All language subtitles for The.80s.Top.Ten.S01E01.Watercooler.Moments.1080p.DSNP.WEB-DL.DD+5.1.H.264-NTb_track4_[eng]

ROB: Every decade has
its vivid highlights and

lowlights, the 80's,
more so than most.

ROB (off-screen): It was a
decade we viewed through the

world of our TV screens and
sometimes we couldn't

believe our own eyes.

OPRAH: The very first
national Oprah Winfrey show!

TIFFANI: I went
bonkers, this is unreal.

KEVIN: Oh my God!

Like this is craziest,
sexiest thing I ever saw.

ROB (off-screen): Big events,
were shared events.

STACY: The world stopped that day.

LONI: It was all over the news.

TV PRESENTER: Who shot JR?

FREDDIE: Ay-oh!

DMC: I'm talking
about world changing.

ROB: In this show, we're
focusing on the good times,

the wild moments that were
discussed around watercoolers.

ROB (off-screen):
And in the 80s,

there was a lot to talk about.

GIRL: Well, that was
something to remember,

that's for sure.

ROB (off-screen): In a decade
packed with indelible memories,

ten define the
word unforgettable,

but only one can top them all.

ROB: At number ten, a wild ride into
some late-night shenanigans.

LETTERMAN: I enjoy seeing a
grown man do that, do it again.

Go ahead.

NARRATOR: In the early 80s,
a new generation of stand-up comics...

EDDIE: Scum bucket.

NARRATOR: ...were
breaking all the rules.

At the head of the pack,
David Letterman.

But Letterman had
taken over a bigger stage,

an idiosyncratic
late-night talk show.

PAUL: What made him different?

In a nutshell,
anything could happen,

you know, and that was
the kind of show it was.

LORRAINE: Letterman really
broke the mold in terms of

a late-night host.

NARRATOR: At the same time,
another comedian was inventing

an entire new reality.

His name was Andy Kaufman.

ANDY: Everybody sing.

(fake foreign dialogue)

(laughter)

PAUL: Andy Kaufman would
just screw with the audience's

sense of reality.

ANDY: I thought this was going
to be a real contest and

I think you are making joke.

JEN: It was really hard to
distinguish what was a joke

and what wasn't.

NARRATOR: In July, 1982,
Letterman and Kaufman's worlds collide

in an explosive encounter
that changes TV history.

LETTERMAN: Just need some
identification, get the hose.

(applause)

No, no.

AUDIENCE: Oh!

NARRATOR: That night,
Letterman's other guest was

Jerry Lawler, a future WWE
Hall of Fame wrestler and a

man who Kaufman had a
very public grudge with.

Kaufman had been
causing huge controversy,

wrestling women as part of
his avant-garde comedy act.

Three months earlier,
Lawler had publicly challenged

Kaufman to fight a man.

JEN: Jerry Lawler was
a big actual wrestler,

like a legitimate scary
opponent for him and

it didn't go very well.

COMMENTATOR:
Kaufman is out cold.

NARRATOR: Stretchered off,
apparently unconscious with a

neck injury, Kaufman agrees
to face off with Lawler again,

this time on Letterman's show.

LETTERMAN: Tonight for the first
time on Network Television,

they meet face to face.

(cheers)

PAUL: Things escalated and they started
insulting each other.

ANDY: I could have sued you
for everything you're worth,

but I didn't, because I'm
not that kind of a guy.

LETTERMAN: Yeah,
you know what, uh.

JERRY: What kind
of a guy are you?

(laughter)

(applause)

LETTERMAN: I'll just be over here.

We're going to pause here for
station identification and get

the hoses out here.

JON: And when Jerry Lawler
hit him, it was like,

"Whoa, what just happened?
This is crazy."

PAUL: I was, of course, on stage,

on set, on camera,
in it and saying,

"Oh my God, what, you
know, is this show business?

What's happening here?"

BRIAN: Is security gonna break
this because Kaufman loses it.

ANDY: You are full of
(bleep) my friend,

I will sue you for
everything you have.

You hear me?

A (bleep) (bleep)
(bleep) (bleep)

DEE: Everybody
was like stunned.

BRIAN: You had to
ask somebody else,

"Did you watch
Letterman last night?"

"Yeah, I did,"
"Did you see Andy,

what was going on there?"

JON: Everyone was like,
"Was that real or not real,"

and I go, "It was real, it was real."

LETTERMAN: Well, that
about wraps this segment up,

I want to thank my
guests, Mister Lawler,

Jerry, thank you very
much for being here.

NARRATOR: Kaufman,
Lawler and Letterman,

all maintained the brawl
was entirely unscripted.

