Riptide (1984)

On This Day in 1984: 𝙍𝙄𝙋𝙏𝙄𝘿𝙀 debuted on NBC-TV.

This light drama/adventure series was created by Frank Lupo and Stephen J. Cannell and was co-produced with Columbia Television. The series followed the adventures of three friends and former Army buddies, Cody Allen (Perry King), Nick Ryder (Joe Penny), and computer hacker Murray "Boz" Bozinsky (Thom Bray), who run a private detective agency based out of Cody's boat, the Riptide. The team uses a variety of tools in their fight against crime, including Murray's computers and robot, Roboz, Nick's aging Sikorsky S-58T helicopter, The Screaming Mimi, and Cody's speedboat, the Ebb Tide. The show was a midseason replacement that debuted as a two-hour TV movie.

Riptide seemed like a blender of other popular shows of the time, mixing up elements from Magnum, P.I., The A-Team, and Simon & Simon along with pop culture stuff like home microcomputers and robots. The pilot episode introduces the main characters and their first case together, which involved a stolen yacht and international smuggling. 

Jack Ging played Lt. Quinlan, a local police officer who continually harasses the trio. The show's serviceable theme music was composed by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter and included a Beach Boys-style middle eight. The show's penultimate episode, "If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em", parodied Moonlighting, the show that was Riptide's main competition on Tuesday nights. 58 episodes were produced over 3 seasons. The show was rerun on USA Network during the late 1980s, and the show currently appears occasionally on getTV and Decades.

The Arsenio Hall Show (1989)

 On this day in 1989: 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘼𝙍𝙎𝙀𝙉𝙄𝙊 𝙃𝘼𝙇𝙇 𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙒 debuted on US television.

This was a syndicated late-night talk show hosted by comedian Arsenio Hall, who had previously hosted The Late Show on Fox in 1987. The show debuted with guests Brooke Shields, Leslie Nielsen, and Luther Vandross and was one of two late-night shows to premiere that month; the other being The Pat Sajak Show on CBS. The Arsenio Hall Show (often just shortened to "Arsenio") was an immediate hit with 135 local stations carrying it out of the gate, targeting a younger, urban audience. The show was marketed as a "Night Thing" and had a party or nightclub theme.

A number of recurring themes were featured, including the "Dog Pound," which was a section of the studio audience behind the band. The show's intro, in which Burton Richardson would hold the letter "O" in Arsenio's name for as long as ten seconds, was another staple of the show. Hall was also well known for his long fingers, which he would often use to point at the audience. The house band, called "Posse," was led by Michael Wolff. A frequent joke in Hall's opening monologue was that he lived in Cleveland and drove to Los Angeles to host the show.

 
The show also gained popularity for its diverse guests not common on other talk shows and became the show for entertainers to reach the "MTV Generation". In June 1992, then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton appeared on the show and played "Heartbreak Hotel" on the saxophone, an appearance that is often considered an important moment in Clinton's campaign, helping build his popularity among minority and young voters.

High Mountain Rangers (1988)

On this day in 1988: 𝙃𝙄𝙂𝙃 𝙈𝙊𝙐𝙉𝙏𝘼𝙄𝙉 𝙍𝘼𝙉𝙂𝙀𝙍𝙎 debuted on CBS-TV.
This adventure-drama series centered around a group of highly trained wilderness search and rescue/law enforcement officers in Tahoe, Nevada. The series starred Robert Conrad as Jesse "Top Gun" Hawkes and also featured his sons Christian and Shane Conrad as Matt "Flying Tiger" Hawkes and Cody Hawkes, respectively. Robert Conrad's daughter, Joan, served as the executive producer. Each ranger had a call sign which was used when the HMRs were in the field. Other members of the cast included Russell Todd as Jim "Flash" Cutler, P.A. Christian as Robin "Frostbite" Kelly, and Timothy Erwin as Izzy "the Pocatello Kid" Flowers.

The series debut had been preceded by a TV movie pilot airing April 19, 1987, which featured Jesse Hawkes, an ex-Marine who founded the High Mountain Rangers 35 years prior, coming out of retirement to track down criminal T.J. Cousins (Tom Towles), who had escaped from prison and fled into the mountains. The escape scene in the pilot was filmed at Folsom Prison, and because the permit was only for one day, two crew members, Tim Forrest and Larry Mahan, were recruited to take the place of two injured stuntmen.

The series was filmed on location at places like Bear Valley and Lake Tahoe. The Bear Valley Sheriff's office was used as the Ranger station in the pilot. 12 one-hour episodes were produced in addition to the pilot film. High Mountain Rangers also had a short-lived 6-episode spin-off series in 1989 titled 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙬𝙠𝙚𝙨.

𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙧, 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚 𝘽𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣! (1986)

On this day in 1986: 𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙧, 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚 𝘽𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣! aired on CBS--TV.

This Peanuts holiday special stands out for a unique blend of melancholy and charm. Unlike other specials where Charlie Brown experiences a positive resolution, this one ends with him not achieving his goals. The plot centers around Charlie Brown's struggle to complete a book report on Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, assigned by his cruel teacher, while also dealing with the pressure of attending a New Year's Eve party. He even tries to invite his crush, the Little Red-Haired Girl, to the party. Despite his efforts to understand the book through audiobooks and computer games, and his courage to invite his crush, he ultimately falls asleep at the party, misses midnight, and discovers that Linus danced with the Little Red-Haired Girl. Despite these setbacks, Charlie Brown does not give up trying to do better.

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! was the last film made by original Peanuts animator Bernard Gruver. The special features the voices of Chad Allen as Charlie Brown, Jeremy Miller as Linus van Pelt, and Kristie Baker as Peppermint Patty. This special deserves more recognition for its relatable message about the value of effort and perseverance, even in the face of failure.

It is available on DVD in the releases:
I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown https://amzn.to/3W3DwRv
Snoopy's Holiday Collection https://amzn.to/3ZYb8l4

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