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Archive of retro pop culture articles from When It Was Cool.

Film Review: Shari and Lamb Chop (Make Believe 2024)

Multiple generations of children grew up watching television shows starring ventriloquist/puppeteer Shari Lewis and her beloved puppet Lamb Chop. I can state this from first-hand experience, because as a child I did so — I even saw her live show at the Stockton Civic Auditorium back then — and my son, as a wee youngster, watched her comeback series Lamb Chop’s Play-Along decades later. Lewis lived a life, that’s for certain, and it is explored wonderfully, with all its ups and downs, in director Lisa D’Apolito’s new documentary Shari and Lamb Chop. Read More.

**Film Review: Fatal Termination (Boston Underground Film Festival)**

Some folks proclaim about movies, “They don’t make ‘em like they used to,” but a more apt saying for 1990 Hong Kong action thriller Fatal Termination would be “They’ll never make ‘em like that again — nor should they!”. Director Andrew (Yeung-Wah) Kam’s feature contains so many instances of flagrant disregard about the safety of its cast members — including a very young girl — that it boggles the mind. It’s a movie that truly must be seen to be believed. Read More.

Specially Marked and For a Limited Time - A Short History of Cereal Box Prizes

A special article by John Wright for When It Was Cool takes a look at the history of cereal box prizes. One of the great joys of being a kid in the 1970s through the 1990s was the search for the perfect cereal containing the perfect toy! John takes us through a journey of the evolution and thrill of the cereal box toy! Read More.

**When It Was Cool… A Community Born of What Was NOT Cool and Being Totally Alright with That.**

Have you ever felt like you just don’t belong? Ever felt like an alien in the room? Picture this, it’s 1987 and I am sixteen years old and am now able to drive so I stop by a local convenience store to get gas and maybe a soda. Pepsi or Coke? You decide, or so those 1980’s commercials told me. Anyway, what should present itself between the door and drink cooler? The magical comic book spinner rack… and here is my dreaded secret. I am a comic book fan and a comic book collector. I am presented with a dilemma. Do I dare flip through and pick up the latest issue of the X-Men, G.I. Joe, Batman, or Superman? Why not? But what if someone laughs? That’s kid stuff! God forbid someone I know from school sees me… gasp! looking at comic books! Read More.

Film Review: Enter the Clones of Bruce (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival)

A good documentary about films that you haven’t seen before should make you interested in watching them, and director David Gregory’s Enter the Clones of Bruce accomplished that with me. This was no easy feat, as I have been a hard sell on what I previously considered to be sheer exploitation capitalizing on the death of the screen’s biggest martial arts legend. Read More.

**Film Review: Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game (Calgary Underground Film Festival)**

I was a youngster at that magical time when pinball still ruled my local arcades and grocery stores in northern California, though the earliest arcade video games were slowly showing up. Plopping in a dime for a single game or a quarter for three games was one of the highlights of going grocery shopping with my mom, another two being picking the cereal with the best prize that week and scoring some new comic books. Read More.

The Inspirational Legacy of Rocky Balboa

Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is one of the most inspirational characters in movie history. Through six mainline movies and, now, multiple spin-off Creed movies, the story of the tough underdog Philadelphia boxer has inspired millions of people and significantly influenced pop culture. Join Karl from When It Was Cool as he takes a look back at this movie franchise spanning from 1976 to the current day. Grab your workout gear and get to steppin’ cause we’re getting strong now. Read More.

Pixel Logic Videogame history - How Nintendo's robot took over America

Kids are lined up at Tanglewood Shopping Center located in Yonkers, a suburb a few miles north of New York City. It's the fall of 1985. The kids have the opportunity to meet New York Mets center fielder Mookie Wilson while their families are doing holiday shopping. In the process of getting an autograph and asking their favorite player questions, they also have the opportunity to try a brand new baseball videogame. It's unlike any other baseball game available for the home. Its graphics are truly a match for arcade games of the era. Its controls are intuitive and straightforward. The characters have personalities. Above else, it's fun. It's one of sixteen games available for a brand new home console from a Japanese company most Americans are unfamiliar with. When the NES launched on October 18, 1985, in the single market of New York City, the post-crash home videogame market was doing $100 million in total sales per year. By the end of the decade, it would be a $3.4 billion near-monopoly. Read More.

