought, Oh, I could havedone that better, yeah. Or that
was a stretch for Scott Baio or,but then the month later, I'd
forget about my criticism and Igo watch right back and watching
them. And the funny part is, Inever remember comparing, like I
said, Everyone watched them. Ithink they got pretty good
ratings, but I think this is thefirst time I've ever talked
(15:53):
about it with anybody. I've
Kelly (15:54):
never, I've never seen any of those. I'm familiar with
them, I'm familiar with them,but I've never, actually, I
never actually watched any ofthose that would have just, I
don't know, I feel like thatwould have just been way too
preachy for me well,
Alex (16:05):
and because you would have had to watch it with your
sister. And so imagine me beinghome by myself, yeah, thinking I
was on a real gold mine here,
Kelly (16:14):
I'm gonna be so smart and well rounded. Thanks. ABC, yeah.
Alex (16:18):
I mean, I knew about gonorrhea before you did. Kelly,
Kelly (16:21):
well, that's because you got it right,
Alex (16:25):
all right, man, well, that's ABC after school special.
Kelly (16:29):
It's something that used to be here, and now it's gone,
gone forever. Gonorrhea.
Unknown (16:42):
We gathered round the old TV globe, lessons learned in
a scripted show, awkward momentspacked with heart, where every
tale played its moral part, O,B, A, B, C, after
(17:02):
school. A, B, C, after school,rhymes, cheesy lines and plots
combined teenage love with tearsof hope, lessons wrapped in a
moralbow, feeling stars with their
big debut, trying hard, but weall knew dialog, step like a
wooden chair, but the heart wasalways there. Oh the ABC after
(17:24):
school, rhymes, cheesy lines androcks come by.
Cheesy lines and pots combined,glances, life's big problems and
(17:59):
polyester dances, a lot ofpride. Is a
laugh. Every cringe was a pageclunky scripts, but we all
(18:20):
stayed for the wisdom awkwardlyconveyed. Life's a mess, but the
message clear even in thecheese, there's love, sincere.
You.
(18:56):
After school, grind cheesy linesand plots. Combine
teenage love with tears thatflow lessons wrapped in a moral
bowl, O, B, A, B, C, afterschool, grind cheesy lines and
(19:18):
plots combine teenage love withtears that flow lessons left in
a mobile.
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