Vampire TV History… TV Trivia – There Would Be No “Buffy” Without “Night Stalker.”

May 14, 2011

Mr. Pop History -
That’s true. Back in the late 1990′s, Jamie Kellner – who headed the fledgling “WB” – wanted another “Night Stalker.” For those who don’t know, ABC-TV aired it as a movie of the week – and it was so popular, it went into quick production as a regular TV series. This was back in 1972. Starring Darren McGavin, it was about a down-on-his-luck newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak, who stumbles upon the story of his career: a vampire named Janos Skorzeny who was terrorizing Las Vegas by sucking the blood out of his victims.

Kellner got his wish – a week later, when, by coincidence, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was pitched to the network.

By Mr Pop History | Posted in 1990's, Pop Culture Trivia | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Late Rapper 2pac Shakur on TV? Pop Culture Rap History.

May 11, 2011

Mr. Pop History – Though he wasn’t known for his TV guest appearances – the late 2pac did a few. I found one, from May of 1996 when 2pac and another TV rarity (at the time) Ice-T – appeared on “Saturday Night Special” – a Fox-TV music-comedy show on Fox.

He wouldn’t be around much longer.

Others on that show – night of May 4, 1996 were, Rosie Perez, the Fugees, the Verve Pipe – along with regulars Laura Kightlinger, Heath Hyce and Kathy Griffin.

That show was produced by comedian Roseanne Barr (remember her?)

By Mr Pop History | Posted in 1990's, Pop Culture Trivia, This Week In History | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Did Seinfeld’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus Really Wear Glasses? Pop Culture TV Trivia.

May 10, 2011

She wore them a lot on the old Seinfeld series…

Mr. Pop History – No – they were there to punch up a scene – a prop. Character Elaine loved looking at people above her glasses – especially at work.

The gang believed that glasses were funny. Even Jerry Seinfeld did a “coke” glasses episode, and many remember when George mistakenly wore ladies glasses.

By Mr Pop History | Posted in 1990's | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

More Top Pop Culture Moments – 1990. Pop Culture History

April 11, 2011

The year was 1990 – here’s some more top pop moments into 1991.

Remember – this site contains the only week-by-week going’s on for the year 1990 and every year since 1955:

Tom Cruise splits from Mimi Rogers
M.C. Hammer hits with “You Can’t Touch This.”
The Three Tennors: Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti are the rage.
Hubble Space Telescope goes into orbit and into history.
Goodbye Soviet Union
Milwaukee police arrest serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer
Liz Taylor marries construction worker Larry Fortensky at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.
William Kennedy Smith, charged with raping a woman at his family’s Palm Bach estate gets acquitted.

By Mr Pop History | Posted in 1990's, Pop Culture History | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Hot Pop Culture – 1990

April 9, 2011

People Mag just came out with their top 1000 top pop culture happenings between 1974 (year magazine was founded) through today. All of these events are in the Mr. Pop week-by week archives – so – let’s begin listing some of them. Some are so ridiculous and inane – you knew the magazine was just filling. Some are pretty good.

OK – here goes – Hot pop culture from 1990…
Movie – Home Alone
Beverly Hills 90210 debuts on the new Fox-TV net.
Jim Henson passes
Rod Stewart marries lovely Rachel Hunter
Career’s hot – Andrew Dice Clay
New hitmaker – Mariah Carey
We loved the movies, “Ghost” and “Pretty Woman
ABC-TV’s singing “Cop Rock” – ohhh boy.
The Gulf War and CNN coverage.
Seinfeld begins

More from 1990 to come. Visit the 1990′s week-by-week here http://www.mrpopculture.com/index.php?pagelist=199 or at www.mrpophistory.com

By Mr Pop History | Posted in 1990's | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Celeb Men Behaving Badly 1997 Style. Charlie Sheen Reminds Us Of Another Time In Hollywood.

February 26, 2011

Mr. Pop History – Charlie Sheen has nothing on the year 1997 when actors Christian Slater, Martin Lawrence , Hugh Grant and Robert Downey Jr. were doing “bad” things. August of that year, it was a continuing list of bad publicity for Slater, Lawrence and Downey, while Hugh Grant was in trouble for getting caught with a prostitute near Hollywood – in a car.

The public seems to tolerate misbehavior – if the celebrity comes with a pre-conceived “roguish” image. Pop history tells us – Slater, Lawrence and Downey came through fine. Grant, though not a rogue, was “forgiven” as well. He (masterfully) made fun of his escapade on TV talk shows, endearing him to his audience.

You can check the week-by-week pages of Mr. Pop to find out more.

By Mr Pop History | Posted in 1990's | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Remember MTV “Unplugged?” Who Was The First To Sell Music Out This Series? Pop Culture History Music.

February 21, 2011

Mr. Pop History – When it debuted back in 1990, MTV “Unplugged” was loved by music critics. Artists singing their songs the acoustic way – and it really made for some interesting song translation. But, Paul McCartney became the first artist to release his MTV appearance when Capitol put out “Unplugged” The Official Bootleg” in the summer of 1991.

By the summer of 1992 – that success spurred “Unplugged” CD success by the likes of Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton and Sting. It was sticking – and there was much more to come!

Gary West – www.mrpopculture.com

By Mr Pop History | Posted in 1990's, Pop Culture History | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

What Were The Top Music (For Purchase) Websites… In 1999? Pop Culture History.

January 25, 2011

Mr. Pop History – Back then, there were no such things as downloads, so music sites were really retail stores that shipped CD’s and tapes. But – it’s a good question and a little fascinating. 1999 was also the year this site began as www.pophistorynow.

Of the top 20 retail websites – two were music. One was CDNow.com (1.2 million unique visitors) and the other was Columbiahouse.com (with 432 thousand unique visitors).

The top retail websites in 1999 (just in case you wanted to know) were:

Amazon.co with about 4.5 million unique visitors
EBay.com with about 4 million unique visitors
EToys.com with 1.8 million unique visitors
Shopping.aol.com with 1.5 unique visitors
Toysrus.com with 1.5 unique visitors
Store.yahoo.com with 1.2 unique visitors

Gary West – www.mrpopculture.com  and  www.mrpophistory.com

By Mr Pop History | Posted in 1990's, Pop Culture Trivia | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Rap/Hip Hop And Loading Up Tracks With Guest Rappers – You Always See “Featuring.” Pop Culture History.

January 21, 2011

Mr. Pop History – As far as I can trace, this trend, which still continues, began with the 1990 album, “Fear of a Black Planet.” A Public Enemy album, it featured Big Daddy and Ice Cube as guests. That was over 20 years ago.

Complete solo albums in hip hop and rap are not all that common. This, because of the practice of loading up guest rappers.

Gary West – www.mrpopculture and www.mrpophistory.com

By Mr Pop History | Posted in 1990's, Pop Culture Trivia | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Entertainment Themed Restaurants – Hard Rock Cafe vs. Planet Hollwyood

January 7, 2011

Mr. Pop History – The first was Hard Rock Cafe back in 1971. It began a trend of “themed” franchise restaurants.

Planet Hollywood came along in 1991. Soon as Planet Hollywood came along – and it seemed, both with bitter rivals. Soon came some lawsuits that had to do with proprietary marketing and such.

Planet Hollywood, unlike Hard Rock – suffered from a bad reputation of not-so-good food. Hard Rock Cafe was known for its trendy patrons and of course, rock ‘n’ roll motif.

By Mr Pop History | Posted in 1970's, 1990's, Pop Culture History | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)