The Best ABC Afterschool Specials (that you can watch on YouTube)

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

There is a sequel to My Mom’s Having a Baby titled “Where do teenagers come from?” I totally should have mentioned it. Same three kid actors a few years later, and it’s about puberty. Here’s the link… kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIerhGSgZrujgbcsi=JcikdPktsC8O_0X3

[@WillowMurdock]

"LuCkiLy n0 HoRmOnEs WeRe iNgEsTeD oR bOdY pArTs cUt 0fF" an extremely NOT Gen X 'tude.

[@SandyDiVa]

This is HUGE mandela effect for me, that i covered a few years ago. And apparently, you are affected as well lol It WAS ABC Afterschool SPECIAL but its always been SPECIALS! Its even specials on the trapper keeper lol Just wanted to share, because ill be adding you to my next “youtubers affected by the mandela effect” series. Itll just be a a few seconds clip and i link your video in the description Have a great day! 🤗

[@juliekline2871]

I vaguely remember My Mom's Having a Baby when I was 5. A couple of our neighbors will probably never forget it. A few weeks after seeing the special one of the neighbor ladies was talking about her and her husbands struggle to have a child. Apparently I took that opportunity to use the information I learned from the special and explain the process in detail. Not only did I explain it, I used a nearby blackboard and included some illustrations

[@MjollTheLioness-o4y]

I know many will always see Yeardly Smith as Lisa Simpson but for me she will always be Putterjack from the Legend of Billie Jean.

[@zara6673]

That & her time on Herman's Head.

[@Aster_Risk]

Same!

[@hceatherbuchanan1471]

Yes!!

[@jaspermeade1419]

True Story

[@theraptorus]

Exactly. She was also in a story arc of Mathnet on Square One TV.

[@blacksheba41]

Man, i loved the 70s.. after school specials and Schoolhouse Rock

[@danielherrin]

On a serious note, I forgot how heavy these after school specials could be.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

They went from super serious to educational to thought provoking to accidentally ridiculous and back again…it truly is impressive.

[@danielherrin]

@mysocalledgenxlife I guess if they did these today they could tackle real issues like miss gendering, violent words and Trumpism.

[@iamnotgoldenhar8645]

Right. I watched a lot of them recently with new lenses as having a masters in social work

[@judyb1539]

Please Don't Hit Me Mom had me SHOOK!😢

[@judyb1539]

​@@mysocalledgenxlifeI ❤ your content.

[@jonathangriffin8060]

I also loved "The ABC Weekend Specials" which had the same premise as "The After-school Specials". 😊 As a 70s Gen-Xer, I couldn't wait for these to come on!!

[@Nacadela]

They came on at 12 from what I remember

[@jonathangriffin8060]

@@Nacadela They certainly did. I also loved to watch "Special Delivery" from classic Nickelodeon. It had the same premise as "The ABC Weekend Specials", but it came on Saturday and Sunday, which was part of the network's "Kids' Only Weekend".

[@ct3po776]

Weekend specials were more often cartoons, after-school was live actors.

[@KevinPayton-fq8gd]

The weekend specials were great too.

[@SuperMarioBrosIII]

@@jonathangriffin8060 Captain O.G. Readmore!📖😺📚📺

[@nhmisnomer]

I'm a little older, born in 1963. The after school special I remember most is Sarah, Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic. It probably came out in the early 70s. It starred Linda Blair as Sarah and Larry Hagman as her father. It's pretty strong as a story but it's unintentionally funny when Sarah admits to her parents in therapy, with great solemnity, "Mom. Dad ...I'm an alcoholic." Both the parents were lushes. It was the original "I learned it from you, okay?"

[@janguerena2228]

It was not an after school special. It was a made-for-tv movie back in the 70s.

