Like, OH MY GOD! It’s totally awesome you came back to find out what my favorite O’s are from the 1980s. Like the most rad tv show, movie and music from the 80s.

One Day at a Time
This Norman Lear women driven sitcom started in 1975, but ran through 1984 so yes One Day at a Time qualifies for my favorites of the 1980s. Bonnie Franklin starred as feminist divorcee (which was unheard of in television at the time) Ann Romano raising her two teenage daughters played by soon-to-be America’s sweetheart Valerie Bertinelli and soon-to-be infamous addict Mackenzie Phillips.

 

The Outsiders
One of my top five favorite movies of all time, not just in the 1980s, is The Outsiders. I was obsessed with this movie in middle school and with Ralph Macchio – and I still love both of them today. (In fact, just met Ralph Macchio Saturday after a screening of The Karate Kid in Reading, Pennsylvania. He couldn’t have been nicer and said that The Outsiders was his favorite movie. To read all about my night with Ralph, please click here.) As I young teen, I would run around quoting “Let’s do it for Johnny!” and “Stay Gold.” In fact, one of my quotes under my high school graduation picture was “Stay Gold.” I think maybe I’ve lived my life according to “Stay Gold” staying young at heart – although some may say it’s just refusing to grow up. I could (and still can) recite Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” which Ponyboy recited in the movie and from which the movie’s theme song “Stay Gold” performed by Stevie Wonder was taken. In fact when Ralph Macchio was on Dancing with the Stars a few years ago, he danced to “Stay Gold.” Today I have a tee shirt that says “Stay Gold” and one that says “Let’s do it for Johnny.” The Outsiders is still one of my favorites, and I watch it a least a few times a year. Besides the dvd, I have it downloaded on my phone and kindle. Years after its original release in 1983, Francis Ford Coppola put back in 22 minutes including a new beginning, a new ending and many scenes that gave a deeper meaning to the film explaining a lot – closer to the book. Not sure why they didn’t release The Outsiders like this in the first place because it is still under two hour. For those of you who don’t know, The Outsiders launched many of our top actors’ careers including Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, C Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise and Diane Lane. It was truly the best of the best of young 1980s Hollywood.

 

Olivia Newton-John
Where do I start? Olivia Newton-John was my first idol – my first scrapbook. I was 5. As soon as I saw Olivia in Grease, I was hooked. I collected every magazine article about her and immediately got all her records. For five years, Olivia Newton-John was probably the only music I listened to. In 1981, Olivia released the controversial album Physical, which was actually banned in some countries for its strong sexual content (strong for 1981 coming from the goody goody girl next door Olivia – it would be nothing today). To alleviate some of the heat, Olivia made a funny exercise video using a play on words for “let’s get physical” thus starting the exercise craze of the 1980s. Olivia starred in two movies in the 1980s (Grease was released in 1978) – Xanadu in 1980 and Two of a Kind (with her Grease costar John Travolta) in 1983. I didn’t see Olivia in concert until I was an adult – like a 30 year old adult. I sat in the front row and cried through her first five songs because I was just so overwhelmed. I saw her again about 10 years later, but did not cry that time. Olivia is still beautiful (I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world) and sings just as beautifully. Olivia had many hits in the 1980s including “Physical,” “Make a Move on Me,” “Landslide,” “Xanadu,” “Magic,” “Twist of Fate,” Livin in Desperate Times,” “Shaking You,” “Heart Attack” and “Soul Kiss.” However, my favorite Olivia Newton-John song was not from the 1980s, “A Little More Love” was released in 1978 off my favorite Olivia album Totally Hot, but here she is performing it in my favorite Olivia Newton-John concert video from 1983 that I watched all throughout the 1980s.

 

Thank you for joining me on my trip back to the totally tubular 1980s as I complete my Blogging from A to Z Challenge. What was your favorite tv show, movie and band or song from the 80s starting with the letter O? Please come back tomorrow to read about my faves from the 80s that start with the letter P. And be sure to check out the 1970s from A to Z here.