New Series “Nebula-75” Recalls the Glory Days of Supermarionation Science Fiction

When It Was Cool readers who grew up on space-age puppet television shows such as the classic Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons will be thrilled to hear that a new series has been created that should be right up their alley. The creators of Nebula-75 have crafted a series that presses the nostalgia buttons as it evokes such fondly remembered Supermarionation science fiction outings. Following is information from the official press announcement, including where to watch a free preview episode. Read More.

Seventies Martial Arts Action Abounds in Old School Kung Fu Fest’s December Hybrid Film Festival

If you’ve been hankering for some classic martial arts cinema action, New York City’s The Old School Kung Fu Fest has just what you need, offering both online and in-person options. Focusing this year on 1970s titles from Joseph Kuo and his Hong Hwa International Films production company, the festival promises showdowns and throwdowns galore. Following is the official press release. The Old School Kung Fu Fest is back, and this time Museum of the Moving Image and Subway Cinema will co-present eight newly restored films and one fan favorite classic by Kuo on glorious 35mm — four titles available exclusively online, December 6–13, and another five films for in-person big-screen viewing at MoMI, December 10–12. Read More.

Pixel Logic: Nintendo before the NES by Juan Nunez

It's 1889. Japan is a country that is rapidly changing. After over 200 years of a highly isolationist foreign policy that ended in 1853 and a period of internal unrest that saw the end of the era of Samurai and Shogunate, the country is rapidly modernizing. As a result, many aspects of society have changed, including business and the economy. An industrial revolution took place in Japan starting in the early 1870s, and the economy is growing rapidly. In this landscape, a 29-year-old entrepreneur named Fusajiro Yamauchi opened a playing card shop in Kyoto in 1887. This shop was called "Nintendo Koppai," and it's the earliest incarnation of the company that we know today as just Nintendo. Read more.

Pixel Logic Videogame History: The Crash of 1983

It's July 1983. Investment analysts are getting ready for Atari to announce its quarterly financial report. The videogame industry leader is now a publicly traded company and a subsidiary of Warner Media. The rumors going around aren't good leading up to the announcement. The Christmas 1982 sales were disappointing, and Atari did not meet Warner's sales projections. In May 1983, Warner warned the public that a "substantial loss" was on the way. How bad could it be? Read More.

Pixel Logic Videogame history: Intellivision and The War to Start All Wars

The year is 1979. The young videogame industry has seen its ups and downs. By this point, most people knew what a videogame was. Arcades are increasingly popular, driven by hits such as Space Invaders and Galaxian. Even the handheld and home computer markets have started making small moves towards the mainstream. Home consoles were on a downturn, but they were still profitable. Atari sits on top as the Kleenex of videogames, the brand so synonymous with videogames that it's bordering on becoming a generic term. But this year, Atari's biggest entered the videogame market. Before Playstation Vs. X-Box, before Nintendo Vs. Sega, there was Atari Vs. Intellivision. Read More.

Pixel Logic Video Game History: Space Invaders Take Over the World

In any medium, one single work can rarely change an entire industry. Innovation is usually the story of many gradual changes that build one on top of the other. We're closing out the 1970s with a leap forward that is the exception to that rule. It's a leap forward that brought us the first distinctive characters and invented a new genre of videogames. It brought Japan to the forefront of videogames for the first time. It's one of the most outstanding examples ever of the importance of gameplay and sound design. It brought videogames to new heights of popularity across the world. It may have saved the home videogame market—all of that from one single killer-app game, 1978's Space Invaders. Read More.

Echos Of The Pop: Talk shows, Reality TV, and human nature

"People Are Alike All Over" is the 25th episode of the Twilight Zone. It first aired on March 25, 1960. It's directed by Mitchell Leisen, a long time Hollywood director with movie credits going back to the 1930s. The script is written by Rod Serling himself, and it's based on a short story by "Brothers Beyond The Void" by Paul W. Fairman. The episode is about a pair of Astronauts on a journey of exploration to Mars. One is afraid of the unknown, and one takes comfort because no matter who they find on Mars, people are all the same. Read More.

