Monday, February 8, 2010

Week Of Feb. 12: Greatest TV Winter Olympic Moments and Inspiration For Garry Marshall

The Winter Olympics in Vancouver begin tonight, and it's a good time to review those heart-stopping great televised moments in Winter Olympics history:

-Grenoble, France, 1968: The first Winter Olympics to be televised in color had two made-for-television heroes. The first was French skier Jean-Claude Killy, who won three golds. The second was figure skater Peggy Fleming, who won the United States' only gold and many hearts.

-Innsbruck, 1976: Another American figure skater captured the imagination: This time it was Dorothy Hamill, with her camel spin and her wedge haircut that sent a lot of young women and girls (including me) to the beauty salon.


-Lake Placid, 1980: No contest for the greatest Winter Olympics moment ever, called on ABC by the great Al Michaels: "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" as hockey Team USA defeated the Soviets.

-Sarajevo, 1984: Queen Elizabeth may have been the only Brit to receive more respect than ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, who received perfect scores for their exquisite routine to Ravel's "Bolero." Perfection, indeed.

-Calgary, 1988: The last Winter Olympics that took place in Canada was a feast for figure skating fans, highlighted by the "Battle of the Brians," in which the USA's Brian Boitano took gold and Canada's Brian Orser took silver in a marvelous duel of athleticism and artistry. British ski jumper Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards won hearts, if not medals. So did the Jamaican bobsled team, mon.

-Lillehammer, 1994: Hello Daehlie......Bjorn Daehlie, the cross-country skier and hometown hero in these Norwegian Olympics, showed what a true sportsman was in this Tonya-and-Nancy saturated event. So did American speed skater Dan Jansen, who finally won gold after three heartbreaking Olympics.

-Nagano, 1998: The Czechs made me a hockey fan with their amazing win over powerhouse Russia for the gold.




-Salt Lake City, 2002: The somber moment during the opening ceremony when the American flag that flew at the devestated World Trade Center in New York was carried into the stadium was a fitting tribute to 9/11. A much happier moment occurred almost two weeks later, when a joyous Sarah Hughes learned she had won gold in women's figure skating.

What will make the list at these Olympics? Stay tuned.......


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The release of the Garry Marshall-directed movie "Valentine's Day" generates recollections of "Love, American Style." The ABC show, which ran from 1969-74, seems to have had a similar, vignette-style form of storytelling - as well as a cool theme song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNHuI0Pw0m8

Marshall wrote two of the vignettes for "Love, American Style." One of them, of course, was "Love and the Happy Days," which featured Ron (still known as Ronny) Howard and Anson Williams. Of course, it went on to become the long-running series "Happy Days."

Only Season 1 has been released on DVD so far (in that annoying multi-volume method).

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Viewing!

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