Nearly twenty years after VH1's "I Love the 80s" first aired, cable television is still celebrating the decade with mini-series exploring the culture, fads, and fashions of the time period. Because the analysis of 80s pop culture has been done to death at this point, I expected Nat Geo's "The '80s: Top Ten" to be boring, repetitive, and not very interesting. To my surprise, not only did I enjoy the six episode mini-series, but I found it to be the most entertaining show I've watched on TV in quite some time.
Hosted by Rob Lowe, each episode looks back at a very specific aspect of 80s pop culture: watercooler moments, streetwear, commercials, fast food, gadgets, and toys. One would think that it would be extremely hard to fill up a 45-minute episode talking about just fast food trends or commercials from the 80s without making everything seem padded, though somehow those two episodes end up being the high points. Getting the directors of 80s commercials, including Ridley Scott, to talk about the commercials that they made from both a filmmaking perspective and a marketing perspective is fascinating, and something rarely seen when discussing pop culture. Likewise, the episode that focuses on fast food is captivating in how it balances portraying both the positive and negative aspects of what the popularity of fast food has done to American society since the 80s. There are many times when the series seems like it could fall into being either too critical or too celebratory of the decade; in the end, the show finds just the right balance between the two.
If there's one flaw to "The '80s: Top Ten", it's that there aren't enough different commentators featured throughout the six episodes. While I love Kevin Smith and Tiffani Thiessen, it occasionally seems like the show cuts back to them simply because there wasn't footage of someone more directly involved with the topic at hand to cut to. Ultimately, this is a minor complaint when 95% of the mini-series is entertaining, informative, and all around enjoyable from start to finish.
Even for those that weren't around in the 1980s or those who don't have much interest in the decade, "The '80s: Top Ten" should, at the very least, teach viewers a little something. For me, this was one of the most fun and surprisingly binge-worthy series I've watched in years, and I absolutely loved it. I only hope "The '90s: Top Ten" is not far off. 9/10.
Hosted by Rob Lowe, each episode looks back at a very specific aspect of 80s pop culture: watercooler moments, streetwear, commercials, fast food, gadgets, and toys. One would think that it would be extremely hard to fill up a 45-minute episode talking about just fast food trends or commercials from the 80s without making everything seem padded, though somehow those two episodes end up being the high points. Getting the directors of 80s commercials, including Ridley Scott, to talk about the commercials that they made from both a filmmaking perspective and a marketing perspective is fascinating, and something rarely seen when discussing pop culture. Likewise, the episode that focuses on fast food is captivating in how it balances portraying both the positive and negative aspects of what the popularity of fast food has done to American society since the 80s. There are many times when the series seems like it could fall into being either too critical or too celebratory of the decade; in the end, the show finds just the right balance between the two.
If there's one flaw to "The '80s: Top Ten", it's that there aren't enough different commentators featured throughout the six episodes. While I love Kevin Smith and Tiffani Thiessen, it occasionally seems like the show cuts back to them simply because there wasn't footage of someone more directly involved with the topic at hand to cut to. Ultimately, this is a minor complaint when 95% of the mini-series is entertaining, informative, and all around enjoyable from start to finish.
Even for those that weren't around in the 1980s or those who don't have much interest in the decade, "The '80s: Top Ten" should, at the very least, teach viewers a little something. For me, this was one of the most fun and surprisingly binge-worthy series I've watched in years, and I absolutely loved it. I only hope "The '90s: Top Ten" is not far off. 9/10.