Pixel Logic Video Game History: How Atari became Videogames

This is the RCA Studio II. It was released in 1977. It had Black and white games when even many Pong Clone consoles were using basic color graphics. It had the worst user interface that somehow was used by multiple consoles over the years, the numbered keypad. It had a relatively large selection of games for the era. Still, the games were badly executed by the standards of the time. Overall, the RCA Studio II is an awful boring video game console. The kind of boring that makes you angry to be that bored. To the surprise of no one, the RCA Studio II was a total commercial failure. It does wrong everything that Atari did right. It's a prime example of why Atari dominated the 1970's video game market. Read More.

Celebration of Fantastic Fest Review: “Action U.S.A.”

It’s all there in the title: Action U.S.A. This Texas-set film made in 1989 delivers on its titular promise from the get-go, as a man and woman speed down the highway to the guy’s house to engage in a little bit of R-rated action, only to have the guy hauled off by some baddies, held upside down by his leg from a helicopter, and then dropped into a lake — and he isn’t even dead yet! Read More.

Pixel Logic Video Game History: Telstar and the Forgotten Crash

An important lesson to take away from 1970s video game history is that no one knew what they were doing. It was an entirely new form of entertainment being introduced to the masses as it was being developed. The technology was evolving fast, and this led to some interesting choices and evolutionary dead ends. Enter: Coleco. Coleco was a company that is most famous for its run in the 1980s toy business, which includes the Colecovision video game console and the Cabbage Patch Kids toy line. The Connecticut Leather Company, Coleco for short, was founded in 1932, and by the 1970s Coleco was a manufacturing company with a distinct lack of focus. Toys, snowmobiles, swimming pools, etc. All fair game for Coleco. Read More.

Pixel Logic: Jerry Lawson and the Channel F

It's the summer of 1975 in Menlo Park, California, a suburb a few miles outside of San Francisco. The Homebrew Computer Club, a hobbyist club of like-minded electronics and computer enthusiasts, is meeting. These people will lay the foundation for Silicon Valley and the home computer market over the next two decades. Among them are such future titans of industry as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. They began working on their Apple computer project while attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club. This is not their story. Instead, this is the story of one of the lesser-known members of the Homebrew Computer Club. He lived most of his life in relative obscurity despite a gigantic intellect and gift for innovation. That man is Jerry Lawson, the creator of the Fairchild Channel F video game console. Read more.

Online Entertainment- When It Was Cool: Book and Record Sets

I remember it well. I guess it had to be around 1979. My mom and I were in one of our local appliance stores, which was owned by a friend of our family. He was actually related to us, but in one of those ways in which your parents would try to explain the relation to you, and your mind would go somewhere else in about ten seconds. Well anyway, he proudly announced that he had something new in the store that he wanted to show us. He pulled out what resembled a vinyl album jacket from behind the counter, but it was slightly larger and emblazoned with the easily recognizable poster for the movie, “Jaws.” He then explained to us that it was a laserdisc. Read More.

Pixel Logic: The Magnavox Odyssey

Ralph Baer is a middle-aged engineer leading a team meeting with RCA, one of the leading consumer electronics companies in the world in 1969. Baer's team is demonstrating the 7th prototype of what they call "The Brown Box." The project is receiving mixed reactions from the RCA executives. It's unlike anything that has ever been sold for home use. Read More.

Echos of the Pop: Planet of the Apes

Before we had multiple Marvel movies per year, before Star Wars was born, back when Star Trek was only a canceled TV series airing in syndication, there was Planet Of Apes. It was the original big pop culture geek franchise that laid the blueprint for a lot of current pop culture. Read More.