No-one knew for
certain at the time.

But what we do know
is that tragically,

less than two years later,
Andy Kaufman's life was

struck short by lung cancer.

Then in 1994, ten years
after Kaufman's death,

Jerry Lawler finally admitted
that the feud was staged.

JON: That's how great of
an actor Jerry Lawler is.

I said to him,
"You fooled everyone."

NARRATOR: But there's one
final twist, in a 2019 podcast,

the now retired "King of the
late-night talk show,"

finally admits he was
also in on the setup.

LETTERMAN: He would say,
"Here's what's gonna happen

and then Jerry Lawler will
come out and we're gonna get

into an argument and then he's
gonna hit me and then I'll go

down and that'll
be the segment.

And I said, "Okay," and,
and then it happens and

even though I knew roughly
what was gonna happen,

it was still, "Oh my God,
he wasn't kidding."

BRIAN: Look, it got everybody
talking and 30 years later,

we're still talking about it.

ROB: Imagine the reaction of
music executives when a couple

of headstrong artists decided
to mash up their respective

musical genres,
risking commercial disaster.

Meet our moment number nine.

♪ New York, it's
Tricky to rock a rhyme, ♪

♪ To rock a rhyme
that's right on time, ♪

♪ It's Tricky ♪

♪ It's Tricky,
Tricky, Tricky, Tricky ♪

NARRATOR: In 1985,
Run DMC are on a mission,

to break down barriers and bring hip-hop
to a mainstream audience.

DMC: See people thought
hip-hop's for black people and

rock is for white people.

SECURITY: Hey, this is
a Rock and Roll Museum,

you guys don't belong in here.

(laughs)

NARRATOR: Rick Rubin,
Run DMC's record producer,

comes up with a wild
way to shake things up.

JASON: It's his idea to have
Run DMC cover Aerosmith's

"Walk This Way".

It was an
incredible game changer.

KEVIN: You've got to remember,

like, this was a
rock and roll band.

This was a hip-hop band.

NARRATOR: Despite
obvious musical differences,

the two bands bond and cut a
staggering crossover version.

But in the mid 80s, it's
not enough to just be heard,

you also have to be seen.

They need airtime on MTV,
but there's a big problem.

JASON: MTV, in its earliest years,
focused only

on their target demographic
which they envisioned as

young white males who
were into rock music.

BOWIE: It occurred to me,

having watched MTV
over the last few months,

I'm just floored by the
fact that there's so few

Black artists featured
on it, why is that?

MARK: I wish that MTV would
have taken the lead sooner,

but it was that interview
that made us realize

we have to move forward.

NARRATOR: MTV broadens its
playlist of Black artists,

but hip-hop remains
strictly off limits.

To break down the
remaining walls,

Run DMC needs a
knockout video.

JON: I had to make this great,

that they had no
choice of airing it.

DMC: He said, "I'm gonna
show the world their problem.

They put up walls that
don't need to be there."

JON: Music has no boundary,

a good song is a good song.

NARRATOR: In the
Summer of 1986,

the bands reunite on
a New Jersey film set.

JON: We built a wall in the
center of the stage.

MAN: Keep that noise down, man.

MAN: Yo!
What's up with this.

JON: And set up
the whole scenario.

Aerosmith was annoyed at
Run DMC because their noise

was coming through their side.

You know, it's funny, him
trying to break through the

wall, I thought it was great.

You know, I think he thought
he was gonna get through it in one shot.

♪ She told me how to
walk this way ♪

♪ She told me to ♪

♪ Walk this way ♪

NARRATOR: The idea is simple,
the message crystal clear,

and at last, MTV gets it.

On July 3rd, 1986, MTV premiere
the video bringing hip-hop to

the mainstream and changing
popular music forever.

MARK: Oh God, I think
we played it every hour.

(laughs)

It was non-stop airing.

DMC: You know, MTV was a
foundation of exposing hip-hop

to the world because it put
us in everybody's living room.

It was revolutionary
and ground-breaking and

innovative, I'm talking
about world changing.

ROB: Now, you might be asking yourself,

how did we arrive at our top ten?

Good question.

We recruited eight brilliant
cultural historians who rank

the highlights
from ten to one,

by carefully
considering two factors.

80's wow, their important
at the time and

impact, their legacy today.

Our number eight celebrates
a moment when America gave

a mass salute to some men
and women who had served

the nation very well.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In 1983, MASH's
theme tune rings out

for the last time.

This marks the end of an era
and not just in terms of TV.

BRIAN: We all wanted to watch
the last episode of MASH,

we all loved MASH.

PATRICK: During the 80s, you
would be hard pressed to find

a better crafted show than MASH.

