'This Is The Time' peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1987. In the song, Billy Joel sung, "This is the time to remember; Cause it will not last forever; These are the days; To hold on to; Cause we won't; Although we'll want to; This is the time; But time is gonna change; Some day we will both look back; And have to laugh; We lived through a lifetime; And the aftermath."
In 2011, Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg of the American Enterprise Institute informed 'The Los Angeles Times' readers, "Baby boomers who came of age during the social and political upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s tended to call themselves Democrats, and as time passed, that identification strengthened … Starting in the 1980s, attitudes of the baby boomers began changing. Polls found them becoming more family oriented and, over time, more conservative.
"Although characterized as rebellious, the vast majority of boomers were not actually radical during the 1960s and '70s … When the '60s generation was asked in the 1980s to look back to its supposedly tumultuous youth, the recollections were more tame than many had expected." The rise of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s paved the way for the New Right in American politics.
During the Reagan years, 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' both tried to create "competing visions of wealth on TV". In its attempt to reach the segment of the baby boom generation that had "made it", 'Dynasty' showed what the "good life" should be like. Leonard Goldberg believed Aaron Spelling had "a very good instinct for popular TV, as well as a very good promoter." Aaron Spelling insisted, "I don't think the networks are giving the people what they want. They need escapism. That's what 'Love Boat,' 'Fantasy Island' and 'Dynasty' gave - escape from the harshness of day-to-day life."
Speaking to the 'Telegram & Gazette' in 2016, John James remembered, "'Dynasty' is an iconic television show. I used to call it the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' of television because everything was bigger than life. And everything was shot in ultra-rich Panavision. My gosh, we used to go blind because they had so many lights to get so deep, rich colors."
Kevin Phillips of 'The New York Times' made the point in 1990, "The definition of who's rich - and who's no longer rich - changed as radically during the Reagan Era as it did during the great nouveaux-riches eras of the late 19th century and the 1920s, periods whose excesses preceded the great reformist upheavals of the Progressive Era and the New Deal. But while money, greed and luxury became the stuff of popular culture, few people asked why such great wealth had concentrated at the top and whether this was the result of public policy.
"The previous gilded ages occurred when America was on the economic rise in the world. The 1980s, on the other hand, turned into an era of paper entrepreneurialism, reflecting a nation consuming, rearranging and borrowing more than it built. For the next generation of populists who would like to rearrange American wealth, the bad news is that a large amount of it has already been redistributed - to Japan, (then) West Germany and to the other countries that took Reagan-era I.O.U.'s and credit slips."
The sitcom, 'Family Ties' ran between 1982 and 1989. 'The New York Times' reported in 1987, "Over the years since it was created in 1980 by Gary David Goldberg, NBC's 'Family Ties' has evolved from a series about a once ultra-liberal couple coping with the demands of a middle-class marriage to a show about their brash yuppie son celebrating the joys of making money. It helps enormously, of course, that young Alex P. Keaton is played by Michael J. Fox, an ingratiating 25-year-old actor who, between TV seasons, has won deserved attention in films like 'Back To The Future'."
'Esquire' added, "The early 1980s - more so than now (in 2013), perhaps - was a time of apparently unbridgeable political division. Gary David Goldberg's greatest achievement was 'Family Ties', the 1980s sitcom that remains one of the best TV comedies ever made. 'Family Ties' cast a young Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton, a money-obsessed, ultra-conservative kid born to devotedly liberal parents - a miniature Gordon Gekko in a middle-class commune.
"This was the show's punch line. Alex didn't fit in. He wore monogrammed sweaters and swore allegiance to Ronald Reagan (reportedly a big fan of the show). 'Family Ties' first came to American screens in 1982, a year after Reagan became President, a time when the liberalism of the 1960s and '70s had finally imploded. Alex represented the new wave. He was young, brash, unwavering in his self-belief. His ex-hippie parents - well-meaning, peripheral - represented what was being left behind.
"In this sense, the show was a reflection of the American political landscape of the time - in all but one important detail … No matter how much we sympathized with the parents, it was Alex we loved." In one scene, Steven asked Elyse, "Do you think maybe he (Alex) was switched at birth and the Rockefellers have our kid?" In another scene, Alex told Steven, "The '60s are over, Dad." Steven replied, "Thanks for the tip (son)."
By 1987, Associated Press reported the television's pendulum had taken another swing with 'Dynasty' losing 20% of its audience and situation comedies, led by NBC's 'The Cosby Show' regained their old popularity. At the time, Esther Shapiro offered, "I think, too, as the Reagan years slipped away there was less interest in pomp and glitz … People love the characters particularly when they're playing as the audience expects them to be.
"But too many characters made it hard to emphasize the stories you want for your major characters. We brought the focus back to our three main stars and to stories of romance. I think 'The Cosby Show' proves that people want to see stories about people who like each other. We had love in conflict, then got away from it and now we're back to it. Conflict between people who love each other. We'll keep doing the show as long as the audience likes it. And as long as we have stories to tell."
In creating the character of Jeff Colby, John James stated in 2016, "Krystle was the sweetest thing that ever walked the earth. Alexis was the most evil. Blake was firm and pigeon-headed pig-headed. Adam was always out for Adam. Fallon was the rich (expletive). So I said, I'll be the nice guy. You have to have conflict for there to be drama. So I figured out what's my conflict."
'Dynasty II: The Colbys' sought to explore "America's most powerful family taking on the world." Barbara Holsople reported, "For the record, the Colbys have $1.2 billion in 'personal wealth' and another $42 billion in gross assets spread around such stuff as real estate, aerospace labs, petroleum, timber and 'more shipping tonnage than the Six Fleet.'"