Echos of the Pop: Skateboarding

Tony Hawk stood on top of a ramp on June 27, 1999. The competition is over, but the crowd is going crazy. Tony's competitors on that day are banging the boards like war drums in a show of support. It's the summer X Games. This is day 3 of the week-long extreme sports games, which were attended by 275,000 fans that year. It's the first professional sporting event broadcast on the internet live. A national TV audience is watching on ESPN. Read More.

Echos of the Pop: Baseball Cards

It's 1867 in Boston, and you're a gentleman who's handed an illustrated card by a potential business partner. One side has a beautifully detailed illustration of a large building. It's detailed enough that you can see the style of the window frames on the building in this pocket-sized card. The caption reads, "Design for a town hall." This is a "trade card" for an architect firm based out of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Read More.

Echos of the Pop: Playstation

Our story starts in the mid-1980s. Nintendo is dominating the gaming market with the USA with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and in Japan with the Famicom. The Famicom and NES are very similar technologically speaking, but the Famicom received more revisions, accessories, and variations in Japan than the NES did internationally. Read More.

Echos of the Pop: Sailor Moon

In the name of the moon, she will punish you. Mixing classic superhero tropes, fashion, and astronomy into the Japanese magical-girl genre, Naoko Takeuchi's 1991 creation, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, became an unlikely worldwide phenomenon that helped change the way American millennial consume media. From televisions to conventions, Sailor Moon's impact is felt across American pop culture. Join Juan Nunez as he tells us about the pop culture impact of Sailor Moon. Read More.

1982 - When It Was Cool Guide to Pop Culture in 1982

1982 was an exciting and influential year in popular culture. The G.I. Joe toyline debuted, Bladerunner was a hit movie, Hall & Oates and The Police were on the music charts, and Saturday Morning cartoons were near their prime. Join Karl from When It Was Cool with this look back at the year 1982 in pop culture. Throw on a Joan Jett album and put another dime in the jukebox, baby! Read More.

1980 - When It Was Cool Guide to Pop Culture in 1980

1980 was an interesting year in popular culture. Star Wars returned to theaters with the critically acclaimed Empire Strikes Back. The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl. Pink Floyd informed us that we don’t need no education. The neon 1980s kicked off with a bang. So call call Blondie and jump on an Airplane and join us with a look back at retro pop culture in 1980! Read More.

Cop Rock (1990) Retro TV Review

Remember that old Reese’s Peanut Butter cup commercial from back in the 1980s? “You got peanut butter in my chocolate! You got chocolate in my peanut butter!” Only for the two people in the commercial to figure out that chocolate and peanut butter is pretty delicious together? Well, Cop Rock is kind of like that only with mayonnaise and pizza. Not everything is meant to go together. In 1990 writer Stephen Bochco decided that a cop drama and a musical would be great together. It wasn’t. Read More.

The Curse of the James Dean Death Car - A When It Was Cool Dark Feature Article

Episode 147 of the When It Was Cool Dark Podcast featured the story of the car that killed James Dean. That might seem like an odd way of phrasing a sentence. Wouldn’t one normally say, “When It Was Cool Dark featured a story on the wreck that killed James Dean?” and I would normally agree. However, it seems as though the death of James Dean and the story of his custom Porsche Spyder with the number 130 painted on the hood and doors, has taken on a life of its own. Or should I say, has taken a few lives of its own. Read More.

1981 - A When It Was Cool Look at the Year 1981

In our latest When It Was Cool guide to retro pop culture we take a look at the year 1981! The Space Shuttle, Ronald Reagan is sworn in and then shot! Styx and Air Supply are on the music charts and Star Wars and The Dukes of Hazzard are big in the toy aisle. Movies were pretty abysmal save for one you might have heard of - Raiders of the Lost Ark! Join us on this retro ride back in the When It Was Cool time machine to the year 1981! Read More.

Highway to Heaven (1984) Retro TV Review

Highway to Heaven (1984) was an NBC show which ran into its fifth season starring and produced by Michael Landon of Little House on the Prairie and Bonanza fame. The show was a feel-good prime time show following the exploits of Michael Landon’s character Jonathon, an angel sent back to Earth to atone for some unrevealed mistake in Heaven. In episodes one and two of season one he meets his series sidekick Mark (Victor French) who is a former police officer, rough around the edges, who has fallen on hard times. The duo then travel America at the command of “The Boss” doing good deeds and helping people through difficult times. Read More.