ALAN: I just feel very
lucky that I have a chance to

go in every day and do
work that I can be proud of.

NARRATOR: 13 years earlier,
MASH began life as

a controversial movie, a
film that grappled with

the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

LORRAINE: America was pretty
burned out on Vietnam and

almost didn't even
want to talk about it,

didn't want to look at it.

NARRATOR: Fusing comedy and
drama around medics

in the earlier less
divisive Korean War,

MASH held up a mirror to the nation's
mixed feelings about armed conflict.

LORRAINE: MASH was a way to
look at a clean war and look

at good guys doing
good things in a war,

saving people.

NARRATOR: But by the early 80s,

MASH's anti-establishment vibe
is out of step with America's

rediscovered military swagger.

LORRAINE: It was the end of
something that it started in

another decade that was
very different from the 80s.

It embodied a lot of different
values than the 80s and there

was something
about letting that go.

NARRATOR: MASH's time was up,
but the producers wanted to

ensure it went
out with a bang.

(explosion)

TRAPPER JOHN: Fore!

ALAN: Oh no!

REPORTER: Next Monday night,
MASH 4077 will fold up their

tents and head for home.

NARRATOR: The announcement of
MASH's final episode creates a

massive outpouring of
affection for the show.

MAN: The main reason I like
to watch it is because of the

portrayal of the characters.

MAN 2: 8:30, I'm gonna
be there watching it.

ADAM: I remember the very last
episode and I remember

what a big deal it was.

NARRATOR: On
February, 28th, 1983,

a two hour special brings the
show and the war it portrayed

to a heartfelt close.

The cast's poignant on-screen
farewells seemed to speak for

the nation, a nation that
also needed to say goodbye.

HAWKEYE: Look, I know how tough
it is for you to say goodbye,

so I'll say it, I'll miss you.

BRIAN: I always ask
people this question,

"Tell me what the
last line of MASH is."

HUNNICUTT: I left you a note.

BRIAN: And the last line
of dialogue is actually.

HAWKEYE: What?

BRIAN: And then you get
the goodbye in the rocks,

that you can see
from Hawk, because BJ,

who would never say goodbye,

has spelt it out in
the rocks at the end.

I think that's one of the
reasons that we loved MASH is

because MASH
always surprised us.

NARRATOR: Nearly 106 million
Americans watched the finale,

a record for a TV drama
that still stands today.

PATRICK: They honored
themselves and the audience

and it deserved to
win all records.

NARRATOR: So far, we've had
a meltdown at number ten,

broken down walls
at number nine

and broken records
at number eight.

But our number seven helped
change the way we watch TV.

ROB: Cynics have said that
bad news sells best because

good news is no news.

But our number seven revolves
around bad news that became

good news and kept the world
watching a newfangled kind of TV network.

BROKAW: And in West Texas tonight,
the saga

of little Jessica McClure
has been going on since

mid-morning yesterday.

The 18 month old girl fell
through an eight inch opening

into a well in Midland Texas.

LONI: Oh, we were
so, we were so scared.

NARRATOR: Jessica is
trapped in a dry well,

22 feet deep and
encircled by thick rock.

JACKIE: The mom was so
upset and it was just like,

"Is she gonna be okay?"

NARRATOR: Baby Jessica's
distraught teenage parents,

Chip and Cissy, can do nothing
but watch on helplessly.

BROKAW: NBC's Dan Molina is
standing by now in Midland,

with an update on
that dramatic situation.

NARRATOR: The rescue effort
has been mounting every hour,

eventually reaching 400 strong.

JACKIE: I was seven
at the time, you can

kind of almost put yourself
in her shoes and be like,

"Oh my God,
could I fall down a well?

Could that happen to me?"

NARRATOR: As rescuers
commandeer a large rig to dig

a precarious 28 foot
hole parallel to the well,

TV networks scramble to
cover the ongoing rescue.

Among them, a struggling new
24/7 news channel called CNN,

whose fate will become
inextricably linked to

Jessica's story.

TONY: Jessica can be
heard to call to her mother,

she has been singing
and occasionally crying.

She said she's hungry, she
hasn't had anything to eat or

drink for more than a day.

But medical personnel
on the scene say,

they don't want anything
passed down to her

for fear she'll choke.

NARRATOR: After 48 hours,
Jessica is still trapped,

all the world can do is watch,
wait and fear for the worst.

ANCHOR: The nail-biting
tension continues as rescuers

get ever so close.

NARRATOR: CNN'S 24/7 coverage
helps transform baby Jessica's

plight from personal tragedy
into national obsession.