[@nhmisnomer]

@@janguerena2228 oh! I can picture a family watching that. As long as it didn't compete with Monday Night Football :-D

[@alaseaanarin432]

Linda Blair. I can only ever see her as the girl that acted in the movie The Exorcist '73. I was born in 1980 so a bit younger, but still a fan :)

[@nhmisnomer]

@@alaseaanarin432 if you haven't seen her in the 1979 movie Roller Boogie, it's a nostalgic treat! Yeah I'd have loved it if her head had spun around at least once, but Ms. Blair had moved on from that :-D

[@Donna4sunshine]

My mom along with my of my friends mothers “went on strike” from that show, and all hell broke loose! It did teach that these moms also worked full time as well as dad and needed help with the household and it was a positive for me & my brother because we learned to do laundry, cook and other household tasks that helped with our future independence! Go moms! 😅

[@DaddyOfTheSugarVariety]

I love these Afterschool specials! What a nostalgic trip!

[@brucehartnell1475]

I’m TOTALLY starting a punk band called “ the day my kid went punk”, and every song in our set is gonna be the titles of each of these after school soecisls

[@WillowMurdock]

OK in all seriousness that's a fekkin outstanding idea!

[@narelle-creative-arts]

That is genius! ❤ I have a request as a warm up do Degrassi High’s band- the zit remedies “everybody wants something they’ll never give up” 😂❤

[@brucehartnell1475]

@@narelle-creative-arts zit remedies? Is that pop music?

[@ChowYunKat]

@@brucehartnell1475 nice 🥁

[@LisaLoe66]

One Too Many. Oof. I’m 58 and that film has stayed with me, especially the surprise ending. I actually had my own kids watch it in the 2,000s. I’ve never been heavy handed with them, so I presented it as a “look what they made mom watch” kinda thing. Now it’s stuck with them, lol. Teaching them lessons on the sly has always been my go-to. Don’t know if you’ve covered this on another episode, but the other film that stuck and scared the crap out of us was The Day After.

[@hilarygarrison6139]

I remember these....which means i had nothing going on my life back then. I think it was important to have these back then, since some parents won't discuss anything with their kids that pertains to real life. Great video!

[@Hinatachan360]

Butterfly McQueen's voice was so cute 😊

[@marymitchell8625]

I was watching when the Jodie Foster episode was on, but actually didn't see it! I was in high school when My Mom's Having A Baby came out and I STILL remember that one! I actually learned from it because it got right to the point, easy to understand. Around 1980, as a stressed out senior, I saw one about a girl who is a "handful." She "dreams" she meets her own mother as a child back in the 40s, who turns out to be a much bigger handful! I enjoyed it because I thought about my mom as a real person and not just a mom. I enjoyed these shows a lot, even a funny one with another "Cosby Kid, " Tempesst Bledsoe, about a child in a family choir who is tone deaf but writes great songs. Good memories.

[@wolfsmith2865]

I recall a number of those films. Please don't hit me mom was too close to home, it was like watching my life story on TV.

[@stephaniebaker1542]

"The wave", is probably something that people should watch now

[@janguerena2228]

Absolutely.

[@peabody1976]

Graduated high school in 1994, and in junior high you best believe I had to care for an egg for a week. What so many of the messages about drinking and driving forget is that it was in the 1980's when you could drink at 18 in a lot of states, and it wasn't until after 1984 that the feds cajoled states into raising the ages to 21. So it was a contemporary issue for teens. And the heaviness of the topics was really lampooned. I never forget the deadpan delivery of Darlene Connor on "Roseanna" about a situation turning into an afterschool special. Even now amongst my peers, that one phrase brings a LOT of imagery.

[@colintimp1372]

The other issue was that police often just looked the other way at drunk driving unless someone had an accident. Open container wasn't even an offense in many places in the 80s.

[@cindeed4422]

I loved the After School Specials! It was must see TV before it was a thing! They were like those “very special episodes” of classic TV at the time i.e. Different Strokes. It gave parents a chance to expose children to issues that were hard to talk about.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Wait until you see my next video!

[@WillowMurdock]

I was gonna mention the "very special episodes"! To this day when something is extremely uncomfortable my husband will lean over to me and whisper "today on a very special episode…". 😳

[@redbeard36]

I had a friend in high school who did one of the few After School Special that pretty much no one ever saw.. He works at a major retailer as a graphic design(chalkboard ) artist now.

