affiliate_link


You can't think of 1980s Saturday morning TV and not recall the highly-acclaimed "One to Grow On" segments... Unless you didn't get NBC for some reason, you poor, deprived soul. How did you survive without the Peacock's brightest stars showing you the ropes?

NBC had this knack in the 80s of making its network feel like one big, happy family; always there to entertain -- or when the need arose -- educate you. That special feeling really shines through in this series. These spots would show up in between shows several times each Saturday, each time featuring a bona-fide NBC primetime celebrity bringing you a valuable life lesson of some sort. The network stars ran the gamut of their vast stable, from A-listers like Michael J. Fox and Mr. T, down to the mustached guy from "Riptide" or somebody from "Hill Street Blues" that no kid knew. The stars' message also crossed a broad spectrum, from mundane things like being afraid of scary movies, to more serious matters like house fires and negligent babysitters.

I think the messages meant more when they were delivered by someone we could relate to. I don't know about you, fellow 80s kids, but Punky Brewster could hold my attention a lot better than Ed Begley Jr. These clips have it all for the modern-day nostalgist: 80s celebrites telling us how to live our lives, a great cereal commercial thrown in for good measure, and even a few celebrities in the making -- you never know when you might catch a glimpse of a future Urkel in these mini morality plays. This award-winning series ran from 1983 to the end of the decade. When it went away, a little bit of Saturday morning goodness died with it. Now, thanks to this wacky Internet we can revisit these happier times. Let's All Be There...

Share
Original content copyright © 2010 Saturday Morning Brain Food. All video content copyright of their respective holders, no rights are given or implied.