JAMES: Ted Turner, the
guy who started CNN,

realized that people wanted
to watch the news when

they wanted to see it,
not when it comes on

at 7:00 on the network.

REPORTER: We are told that
they are now lowering an

engineer into that hole.

NARRATOR: All the networks
cover the ongoing rescue,

but CNN now owns the story.

ANCHOR: For the latest,
let's switch again live to

our exhausted CNN
personnel on the scene,

here again,
correspondent, Tony Clark.

Tony.

TONY: You can see the same
thing we're seeing here,

the rescuers are all
standing around the,

the shaft, they're
looking down there, there's a paramedic.

NARRATOR: Millions watch
as the rescue unfolds.

LONI: I mean, literally, I was
up for two days cos I just got

so involved, like,
they gotta get Jessica,

baby Jessica get baby
out of there, please.

NARRATOR: After 58
hours trapped in a well.

TONY: We're obviously
still waiting, it's...

NARRATOR: Time is running
out to save baby Jessica.

TONY: It looks like they're
bringing her up right now,

we're seeing a
lot of activity,

the ropes are being pulled up,
Jessica's mother is running

over to the area where she is.

This is the moment that
we've been waiting for.

(cheers)

You can see the enthusiasm,
you can hear the applause,

as Jessica is, is brought out.

It has taken a long time.

JACKIE: Everyone cried when
they pulled baby Jessica out,

it was such a relief.

(applause)

TIFFANI: The story of baby
Jessica became extremely

personal for so many people.

NARRATOR: Even the President
and Nancy Reagan are

caught up in the moment.

They call Jessica's parents
from the hospital where the

First Lady has been
admitted for a biopsy.

REAGAN (over phone): It's Ronald Reagan
and Nancy's on the other phone.

NANCY (over phone): Hello?

CISSY (over phone): Hello Mrs.
Reagan, how are you feeling?

NANCY (over phone): Well, I wan
you to know that I was supposed

to get ready for the operation
the next morning and

I couldn't do it until I sat
there and watched her come up.

CISSY (over phone):
We appreciate it.

REAGAN (over phone): I think
you must be aware by now,

that everybody in
America became godfathers and

godmothers of Jessica,
we'd all been praying.

NARRATOR: CNN's coverage marks
a turning point in news media.

It is the moment when
people began to expect,

even demand, what we
take for granted today,

instant updates at
the touch of a button.

CHIP: I don't know how
to say thank you enough.

ROB: 1972 was the last time
we walked on the moon ever.

The American space
program went into hibernation,

but like so many things, it
came roaring back in the 80s.

Our number six.

LAUNCH (over radio): Four,
three, two, one and lift off.

NARRATOR: On
January 28th, 1986,

the space shuttle Challenger,
exploded upon lift off.

The whole world watched
and the whole world grieved.

But a very different emotion
attended the shuttle's

maiden voyage five
years earlier.

LAUNCH (over radio):
We have no down link.

NARRATOR: April 12th, 1981.

The space shuttle Colombia's
launch has already been

delayed two days due to
technical problems and

no-one wants to think of the disastrous
consequences of failure.

FRANK: Well Sam,
it's had its problems.

A few years behind schedule
and more than a few dollars over budget.

NARRATOR: The shuttle is
intended to be a game-changer,

the world's first
reusable space vehicle.

MIKE: This thing was
unbelievable what it could do,

you know, launch like a rocket
and land like an airplane,

nothing before
could ever do that.

LAUNCH (over radio): This is
shuttle launch control at T-20

minutes and holding.

NARRATOR: But that's only if
it can get off the ground.

REPORTER: Mile after
mile of campers and crowds,

well over a million people.

NARRATOR: A nation's hopes
and prayers fix on astronauts,

John Young and Robert Crippen.

REPORTER: Everybody
here anxiously hoping,

waiting, watching.

LAUNCH (over radio): 35 seconds

REPORTER: All they're thinking
about is the word, lift off.

LAUNCH (over radio): 25 seconds

Launch sequencer.

Five, four, we've gone
for main engine start,

we have main engine start.

The launch of America's
first Space Shuttle and

the shuttle has
cleared the tower.

PATRICK: The sense of being
an American at that particular

time was prideful.

MAN: United States of America!

MIKE: So it was kind of,
hey, we're back in business.

CHILD: Well, that was something
to remember, that's for sure.

MAN: America's back in space finally
and I hope we're there to stay.

NARRATOR: For the
watching millions,

it's an inspiring moment,

heralding a new age
of space travel.

Especially for an
aspiring astronaut.

MIKE: If you would have told me,

"Hey, you're gonna fly on
that spaceship some day,"

I'd have been, "No way," but
that's the spaceship I flew on.