[@Kat-tr2ig]

We had to watch A Desperate Exit one year in my Catholic elementary school. I remember being very upset by it. It was the first time I had ever heard the word suicide or even what it was, and the part where Malcolm Jamal Warner gave his possessions away really stuck with me.

[@crimsonmoonrise9785]

@Kat-tr2ig The only worse than a teenage suicide is the finger-pointing aftermath.

[@annabelleroma2336]

I enjoyed the after-school specials. Unfortunately, with my bus route, the show was half over by the time I got home. 😅 My upbringing was pretty typical, and it's sad to realize so many of these specials really hit home with kids; they probably helped a lot, too! I wish the show would be brought back. The episodes helped kids not feel so alone.

[@ryanburgos9164]

So many ABC After School Specials were spoofed on Strangers With Candy, especially the ones about drinking or drugs. That's how I discovered these (born in 1988)

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Omg…I totally forgot about that! Thanks for the reminder. That will be part of a future video!

[@DepezPoopsie]

SWC is freaking hilarious!

[@ryanburgos9164]

@@mysocalledgenxlife sometimes even line for line! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHjSnqJuqb6EZ8ksi=kIKzbeoA2eBCz0a6

[@Tracey..H]

Swc was weird! Kinda icky

[@ct3po776]

Graduated highschool, started college in 1988. 🥴lol

[@gloriousfiasco]

Remember My Mother Was Never A Kid? I always loved that one!

[@janguerena2228]

I loved that one, also!

[@tommoore4128]

Daddy Can’t Read is the one that sticks out for me.

[@WillowMurdock]

I loved that one, and a hand uncle who couldn't read and went to amazing lengths to hide it!

[@allthewrightbooks]

The one that always stands out in my mind is the one starring Helen Hunt as a teen girl who takes PCP or angel dust, and jumps out of the third window of the school and is freaking out when she hits the ground! Omg that one was a bit hard to watch !!

[@Miss_Meee]

YES!!! That's the one I remember most too!!!

[@lisabriggs3151]

YESSS! that one sticks in my head to this day!

[@knotheadusc]

That was actually a made for TV movie called Desperate Lives. It also starred Diana Scarwid (from Mommie Dearest) and Doug McKeon.

[@beckym54]

That one is titled "Angel Dusted" and I believe it is available on DVD (I have a copy). My teacher showed that at school as an anti-drug lesson and it actually kept me from doing hard core drugs when my life took a bad turn. I will always be thankful for that movie and my teacher!

[@peachjackson3856]

Wow, thank you so much for including the list. Hours of entertainment await me! 😁

[@foodiegal9923]

I LOVED after school specials in the 80’s! What an entertaining & captivating way to remind my elementary and junior high school self that the world can be a terrible, harsh place sometimes.

[@80sToysRoc]

Another banger video! Great job! Loved the comment “no hormones were ingested and no body parts were cut off” when talking about “The Day My Kid Went Punk” 😂😂

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Yes! Thank you!

[@80sToysRoc]

@ 😎👊

[@andreaodell8888]

Not an after school special but a similar vibe. Twirl starring Erin Moran and Lisa whelchel.... I remember that one is a kid and that was crazy😂 they would do ANYTHING to be the test baton twirler😂😂😂

[@Gen-X-Memories]

I remember the one with Rob Lowe and Patty Duke. Of course back then I had no idea who they were. I didn't learn who Patty Duke was until Nick at Nite started playing her old show in the early 90s when she was a teenager with an identical cousin.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Loved the Patty Duke show!!

[@Gen-X-Memories]

@@mysocalledgenxlife I used to put Nick at Nite on when I went to bed and it was always The Patty Duke Show and Dobie Gillis.

[@MichaelWH]

@@Gen-X-Memories I like both shows

[@pattyo4703]

This is a wonderful trip down memory lane. The types of bad decisions made by some of the kids in the specials could be a lesson in our modern world that kids' and teens' brains aren't fully developed so it's not a good idea for kids to make decisions that are irreversible.

[@jscheib8252]

Amazing!! This is my new favorite channel. Thanks for all the memories!!