John James recounted, "Charlton Heston actually requested that we rehearse our first scene together at Paramount. And I remember I walked in and all the lights were off on the set because we had not started shooting. And I see this hulking guy standing, facing a window with his back to me. And I said, 'My God, there's Ben Hur.'"
"Although characterized as rebellious, the vast majority of boomers were not actually radical during the 1960s and '70s … When the '60s generation was asked in the 1980s to look back to its supposedly tumultuous youth, the recollections were more tame than many had expected." The rise of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s paved the way for the New Right in American politics.
During the Reagan years, 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' both tried to create "competing visions of wealth on TV". In its attempt to reach the segment of the baby boom generation that had "made it", 'Dynasty' showed what the "good life" should be like. Leonard Goldberg believed Aaron Spelling had "a very good instinct for popular TV, as well as a very good promoter." Aaron Spelling insisted, "I don't think the networks are giving the people what they want. They need escapism. That's what 'Love Boat,' 'Fantasy Island' and 'Dynasty' gave - escape from the harshness of day-to-day life."
Speaking to the 'Telegram & Gazette' in 2016, John James remembered, "'Dynasty' is an iconic television show. I used to call it the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' of television because everything was bigger than life. And everything was shot in ultra-rich Panavision. My gosh, we used to go blind because they had so many lights to get so deep, rich colors."
Kevin Phillips of 'The New York Times' made the point in 1990, "The definition of who's rich - and who's no longer rich - changed as radically during the Reagan Era as it did during the great nouveaux-riches eras of the late 19th century and the 1920s, periods whose excesses preceded the great reformist upheavals of the Progressive Era and the New Deal. But while money, greed and luxury became the stuff of popular culture, few people asked why such great wealth had concentrated at the top and whether this was the result of public policy.
"The previous gilded ages occurred when America was on the economic rise in the world. The 1980s, on the other hand, turned into an era of paper entrepreneurialism, reflecting a nation consuming, rearranging and borrowing more than it built. For the next generation of populists who would like to rearrange American wealth, the bad news is that a large amount of it has already been redistributed - to Japan, (then) West Germany and to the other countries that took Reagan-era I.O.U.'s and credit slips."
The sitcom, 'Family Ties' ran between 1982 and 1989. 'The New York Times' reported in 1987, "Over the years since it was created in 1980 by Gary David Goldberg, NBC's 'Family Ties' has evolved from a series about a once ultra-liberal couple coping with the demands of a middle-class marriage to a show about their brash yuppie son celebrating the joys of making money. It helps enormously, of course, that young Alex P. Keaton is played by Michael J. Fox, an ingratiating 25-year-old actor who, between TV seasons, has won deserved attention in films like 'Back To The Future'."
'Esquire' added, "The early 1980s - more so than now (in 2013), perhaps - was a time of apparently unbridgeable political division. Gary David Goldberg's greatest achievement was 'Family Ties', the 1980s sitcom that remains one of the best TV comedies ever made. 'Family Ties' cast a young Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton, a money-obsessed, ultra-conservative kid born to devotedly liberal parents - a miniature Gordon Gekko in a middle-class commune.
"This was the show's punch line. Alex didn't fit in. He wore monogrammed sweaters and swore allegiance to Ronald Reagan (reportedly a big fan of the show). 'Family Ties' first came to American screens in 1982, a year after Reagan became President, a time when the liberalism of the 1960s and '70s had finally imploded. Alex represented the new wave. He was young, brash, unwavering in his self-belief. His ex-hippie parents - well-meaning, peripheral - represented what was being left behind.
"In this sense, the show was a reflection of the American political landscape of the time - in all but one important detail … No matter how much we sympathized with the parents, it was Alex we loved." In one scene, Steven asked Elyse, "Do you think maybe he (Alex) was switched at birth and the Rockefellers have our kid?" In another scene, Alex told Steven, "The '60s are over, Dad." Steven replied, "Thanks for the tip (son)."
By 1987, Associated Press reported the television's pendulum had taken another swing with 'Dynasty' losing 20% of its audience and situation comedies, led by NBC's 'The Cosby Show' regained their old popularity. At the time, Esther Shapiro offered, "I think, too, as the Reagan years slipped away there was less interest in pomp and glitz … People love the characters particularly when they're playing as the audience expects them to be.
"But too many characters made it hard to emphasize the stories you want for your major characters. We brought the focus back to our three main stars and to stories of romance. I think 'The Cosby Show' proves that people want to see stories about people who like each other. We had love in conflict, then got away from it and now we're back to it. Conflict between people who love each other. We'll keep doing the show as long as the audience likes it. And as long as we have stories to tell."
In creating the character of Jeff Colby, John James stated in 2016, "Krystle was the sweetest thing that ever walked the earth. Alexis was the most evil. Blake was firm and pigeon-headed pig-headed. Adam was always out for Adam. Fallon was the rich (expletive). So I said, I'll be the nice guy. You have to have conflict for there to be drama. So I figured out what's my conflict."
'Dynasty II: The Colbys' sought to explore "America's most powerful family taking on the world." Barbara Holsople reported, "For the record, the Colbys have $1.2 billion in 'personal wealth' and another $42 billion in gross assets spread around such stuff as real estate, aerospace labs, petroleum, timber and 'more shipping tonnage than the Six Fleet.'"
John James recounted, "Charlton Heston actually requested that we rehearse our first scene together at Paramount. And I remember I walked in and all the lights were off on the set because we had not started shooting. And I see this hulking guy standing, facing a window with his back to me. And I said, 'My God, there's Ben Hur.'"