Diff’rent Strokes (1978) Retro TV Review

Diff’rent Strokes first aired in the fall television season of 1978 on November 3 and ran for eight seasons ending in the spring of 1986. The show starred Conrad Bain as single rich widow Phillip Drummond, Gary Coleman as Arnold Jackson, Todd Bridges as Arnold’s brother Willis Jackson, Dana Plato as Kimberly Drummond, and Charlotte Rae as housekeeper Edna Garrett. After watching season one, episode one I’m not sure how this show made it one season, much less eight, but eventually they got things right and Diff’rent Strokes became a staple of my childhood into my teenage years. Read More.

Bob Ross The Joy of Painting (1983) Retro TV Review

What a wonderful show this is. I review so much retro television that turns out to be worse than I remember and along comes Bob Ross to chill me out, paint some trees, and bring me back to center. So, grab some alizarin red and your almighty easel and let’s knock some happy little trees out of those paint brush bristles with Bob Ross. Read More.

MASH (1972) TV Review

Out of all the television shows we have reviewed during our existence here at When It Was Cool, I believe that MASH impacted me more than any so far. I was only a year old when MASH began airing on television in the fall of 1972 and, while I was too young to remember most of the early original run episodes, the show lasted well into my childhood and replayed constantly and, as a kid, I hated it. When the drab and melancholy opening music came on I immediately turned off the television and found something else to do. But I was a kid. As an adult I had a completely different and more complex reaction. Read More.

BJ and the Bear (1979) TV Review

The 1970s loved monkeys from some reason. I blame that one on Clint Eastwood and Every Which Way but Loose. The 1960s and 1970s also loved their television theme songs to tell you basically everything you need to know about the story. Add to that, anything to do with truckers and CB radios and, finally, the 1970s really loved an anti-hero running from the law. So, with all that established television trope from the 1970s, let me present to you what happens when the 1970s throw up all over a television show: BJ and the Bear. Read More.

Star Trek (1966) TV Review

I make no apologies that I am a bigger Star Wars fan than a Star Trek fan. However, I am part of a retro pop culture website so, by necessity, I need to visit the Star Trek world as well and what better place to do that than with season 1, episode 1 of the 1966 original Star Trek series titled “The Man Trap”. As it turns out, it was a pretty good show and makes me want to dive deeper into the Star Trek universe. Read More.

Holmes and Yoyo (1976) TV Review

You win some, you lose some, and sometimes you win in losing. That is the case with Holmes and Yoyo, a wacky TV cop comedy from 1976. I was in kindergarten in 1976 and I thought this show was great! That goes to show you just how dumb of a kid I was. I remember running around the school playground with another dumb kid and he would be Yoyo and I would be his partner Holmes. Sounds like just two kids playing cops and robbers right? Well, after watching this abomination of a television show today as an adult… yeah… I was a pretty dumb kid. Read More.

Six Million Dollar Man (1973) TV Review

Steve Austin… a man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. Better than he was before. Better, faster, stronger. The Six Million Dollar Man was an amazing fun television show during the 1970s and a favorite of When It Was Cool. Join us as we look back at this great retro tv series and discuss the bionic man. Read More.

IG-88 - Everything You Want to Know About the Star Wars Bounty Hunter

IG-88 had a brief an unremarkable debut in Star Wars The Empire Strikes back. However, his impressive design and striking appearance has spun into it’s own lore in the Star Wars fandom and in media including comics, video games, animated series, action figures, and more. Join When It Was Cool for a detailed look at IG-88 and learn everything you would want to know about the Star Wars assassin droid! Read More.

1985 - A When It Was Cool Look at the Year 1985

Join When It Was Cool for a look back at the news, events, music, movies, and popular culture that shaped the year 1985. Ronald Reagan, Back to the Future, Wham, Live Aid, USA for Africa, Madonna, and NASA shaped the year that was 1985. When It Was Cool takes a look back at retro pop culture and news in 1985! Read More.

