USA USA USA
Not exactly a new concept, these 80s retrospectives are all over the place from every angle and every production company to varying degrees of success.
Rob Lowe, being the icon of the 80s that he is, who in no small part thanks to Botox looks still remarkably like he did 50 years ago (either botox or he is a vampire), takes a trip down what I'm sure for him are clouded memory lane ways.
The challenge to me, and to any other non American is that this show pretty much just talks about American culture, for example the episode about adverting just talks about American ads, great if you're American and remember them, otherwise kinda boring and has one reaching for the mobile device to check the newsfeed.
A bit of 80s flashback isn't bad, but when television today is consumed by a global audience, you loose a lot of the audience by simply staying in one geographic location in terms of what you present in my opinion. This could have had so much more, besides bad hair, shoulder pads, synth pop and the origins of rap, the 80s had huge global things happening, the world was changing very quickly, but this show choose to focus on Super Bowl ad slots and American pop stars like Madonna.
If you're American I've no doubt you'll appreciate this as either a flash back or a fun look at your own pop history, but if you're not, then this is a pretty lacklustre show compared to others of the same sort.
I suspect Rob Lowe and Madonna should be retired gracefully and for the same reason, neither really has anything to add at this point that hasn't already been done before, by better.
Rob Lowe, being the icon of the 80s that he is, who in no small part thanks to Botox looks still remarkably like he did 50 years ago (either botox or he is a vampire), takes a trip down what I'm sure for him are clouded memory lane ways.
The challenge to me, and to any other non American is that this show pretty much just talks about American culture, for example the episode about adverting just talks about American ads, great if you're American and remember them, otherwise kinda boring and has one reaching for the mobile device to check the newsfeed.
A bit of 80s flashback isn't bad, but when television today is consumed by a global audience, you loose a lot of the audience by simply staying in one geographic location in terms of what you present in my opinion. This could have had so much more, besides bad hair, shoulder pads, synth pop and the origins of rap, the 80s had huge global things happening, the world was changing very quickly, but this show choose to focus on Super Bowl ad slots and American pop stars like Madonna.
If you're American I've no doubt you'll appreciate this as either a flash back or a fun look at your own pop history, but if you're not, then this is a pretty lacklustre show compared to others of the same sort.
I suspect Rob Lowe and Madonna should be retired gracefully and for the same reason, neither really has anything to add at this point that hasn't already been done before, by better.
- michaelrthomson
- Jan 7, 2022