[@j.p.6932]

14:20 I feel like most alcoholics aren’t that stereotypically impaired while inebriated. They’ve learned how to function without being oblivious

[@jasonsgandurra7054]

Back in 1995 i remember trying to do that egg project in High School. Unfortunately, i had a bad experience with that . But I watched the egg baby for one or two days until it got destroyed. So I do remember it. I absolutely like these shows and can't wait to get my complete copy of the dvd set

[@DoctorJoanieTool]

I LOVES THESE. This is my generation. Ah 70s after school specials were on point. Many I’ll never forget about. I’m so excited to watch them. TY for linking to actual shows.

[@kjova251]

For the hitchhiking - it probably came from the serial killer that was targeting college students who were hitchhiking around that time. It used to be the way people got around ALOT. Both my parents, but mostly my dad, said they would constantly do it to get around, travel between cities, or go up to the mountains. This was probably a warning of the dangers.

[@johnyzero2000]

Butterfly McQueen won an Emmy for Seven Wishes for a Rich Kid.

[@btetschner]

I just watched Rookie of the Year (Part 1 & Part 2), that is fantastic! Jodie Foster is one of my favorite actresses and I think I am going to watch Jodie Foster's two other Afterschool Specials before going back to the list for this video.

[@pettykittyfam]

I remember most of these! I can't believe that I watched a lot of these & they left a huge impact on me. Great video❤

[@teerat8451]

I remember during the "Don't Hit Me Mom" episode I was yelling at that kid to hit his mom with the plate. My step monster was nuts.😂😂 Although, "My Mom Is Having A Baby" may be the reason i don't have any kids.

[@movieladyLL]

I love that you linked all the specials in the description! You rock!

[@Crosses3]

One of the most memorable After School Specials I ever saw was one called A Girl Named Sooner.

[@Zzyzzyx]

That was a book! They must've based the movie on it. Man, what a heavy story.

[@Crosses3]

@@Zzyzzyx, It was pretty chilling for a preteen.

[@HermanMunster420]

I'm a Gen X, and I can still remember how much it got to me that old people judged me, never tried to relate to me, or even listen to me. Instead, they just constantly shoved their nostalgia down my throat. While telling me how young and stupid I was, and how much better it was back in their day. They ridiculed the things I liked. They'd look at us as kids and just assumed we were bad people because they didn't understand us and didn't bother trying. It's so sad to see my generation turn into their parents. Because our parents sucked so hard. Enjoy living in the past Grandma.

[@alfonsogreen2722]

I loved the ABC after-school specials even though it didn't come on much in NYC Also CBS had the Schoolbreak Special & NBC had Special Treat

[@josephbostrom5344]

These are so good. I have seen a lot of them on KZbin, a lot of them I remember growing up. Nancy McKeon was in Schoolboy Father. And I remember the first time I saw Don't Touch and remembered how much of a creep Mike was. Great list, and another great video

[@maria.whiddon]

One of these. It made me come out about what was happening to me. Im thankful.

[@misswendyjane4992]

I remember so many of these. They were seriously needed because so many kids were growing up in homes where so many important life topics weren't discussed. Not discussing things with children just more often than not ended up with them becoming victims. I remember in 4th grade one of my classmates freaked out in the bathroom because she thought she was bleeding to death - she had to be taken to the office to talk to her about menstruation. Once in middle school they pulled the girls into a special class to discuss "good touch bad touch" and what molestation was - two girls started sobbing and had to be led out of the room by teacher aides.

[@beatsventura8813]

My parents didn't teach me anything at all. I learned about these things from watching tv. I remember the " just sat no" anti drug campaign, but no one ever explained what drugs were not did they include alcohol. It was like they were afraid to tell us too much about anything. I'm glad today the kids learn about addiction, as kids need to be explained why they should not do drugs or drink. Back then it felt like they didn't want us to have any fun cause they didn't teach us the dangers of addiction, so it made partying far more interesting.

[@jenlea845]

Omg I remember all of these! Waited 'til the end and didn't see, "you can do it Duffy Moon!" Snyone else remember that one? Wasn't there an episode about PCP? 😂

[@cammyr12Productions]

Never saw these growing up as i was too young however i used to watch 7th heaven alot and some of these stories remind me of topics they covered in various episodes from the show

[@bat_on_my_face]

Love your channel! These videos are great!