MIKE (over radio): I'm moving one of
his shoulder straps out of the way there.

MIKE: I got to fly on
space shuttle Colombia on my first flight.

LAUNCH (over radio):
Okay, we copy that.

NARRATOR: The
shuttle blazed a trail,

encouraging a new generation
of space explorers to boldly

go where no-one
has gone before.

MIKE: It was really an
amazing accomplishment.

NARRATOR: Next, the
burning question that was on

everyone's lips in
the summer of 1980.

JON: It was all everybody
was talking about and can you believe it?

(gunshot)

ROB: So far, we've
seen tragedy averted,

surreal talk show theatre,

and the last call for
a beloved TV show.

Our number five had the
highest rated 80s factor,

the shot literally
heard around the world.

JON: Who shot JR?
CRISTELA: Who shot JR?

MEATLOAF: Who shot JR?
LONI: Who shot JR?

JR: Who's there?

♪ ♪

(gunshots)

WOMAN: His wife probably did it.

MAN: I have a hunch his brother did.

MALE 2: I would,
he's a son of a...

(laughs)

NARRATOR: Dallas is America's
leading primetime soap opera

and actor, Larry Hagman,
makes arch villain, JR Ewing,

the man that
everybody loves to hate.

JR: Alright, this is
what I want you to do.

Close down that field.

That's right.

PATRICK: The reason he became
a main character in the show

was because Larry Hagman
played him.

JON: You didn't think,
"Oh, that's Larry Hagman,"

you'd got "That's JR. "

BRIAN: JR was, was sort of our first
reality show villain in a way.

NARRATOR: But in 1980, a
suddenly extended run means

the show's writers have to
create a new season finale,

in a hurry.

PATRICK: They were
sitting in the writers room,

they were going,
"What are we gonna do?

What are we gonna do?"

and somebody just said,
"Well, let's shoot somebody."

And then
unanimously, everybody went,

"It's got to be JR."

NARRATOR: At the last minute,
unsure of exactly who will shoot JR,

the writers
decide to buy time,

by building in a cliff-hanger.

PATRICK: They didn't know who did it
at the end of that season.

They didn't care.

They said, "We have all summer
now to try and figure out

who did it and why."

NARRATOR: But no-one realizes
that this writers room

creative block will
unleash a global obsession.

TV REPORTER: They have now
been labelled the shots heard

round the world,
who shot JR, says Time,

is the most tantalizing secret
since Watergate's Deep Throat.

BRIAN: You heard it
discussed on kids shows,

it was on the radio, the
DJs would banter about it,

it was everywhere.

NARRATOR: The producers
realize they've created the

ultimate hook for the next
season and to keep everyone,

including the cast, guessing,
they even film multiple

versions of the big reveal.

PATRICK: We were the last
people in the world to know,

the cast of Dallas.

Larry didn't
know who shot him.

INTERVIEWER: Whodunnit?

LARRY: I don't
know who did it.

INTERVIEWER: You must know.

LARRY: I don't,
I swear I don't,

they're, they're
not gonna tell me.

NARRATOR: In November, 1980,
after eight months of feverish

speculation, the
nation is on tenterhooks,

anticipating the big reveal.

LORRAINE: All of America was like tuned in
to finding out who killed JR.

PATRICK: That hour
of Dallas, everybody said,

"Shut up, we're watching, no eating,
don't crinkle the paper."

ANCHOR: If you
still don't know,

you may not wanna watch
in the next 20 seconds,

especially you on
the west coast,

if you want to wait and
see it in just a bit.

Here it is...

(gunshot)

SUE ELLEN: It
was you, Kristen.

NARRATOR: The shooter
turns out to be Kristen,

JR's mistress, who is
also his sister-in-law,

of course she was.

The world finally exhales
after holding its breath for

most of 1980 and

"Who Shot JR?" sets a
precedent for season finales.

BRIAN: I can't remember
another time that there was

a gigantic cliffhanger, that the
entire world was tuned into,

to see how it
was gonna resolve.

LARRY: Yeah, he's just about
the best liar I've ever met,

with the exception
of myself of course.

ROB: The Yang to
JR's Yin in the 80s,

was a very real person,
who was also self-made,

rich and powerful,

only, she used her
unique talents for good.

REPORTER: This is
Eye Witness News.

SAM: I'm Sam Donald.

NARRATOR: At the
start of the 1980s,

whatever channel
you tune into.

HOST: Well, the number
one television show.

NARRATOR: TV news and
talk shows, looked very similar

BROKAW: That's the news
for this Tuesday night,

I'm Tom Brokaw, goodnight
from all of us at NBC News.