Smokey and The Bandit (1977) Movie Review

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin', We're gonna do what they say can't be done. It's the 1977 smash movie hit Smokey and the Bandit starring Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, Jackie Gleason, and Sally Field, and a 1977 Pontiac Trans-Am. Follow us across Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and into Georgia as we review this iconic 1970s action comedy- Smokey and the Bandit. Read More.

10 Ways the 1980s Lied to Me and Lied to You Too

So, my generation has some problems. It is pretty evident by just looking around the world that we, the children of the 1980s, have totally screwed things up. But hey, we got some bad advice. In this When It Was Cool article, editor Karl Stern takes a look at ten ways that the 1980s lied to us. I mean the 1980s looked us right in the eyes, broke out the cardboard and did a break dance, got up and lied directly to us. Pump up those 24 inch pythons and join us for a look back at some of the best pop culture lies of the 1980s. Read More.

1987 - A When It Was Cool Look at the Year 1987

Join When It Was Cool for a look back at the news, events, music, movies, and popular culture that shaped the year 1987. U2, Guns N' Roses, WWF, The Simpsons, Ronald Reagan, Michael Jackson, The Bangles, and more shaped the year that was 1987. When It Was Cool takes a look back at retro pop culture and news in 1987! Read More.

Kung Fu TV Series Pilot Movie Review (1972)

This is my favorite TV series of all time. If you think the show is just the butt of the joke "Snatch the pebble from my hand, grasshopper" then you need some schoolin'! And I'm going to give it to you because you are missing out on one of the greatest television shows and characters ever. On this When It Was Cool audio review special host Karl Stern takes a look at the television pilot movie which sets the mythos for the show which ran three seasons. Kung Fu TV Series Pilot Movie Review (1972)

The Fast Food Explosion of the 1950s - When It Was Cool

There is nothing much more Americana that the diners and iconic fast food restaurants which had their origins in 1940s America then spread across the country during the post World War II 1950s era. One after another the classic burger joint sprang up in towns across the United States. Before it became a billion dollar industry of cheap food there was something truly special and nostalgic about the early fast food restaurant. Read More.

Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape (FilmQuest) Film Review

Join Joseph Perry for a review of Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape (FilmQuest) an award winning film about something near and dear to every When It Was Cool fan's heart- the mixtape. Hours of youth spent by the radio waiting for your favorite song, hitting record at just the right moment, then putting them all together- your own personal greatest hits compilation. The 1970s and 1980s were never better than rolling down the highway with windows down blasting your favorite songs. Now, finally, there is a documentary for that. Read More.

1983 - A When It Was Cool Look at the Year 1983

Join When It Was Cool for a look back at the news, events, music, movies, and popular culture that shaped the year 1983. Scarface, James Bond, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, the Cold War, Ronald Reagan, Cabbage Patch Kids, Star Wars, G.I. Joe, and terrorism shaped the year that was 1983. When It Was Cool takes a look back at retro pop culture and news in 1983! Read More.

The Highway 127 World's Longest Yard Sale

Tonya & Karl from When It Was Cool visit the 30th annual World's Longest Yard Sale and visit yard sales in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. Here is a look at some of the interesting things we saw and many tips for future marathon yard sellers, pickers, and collectors. Read More.

The Story of Looney's Tavern and the Free State of Winston (not Jones)

When It Was Cool takes a look at a little known story from United States history. When the south seceded from the Union during the American Civil War an Alabama county seceded (sort of) from the state. The story of the southern separatists has seldom been told. From Mississippi (as in the Free State of Jones) to Alabama (as in the Free State of Winston) not everyone in the south was on-board with the Confederate plan. Today When It Was Cool takes a look back in history at the time some people in the deep south said, "nope!" Read More.

The Wild and Wonderful Aliens of Star Wars

When It Was Cool takes a look at the imaginative and amazing aliens in the Star Wars universe. From the first time experiencing the Cantina scene in Star Wars: A New Hope until today, the Star Wars aliens remain one of the most immersive aspects of Star Wars fandom. Read More.