[@threemarksat210]

Yes they are! Why is your name Bat On My Face?!?

[@bat_on_my_face]

@@threemarksat210A few years ago I was sleeping one night in my bed and a bat landed on my face. It was chirping in my ear and everything! It was crazy! I even had to get rabies shots! So that was my life for a few months. It all revolved around a Bat On My Face.

[@threemarksat210]

@@bat_on_my_face Ok! A bat landed on your face? And chirped in your ear? That's weird! Are there any humans in these comments?

[@LLucky1944]

I remember all these… but The Wave ALWAYS stayed with me

[@BeautifulShaving]

The after school special called "Contract For Life: The S.A.D.D. story" made such a strong impression on me back in the 80's that I started a local S.A.D.D. group in my highschool & got them to make the Contract For Life available to the entire student body at school. Unfortunately for me, my Mom refused to sign it, nor would she allow my Dad to sign it and I nearly died at the hands of a 20-yr old drunk driver when I was 17...a fact I never told my parents about because I honestly thought they wouldn't believe me about it. I just wanted to make sure it didn't have to happen to other local teenage girls (teen boys too).

[@okpoptart]

WHAT

[@WillowMurdock]

Oh my gosh that's awful!!! I'm sorry you had to go through that. My parents signed mine, so the efforts of people like you to make it available to everyone were not in vain! 🥺🥹🫂

[@beatsventura8813]

I don't remember that one, what was it about? Its crazy how they kept us from learning about these potential dangers, instead of focusing on educating us about them so we know what to do in these situations.

[@rhondaorberson9664]

Not an after-school special, but this list reminds me of "Doing Time On Maple Drive" - one of Jim Carrey's first film credits, I believe. A no-frills, made for TV movie, the family portrayed has all the dysfunction of Ordinary People, and the performances from the entire cast are absolutely stellar. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

[@alaseaanarin432]

This channel is the 'stuff'. Thank you for all the great (lost) memories!

[@maximusprime3459]

I remember the one called "The Wave". Yet another one that they played for us in school. One of the teachers wanted to try the experiment with our class but he was stopped by administration and an angry parent who attempted to sit in on class for the rest of the semester.

[@brittanyloggins6514]

The Day My Kid Went Punk always blew my mind. Just let the kid be himself. And that mom is the same mom from Stephen King's Christine. I lol at your description of her

[@mitzloo1933]

My sister is convinced that she became overweight because of one of these after school specials about a girl being molested by a family member. She wanted to protect herself.

[@joonsmelodie9927]

How weird because I had a friend in 11th grade who constantly tried to gain weight and dress ugly in order to protect herself from getting S.A.’d…and she constantly talked about it all the time. I didn’t know what to make of that back then.

[@CommonCentrist82]

I'm really enjoying how based you are. You're sneaking it in there, and I appreciate it.

[@JepMasta]

I was born in 1982 so I came of age right as the afterschool special was fading in national prominence. So it’s good to see the specials from an age that admittedly passed me by just a little bit. Some of these would actually make great movies today.

[@Scottj2011]

I think I'm in the same situation you are. Born in 1978 here and I think they were fading away in my day also

[@Scottj2011]

Don't really remember these that much. More reruns of old TV shows and cartoons in my day

[@iamnotgoldenhar8645]

4:12 awww…Mary wicks from sister act one and two. So talented. She was also great on match game

[@dinosaurwoman]

OMG THE WAVE! We loved that one as kids. We would make fun of the salute they did. I have friends who are teachers now who show The Wave to their students to help them learn about WWII and communism. One friend said her students really enjoyed seeing a movie from that time period and said they wished there were after-school movies like those now.

[@drp1bb856]

A German film studio made a movie version of The Wave. I caught it on Netflix many years ago. If you don’t speak German it’s subtitles city.

[@ComicsANDEverything]

Great video! I don’t Remeber any of these 😂😂 and hitchhiking was a thing a lot of teens did way back then 😂

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Yeah hitchhiking makes no sense. lol.