NARRATOR: But an ambitious
young reporter from

rural Mississippi, is
out to change that.

ANNOUNCER: Oprah Winfrey
and the Eyewitness News Team.

NARRATOR: Oprah Winfrey had
landed her first job as a TV

anchor at just 19 years old.

OPRAH: President Carter
announced just this morning.

NARRATOR: Becoming the
youngest woman to anchor the

news at the Nashville TV station
and the only African American.

Her personable style wins
admirers and the audience but

not TV bosses, she is demoted
to daytime for being what her

male bosses call,
um, too emotional?

OPRAH: I have a gift, I
understand that it's a gift to

be myself in front of the camera,

I am as comfortable in front of
the camera,

as I am breathing.

NARRATOR: In 1984, Oprah takes
over a low-rated half hour

morning talk show, AM Chicago,
and the emotion she showed too

much of on news, becomes
a talk show secret weapon.

OPRAH: I'm trying not to
let my feelings show here.

(laughter)

JASON: In the year or two
that she was on AM Chicago,

she took the ratings from I
think what was like zero,

it was like last place
to, you know, the top.

♪ Everybody loves Oprah ♪

OPRAH: You mean me?

NARRATOR: Less
than a year later,

they name the show for her.

♪ Chicago ♪

♪ Start your day
out with a smile ♪

NARRATOR: And once Oprah starts
beating daytime talk show king,

Phil Donahue, in
Chicago's TV ratings,

the stage is set for
Oprah's national syndication.

OPRAH: Whoo! Woo.

Hello, everybody. Thanks.

Thank you, I'm Oprah Winfrey
and welcome to the very first

national Oprah Winfrey Show!

(applause)

NARRATOR: Oprah and her
creative team know this first

episode will be make or break.

They are desperate to
make a big celebrity splash.

OPRAH: Oprah, who are the
guests for the first show?

Is it Mother Theresa?

Is it the Pope?

Is it Greta Garbo?

NARRATOR: But with no takers,
Oprah's solution is an

intuitive masterclass in
connecting with a mass audience

a class act that sets Oprah
apart from the competition,

that will soon have
no hope of competing.

OPRAH: We decided to do
what we do best and that is

a show about and with
everyday people.

LORRAINE: Sure, the
celebrities are great later on,

but you have to make that
connection with the audience.

AMBER: Regular people being
on stage talking about world

issues and it feels
very before her time.

NARRATOR: Oprah takes
a record 48% of the afternoon audience.

OPRAH: But two things
have bugged me for years,

the first, my thighs,
the second...

LORRAINE: Like, what woman in
America didn't wanna hear that

at that point, it was like,

"Oh my gosh,
thank you for saying that."

NARRATOR: And she's determined
to have their thoughts,

feelings and aspirations
aired on national TV.

WOMAN 1: Oprah is a real
woman, a real person.

WOMAN 2: Oprah is a friend.

WOMAN 3: And I'd
like to say that Oprah, you are beautiful.

NARRATOR: Oprah's capacity to
be as one with her audience,

opens the way for a whole
new dialogue on daytime TV.

AMBER: Honestly, I feel like
Oprah changed the narrative of

what Black women
are and who they are.

People started seeing us in
a more professional light.

She showed vulnerability, but
she also showed strength at

the same time and I just
think that that's really dope.

WOMAN: It's Oprah Winfrey.

OPRAH: Hi, everybody.

(applause)

NARRATOR: Oprah's national
TV debut marks the start of

something big, really big.

The Oprah Winfrey Show will
run for 25 unbroken years and

become the foundation for her
enduring empire of empathy.

LORRAINE: It was really
revolutionary for daytime TV.

OPRAH: Thank you, America!

(applause)

ROB: Oprah's a pretty
tough act to follow,

but our top three is
gonna do just that.

FREDDIE: Ay-oh!
AUDIENCE: Ay-oh!

ROB: So, I know we've missed
some iconic moments of the 80s

and here's why, they revolved
around tragedy, not triumph.

The Challenger explosion,
the attempted assassination

of Ronald Reagan, the actual
assassination of John Lennon.

But today, we're here to
remember the good times and

that is front and center as
we approach our top three.

Like our next moment, when
a withdrawn, publicity shy

introvert transformed
into a world superstar.

All right, the only part of
that sentence that's actually

true is the superstar part.

NARRATOR: Men have been
strutting their funky stuff

ever since rock
and roll began.

But women were different,
and usually portrayed only as

passive objects of desire.

When in 1981, punk singer
Wendy O'Williams of the

Plasmatics, dared to be
sexually suggestive on stage,

she was arrested.

But three years
later at the 1984 VMA's,

one woman would confront these
double standards head on.

