Top Five . . . Shows I Can't Believe I Watched

Watching "I Love the 80s" for the millionth time will do something to a person.  Mainly, it makes you wonder what you were thinking when you watched long forgotten shows.  Here are the Top Five shows I can't believe I watched.


5.  "Jem"

This was one of my favorite cartoons as a little girl and it is an absolute time capsule for the 80s.  The show was about an orphaned heiress (Jerrica Benton) who transformed into a rock band frontwoman (Jem) and fought crime on the side.  Her nemesis was Pizzazz, the leader of a rival punk band that constantly tried to beat The Holograms in the Battle of the Bands.  Ignoring the ridiculous premise (it is a cartoon, after all), the biggest problem with the show was that Jerrica's boyfriend, Rio, was also in love with/sort of dating Jem without knowing she was Jerrica's alter-ego.  Essentially, he was cheating on her (with herself) and she STILL dated him. 

4.  "Double Trouble"

Even though this short-lived show aired when I was one years old, I managed to catch reruns when I was a bit older and I remember loving it.  Identical twins Jean and Liz Sagal (sisters of Katey Sagal) starred as the Foster twins.  Allison, the more serious twin, would have to help wild-child Kate clean up her many messes.  Sound familiar?  It should, it's basically the premise of the Francine Pascal penned Sweet Valley Twin series, which is probably why I liked it so much.  (I was also a big fan of The Parent Trap and old "Patty Duke Show" episodes, so go figure.)

3.  "Small Wonder"

It's everyone's favorite show about daughter-bot V.I.C.I.!  The Lawson family passes the pint-sized robot off as their10 year old daughter, Vicki, but their nosy neighbors remain unconvinced.  The goal was to help Vicki become more life-like by living with a real family - which they attempted to do by dressing her like an overgrown doll and using her robotic functions to make household chores easier.  Um . . . yeah.  The 80s were weird.

2. "Kids Incorporated"

Before "Glee" there was "Kids Incorporated".  This Disney produced show was about a group of kids in a band who were also best friends (despite their differing ages and backgrounds).  Musical numbers were an integral part of the show and the episodes themselves were like bad school plays.  Several celebrities got their start on "Kids Incorporated", including Mario Lopez, Stacy Ferguson (Fergie to all you Black Eyed Peas fans), and Jennifer Love Hewitt (known then as Love Hewitt).  I remember waiting for the Disney Channel free preview weekends especially for this show.  (There are many themes for this long-running show, but I picked the one from the cast I remembered best.)

1.  "Adventures in Wonderland"

This show was particularly bad, but I still watched it because it was (loosely) based on Alice in Wonderland.  Alice, experiencing problems in the real world, would go through her mirror to escape into Wonderland.  Once there, she would end up helping her friends deal with their problems, which would give her an idea of how to handle her own.  Like most Disney Channel shows, the acting was questionable and the plots were cliche, despite efforts to make the story more modern (a roller blading White Rabbit and the Tweedle twins outfitted in backwards caps and Hammer pants, just to name two.)

Anyone willing to admit their own childhood guilty pleasure television picks?