[@raymondmasullo3386]

​@@mysocalledgenxlifeThe 80s movie The Hitcher is proof of that.

[@jerseyjon73]

I loved "A Desperate Exit"; so well done. I even read the short story it was based on "Face At The Edge Of The World" by Eve Bunting. If you need a good cry, this is an episode to do it with.

[@btetschner]

A+ video! LOVE IT! What an amazing video!

[@alanfike]

"Stoned". I hear there was an off-year in the mid-'70s for collegiate swimming on account of a widespread epidemic of competitors relying on their stoned younger brothers to keep track of their time. This must've been made before we had waterproof stopwatches.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

😂😂😂😂

[@alanfike]

Yo, how much you wanna bet, they got so many notable stars in "One Too Many", about drunk driving, secretly to fulfill their community service for drunk driving? A cast chock full of reckless drunks.

[@ImGoingSupersonic]

Geeze, a lot of child actors passed thru these shows that i didn't realize. Of course, back then, there was very few portals to go thru to get exposure for acting.

[@missjoshemmett]

I have some of these on DVD. I have both eps called, "The Boy Who Drank Too Much." Both are hockey players. Scott Baio actually played hockey in real life, I don't know about Lance Kerwin. They both did an excellent job. Lance also played the lead in "Psst...Hammerman's After You" about bullying. Yes, a lot of great actors came out of these shows probably because of them. I never missed these shows. Thanks for the memories.

[@laurazielinski2437]

I can’t wait to rewatch some of these classics! Also thanks for using the word cannabis. That tv guide thing was hilarious! 😂

[@God-Was-Bored]

I was too pre-occupied with MTV and soap operas to watch these specials.

[@meeting_meghan]

Schoolboy Father is the one I remember seeing parts of when I was a teenager. And the little blonde girl in My Mom's Having a Baby played Aimee in The Waltons. Yep, my parenting class did the egg assignment with a doll, but my doll had a key that needed to be turned and held for when it cried. And then about 3-4 years later when my brother took the same course, the dolls were more advanced with bottles and diapers with censors so the doll tracked when the bottle/diapers were put on/removed.

[@jenflinchum4360]

I remember so many of these! They definitely stay with you.

[@scarebear1265]

I can't help but hear Lisa Simpson when Yeardley Smith's character talks in Moms on Strike Lmaoo

[@braves9652]

New sub here. I am really enjoying these trips to the past. I want to make sure that anybody who is interrested in Alateen, the group is still going strong. A great program, it's for any teen with a person in their life with a drinking problem. A meeting schedule can be found online. There are no fees and attendance is completely anonymous. If you're afraid you will see somebody you know, keep in mind they are seeking help just like you.

[@ttintagel]

Re: I Want to Go Home, I remember when I was student teaching in a primary school in the 90s, there was a new policy that we had to keep classroom doors locked because there had been a few attempted kidnappings by non-custodial parents. It was scary.

[@daniellewillis2767]

Thats Doc from Love Boat in The Year My Kid Went Punk, 😆

[@thegeekchurch3893]

"The Wave" had Bruce Davison? The guy who was the Senator Kelly from the X-Men films? Dang. That's oddly appropriate casting.

[@somethingclever8916]

They did the wave?

[@JohnSipe-jt7bm]

@@somethingclever8916it was about a teacher setting up a Nazi Party in school. 1:53

[@neilrichardson7454]

😂😂😂not really. Actors use their past roles as part of their resume to get future work 😊

[@lisayoder5686]

The one that has always stuck in my head was a Lance Kerwin episode that he probably didn't even remember making, but I always remembered it. It was about a teenager who was still wetting the bad whose mom wanted to humiliate him out of doing it anymore, so she hung his dirty sheets out the window and he would run home every day to grab them out before anyone he knw would see them. That is s all that I remember about it.

[@pauliewogmastercertifiedli535]

That was done by Micheal Landon. It was from his real life story.

[@twatson8709]

My two favorites were My Mother Was Never A Kid and Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack.