MARK: We wanted the VMA's to
be the anti- Grammys and so,

the more outrageous stuff
that happened, the better.

NARRATOR: Dressed in a wedding
gown with a 17 foot cake

behind her, Madonna
seizes her moment.

MARK: She went down, as she
started to roll around and her

dress started to come up.

MADONNA: I wasn't even
sure of what I was doing,

you know, I just
kind of went for it.

♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa ♪

NARRATOR: And she kept the
writhing and rolling going,

on her
blockbuster Virgin tour.

KATIE: She was this unfettered
expression of female sexuality.

♪ When you hold me and you
hug me and you love me ♪

KEVIN: Oh my God,
like this is the craziest,

sexiest thing I ever saw.

TIFFANI: And I was like, "Wow."

♪ Can't you hear my heart beat,
for the very first time ♪

MADONNA: The fact that people
are interested in what

I'm doing only pushes me
more to, you know,

keep coming up with new
and interesting ways to express myself.

NARRATOR: Parents may hate
Madonna's particular form of

self expression, but for
the nation's teenagers,

an icon and yes,
role model is born.

TEENAGER: I like her
attitude and the way she

presents herself, she doesn't
like let anybody step on her.

CRISTELA: I wasn't
allowed to like Madonna,

but I loved Madonna.

MARK: It was a harbinger
of what this artist was going to do.

NARRATOR: Mainstream America
can't hold back the tide.

Madonna's sensational
performance inspires female

artists everywhere to own
their sexuality and create

their own empowerment and the world
would never be the same again.

TIFFANI: A woman
can go up there,

look like a rock star, but
then be extremely feminine and

I just thought
she was amazing.

ROB: All the world's a stage,
but sometimes the stage

becomes the entire world

and our number two moment
is truly momentous,

both for the cause and the
band who stole the show.

NARRATOR: July 13th, 1985, the
curtain rises on one of the

biggest pop concerts in
the history of music.

A devastating famine in
Ethiopia has inspired

Irish rocker, Bob Geldof to
stage a world-wide concert

to raise awareness
and raise money.

ANNOUNCER: It's
12 noon in London,

7:00 AM in Philadelphia
and around the word

it's time for Live Aid.

NARRATOR: This mega concert
was designed to reach

a mega-audience.

JASON: It was
broadcast all over the world,

I think about two billion
or more people watched and tuned in,

it felt like something
incredibly special was happening.

NARRATOR: And despite
performances by the likes of

Sting, Run DMC
and Black Sabbath,

the cash just isn't coming in.

BOB: Get your money out now,
and phone up and give us the money.

NARRATOR: Live Aid needs
a big-hitter performance.

Next up: 70s band, Queen.

But with allegations that
the band is burnt out and that

Freddie's personal
life is falling apart,

the big question is,
can Queen deliver?

BRIAN: Freddie Mercury had
that audience right where he

wanted them from the moment
he got out there on stage.

MARK: There was such a joy,
there was so much energy in

that performance.

♪ I sit alone and
watch your light ♪

LORRAINE: They blew most
everybody out of the water.

♪ You had your time,
you had the power, ♪

♪ You've yet to have
your finest hour ♪

♪ Radio ♪

♪ Everybody ♪

♪ All we hear is radio
ga ga, radio goo goo, ♪

♪ Radio ga ga ♪ ♪

PETE: I had helped put Queen on stage
and I was standing in the wings

and when he did "Radio Ga Ga",

it seemed that the tension
in the air had changed,

it seemed like gravity
had dropped or something.

♪ Someone still loves you ♪

JEN: You look at that sea of
people and they're all pumping

their hands in unison, it's,
I mean even just watching it

on TV and not being
there, you feel,

you know,
goosebumps watching it.

LORRAINE: When you
watch that performance,

it's like, wow.

MARK: It's considered one of
the greatest live performances

in rock and roll.

NARRATOR: Live Aid has finally arrived
and a rock legend is born.

Freddie's voice is dubbed the
note that's heard around the

world and the cash
donations flood in.

FREDDIE: Aaaay-o.

AUDIENCE: Aaaay-o.

FREDDIE: Ay-o.

BRIAN: It was a mythic performance
that you knew was mythic when

you were seeing it and that
doesn't happen very often.

FREDDIE: Aaaaaaay-o.

AUDIENCE: Aaaaaaay-o.

BRIAN: Just chill
inducing to watch.

NARRATOR: Queen's performance i
the turning point for Live Aid,

which went on to raise
over $125 million and

sets a trend for big charitable
concerts in aid of the needy.

A trend that
continues to this day.

ROB: It's been an amazing
journey and we are nearly at the summit.

