The Eighties 

A documentary series focusing on the Reagan presidency, the AIDS crisis, the end of the Cold War, Wall Street corruption, the tech boom, the expansion of television, and the evolving music industry.

Stars:

H.W. Brands, Chris Connelly, Gil Troy

1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
H.W. Brands	...	Himself - Author, 'Reagan: A Life' / ... 5 episodes, 2016
Chris Connelly	...	Himself - Reporter, ESPN / ... 4 episodes, 2016
Gil Troy	...	Himself - Author, 'Morning in America' / ... 4 episodes, 2016
James Baker III	...	Himself - Fmr White House Chief of Staff 3 episodes, 2016
Douglas Brinkley	...	Author and Historian / ... 3 episodes, 2016
Pat Buchanan	...	Himself - Fmr White House Communications Director / ... 3 episodes, 2016
Tom Hanks	...	Himself - Actor 3 episodes, 2016
Steven Hayward	...	Himself - Author, 'The Age of Reagan' / ... 3 episodes, 2016
Lesley Stahl	...	Herself - Fmr White House Correspondent, CBS News / ... 4 episodes, 2016
Ken Auletta	...	Himself - Author, 'Greed and Glory on Wall Street' / ... 2 episodes, 2016
David Bianculli	...	Himself - Television Critic, 'Fresh Air' / ... 2 episodes, 2016
Downtown Julie Brown	...	Herself - Fmr MTV VJ 2 episodes, 2016
Phil Donahue	...	Himself - The Phil Donahue Show 2 episodes, 2016
Mark J. Goodman	...	Himself - MTV VJ 2 episodes, 2016
Renee Graham	...	Herself - Columnist, 'The Boston Globe' 2 episodes, 2016
Jeff Greenfield	...	Himself - Journalist / ... 3 episodes, 2016
John Heilemann	...	Himself - Bloomberg Politics / ... 2 episodes, 2016
Mike Jensen	...	Himself - NBC News 4 episodes, 2016
Tim Naftali	...	Himself - Author and Historian / ... 2 episodes, 2016
Colin Powell	...	Himself - Fmr National Security Advisor 2 episodes, 2016
Martha Quinn	...	Herself - Fmr MTV VJ / ... 2 episodes, 2016
Evan Thomas	...	Himself - Author and Historian / ... 2 episodes, 2016
Judy Woodruff	...	Herself - Fmr White House Correspondent, NBC News 3 episodes, 2016
Robin Wright	...	Herself - Contributing Writer, The New Yorker 2 episodes, 2016
Julian Zelizer	...	Himself - Professor of History, Princeton University 2 episodes, 2016
Ken Adelman	...	Himself - Fmr Dir, U.S. Arms Control & Disarmament Agency 1 episode, 2016
Charles Bierbauer	...	Himself - CNN 2 episodes, 2016
William Black	...	Himself - Fmr Counsel, Federal Home Loan Bank Board 1 episode, 2016
Steven Bochco	...	Himself - Co-Creator, 'Hill Street Blues' 1 episode, 2016
Bob Brown	...	20 / ... 1 episode, 2016
Bryan Burrough	...	Himself - Author, 'Barbarians at the Gate' 1 episode, 2016
James Burrows	...	Executive producer and co-creator, 'Cheers' 1 episode, 2016
Nolan Bushnell	...	Himself 1 episode, 2016
Frank Buzzard	...	Himself 1 episode, 2016
Lou Cannon	...	Himself - Author, 'President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime' 1 episode, 2016
Ed Catmull	...	Himself - Pixar and Disney Animation Studios 1 episode, 2016
Stewart Cheifet	...	Himself 1 episode, 2016
Chuck D	...	Himself - MC, Public Enemy 1 episode, 2016
Dick Clark	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2016
Martin Cooper	...	Himself 1 episode, 2016
Barbara Corday	...	Herself - Co-creator, 'Cagney & Lacey' 1 episode, 2016
Richard O. Covey	...	Himself 1 episode, 2016
James Curran	...	Himself - Centers for Disease Control (as Dr. James Curran) 1 episode, 2016
Michael Dobbs	...	Himself - Author, 'Down with Big Brother' 1 episode, 2016
Patrick Duffy	...	Actor, 'Dallas' 1 episode, 2016
Diane English	...	Herself - Creator, 'Murphy Brown' 1 episode, 2016
David Ensor	...	Himself - ABC News 1 episode, 2016
Don Farmer	...	Himself - CNN 1 episode, 2016
Mike Farrell	...	Himself - Actor, 'M*A*S*H' 1 episode, 2016
Anthony Fauci	...	Himself - 1 episode, 2016
Roy Firestone	...	Himself, ESPN 1 episode, 2016
David France	...	Himself - Director, How to Survive a Plague 1 episode, 2016
Donald Francis	...	Himself - Centers for Disease Control 1 episode, 2016
Barney Frank	...	Himself - Fmr Congressman, (D) Ma 1 episode, 2016
Robert Gallo	...	Himself - National Cancer Institute 1 episode, 2016
Nelson George	...	Himself - Author and Filmmaker 1 episode, 2016
David Gergen	...	Himself - Former White House Communications Director 1 episode, 2016
Charles Gibson	...	Himself - ABC News 4 episodes, 2016

Storyline

A documentary series focusing on the Reagan presidency, the AIDS crisis, the end of the Cold War, Wall Street corruption, the tech boom, the expansion of television, and the evolving music industry.

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Plot Keywords:

1980s | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 March 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

80-talets USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

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Connections

Followed by The 2000s (2018)

User Reviews

Most Episodes Are Very Interesting/Entertaining

After watching pieces of both the "60s" and "70s" documentaries, and enjoying them both, it made sense to give "The Eighties" a try as well. Though I'm not sure I liked the formula of this documentary quite as much, it still ends up being very informative and entertaining.

Unlike previous iterations, "The Eighties" doesn't just run the decade in chronological order. Instead, each episode focuses on a specific topic, such as...

-Television/Media -Reagan -AIDS -Berlin Wall -Technology -Music -Wall Street

With the exception of the Music & AIDS episodes, which I thought were a bit underwhelming and perhaps not deserving of a whole hour, all the other episodes are quite well done. Like I mentioned previously, it is a bit jarring to have the "story of the 80s" told in little snippets rather than "in order", but I can appreciate what the filmmakers were going for in this case.

One pet peeve about the experience? Perhaps this would have been far too difficult to accomplish, but I wish that the actual 80s footage could have been rendered a bit better (closer to, if not, HD quality). It was very noticeable for the doc to keep switching from the grainy footage to the crystal-clear commentary.

On the whole, though, I enjoyed "The Eighties" and could recommend it to fans of U.S. history in video format. It takes the specific approach instead of the mashup, but in some ways that allows for better focus too.