[@alanfike]

23:30 Roddy McDowall gives "the talk"?! I'm in!

[@btetschner]

For some reason this didn't show up on my feed...going to watch this later this afternoon!

[@DOCTORJAN714]

Jodie Foster's brother in the first one, Rookie Of The Year, is a kid named Dennis McKiernan, but tell me that he doesn't look exactly like Mike Lookinland from The Brady Bunch (maybe without the freckles). Also, in Mom's On Strike, the husband looks like Ferris Bueller's father, no?

[@SDMF69]

I never really paid attention the after school specials i was outside til dark always

[@andycristiana1043]

Thank you for putting the youtube links to them ❤

[@janleonard3101]

Were After School Specials the precursor to Lifetime movies? 🤔 The 80s and 90s Lifetime movies were the best, and there's something about the specials that reminds me of them.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

That’s a really good point!

[@denisegann6072]

Excellent comparison.

[@moon230686]

I love Gimme a Break. Nell Carter was so talented! Kinda they made a soundtrack of the show with her voice!

[@Iggystar71]

I love thinking of what might appear on these lists before watching!!! I’m thinking of two but they may be 90’s Calista Flockhart - an episode about bulemia where she would use garbage bags scarred me. Sam Rockwell - Killed someone drunk driving and his sentence was to write a $1 check to the family each week and it was excruciating for him to do that one small thing. Ok…off to watch!!!

[@mdsmithcomics]

Wow…great list! I’ll definitely be checking out some of these. I definitely remember some of the early/mid 80s ones!

[@andrewwhite9739]

That drunk driving episode was a really rough one. I remember the ending was shocking. We watched it in my drivers education class. That same semester, 11 students from my school were involved in a horrible accident. They all were friends. Both drivers were drunk. They were racing and one of them rolled his pick up truck with 6 kids riding in the back. Four of them died instantly. Another one died later and two more were severely injured. One guy went to prison. They made it illegal to ride in the bed of trucks in California after that happened. They would park the mangled wreckage in front of the school every year on that day to remind us. Total bummer. Thanks for reminding me of how nuts the 80's were.

[@RoseRose-hp4rq]

I was born in 1980 so I only remember watching a few of these as reruns. These and the “very special episode” of 80s sitcoms really stick in my mind. Also, as a Canadian kid I remember spike on degrassi junior high raising an egg as a kid when she gets pregnant 😅

[@happyswim1836]

Very interesting channel. Brings back memories. Thanks.

[@nashshaffer6235]

I remember some of these. Great nostalgia.

[@greggates1137]

My favorite was Pssst! Hammerman's After You from 1974.

[@MadameMayhem-e3r]

We watched The Wave for my first lesson in social studies at high school in 1995. We didn't do any follow-up or discussion around it, so I think my teacher just put it on because she couldn't be bothered teaching that day 😂

[@mjones4404]

I remember these specials. They were awesome

[@christinaluna2055]

What a time capsule also CBS Children Theater.

[@amyadams656]

Can't wait to watch it tonight!

[@DJWOLFLIVE]

This and the old CBS Children’s Film Festival from the 1960s through the late 1970s were among the best mainstream television programs for kids back then!

[@threemarksat210]

This never showed up in my timeline. I found it though. I never had to care for an egg, but I could absolutely knock that out of the park. The job, not the egg.

[@Marigen1971]

I loved this show and never missed it. I recall another channel having something similar. I have to confess that something I didn't undestand were all those kids carrying their books and notebooks in their arms instead of a schoolbag.

[@jcstevegigs]

I've been talking about "The Wave" since 2016 but no one ever remembered it! So relevant and powerful in todAYS CRAZY WORLD. EVERYONE NEEDS TO WATCH IT!

[@crimzonchyld5282]

I think we watched First the Egg in my child development class in high school. We did the egg babies and the flour sack babies back then. now all the kids get crying baby dolls that record how long they're allowed to cry and how they're handled. Wild.

[@Se7enBeatleofDoom]

Taking care of an egg was so common in cartoons in the 90s. I accepted to take care of an egg in middle school or high school. It never happened. Along with climbing a rope in PE class.