So far we've met three queens,
Oprah, Madonna and the band,

which I think is a hint for
our number one coming up.

ROB: We've witnessed
some cultural weddings in our top ten,

hip-hop and heavy metal.

Oprah, tying the knot with
the entire civilized world,

Madonna and her
17 foot tall cake,

but the wedding of the 80s,
combined all of the themes of

our watercooler moments.

Here's our number one.

NARRATOR:
November, 17th, 1980.

19 year old Diana Spencer
is returning from work,

when she is
besieged by reporters.

Everyone wants to know if
Prince Charles has popped

the all important question.

REPORTER: Is there any
possibility that any

announcement of your
marriage in the near future,

can you tell me?

(shouting)

Can you tell if
there's any possibility?

DIANA: I'm not
going to say anything.

Oh sorry.

REPORTER: But Prince Charles
did give us a hint himself,

he said we wouldn't
have to wait too long.

DIANA: Oh, careful.

NARRATOR: On
February 24th, 1981,

the engagement is
finally made official,

the whole world is watching
and now contracts wedding fever

ANCHOR: Well, the guest list
for the royal wedding reads

like a who's-who of
beautiful and powerful people.

REPORTER: The
British prove once again,

that when it comes to
pomp and circumstance,

they have no peers.

BRIAN: We as Americans, as a nation,

we all kind of wanted to be
looking in the windows and

watch what was going on and
to be a part of that somehow.

NARRATOR: But just one
thing becomes the center of

everyone's obsession...

LONI: Who did the dress, what
would the dress look like,

it was better than who shot JR,

it was just a great secret.

NARRATOR: Diana chooses
British designers

David and Elizabeth Emanuel
to create the dress.

ELIZABETH: Lady
Diana turned up,

it was a big
surprise and she said,

"Will you and David, do me
the honor of making my wedding

dress, but we have
to keep it secret,

nobody must know."

I think even the Palace
underestimated the interest.

We became aware of
photographers and they were

leasing apartments opposite us
with their long range cameras.

NARRATOR: As speculation about
the dress reaches fever pitch,

the Emanuels are forced to
make elaborate back-up plans.

ELIZABETH: Every night,
before we went home,

the dress went into this huge
metal case and it was guarded.

What we did do, just as a
bit of an insurance policy,

was to create another
dress in case it got out.

We hoped she'd
never have to wear it,

but it was a different style.

Then we realized people were also
going through our rubbish bins,

so we started laying
false trails and gathering

bits of different color
fabrics to put in our bins.

NARRATOR: The Emanuels manage
to keep the real dress under

wraps and on July 29th, 1981,

750 million people
around the globe

gather to watch
the wedding of the decade.

FRANK: Good evening and
now for a little while,

a respite from reality,
it's fairy-tale time.

STACY: The world
stopped that day.

I mean I don't remember
anybody who wasn't watching.

NARRATOR: At just after 10 AM,
Diana starts the procession to

St Paul's Cathedral.

REPORTER: At her side,
her father, the Earl Spencer.

And the wedding dress
that has been a carefully guarded secret.

LONI: It's a glass coach,
and all you saw was all this material.

REPORTER: And here she comes.

Quite a job, getting
all those yards of silk,

what a dream she looks,
what a dream she looks.

TIFFANI: She
looks like an angel,

and, and it took
my breath away,

like it really
took my breath away.

REPORTER: The dress is made
of yards of ivory pure silk

taffeta and if you asked
a little girl to draw a

princess, I think she'd
draw a dress just like that.

TIFFANI: As a
young girl, it's like,

"Oh, is this what it's like
to marry Prince Charming?"

REPORTER: And there
she goes up the steps.

JEREMY: Her look.

Our affection for her, globally,

it's one of those moments
that mark that time period.

LONI: It was one of
those events that you will never forget.

And everybody celebrated it.

ARCHBISHOP: I, Diana Frances.

DIANA: I, Diana Frances.

ARCHBISHOP: Take thee
Charles Philip Arthur George.

JEREMY: I could only imagine
what that must have been like for her,

kind of being
slightly obscure and then

being thrown into the
world's complete spotlight.

ARCHBISHOP: I pronounce that
they be man and wife together.

NARRATOR: The wedding of
Prince Charles and Lady Diana,

combines the essence
of the 80s zeitgeist,

a compelling,
empathetic personality,

a cliffhanger surprise and
a unique news event that

transforms a moment into
an enduring memory and our number one.

BRIAN: It was giving us
something that we culturally

thought we needed
and really wanted,

which was glamour.

STACY: It was an exaggeration
and sort of a display of

wealth and aristocracy
that you only saw in the 80s.