Over the years so many fans have wrote on the mailing list, as well as at the Thirdstory site and Lisa's web site guestbooks, about how much Thirtysomething meant to them personally and how they came to find it. Here are some of those stories....
Janet - JaneT67@ TS came on when I was in college and I laughted at my hippie punk firends that wouldn't go out on a Saturday (?) night until it was over. But a few years later, when it reran on LIfetime at 11 pm, I really started getting onto it. I like the realistic story lines and the depth of feeling and emotion the characters were given. Then when it ran again a feew years ago (bravo ?) I started taping them because now that I was in my thirties with a small child, TS touched me more than ever. To me, it has always been timeless. Yes, it screams eighties when you watch it but the situaitons are eternal. We all have problems with our parents, fight with our friends and spouses, have unrealized dreams, experience grief and heartache, have work problems and moments of self doubt. The best part, howevever, was the friendships betwen these people. It's been a long time since I had a tight group of friends around me. Being married with a child makes it even harder to find and maintain friendships. I have wished on numerous occasions that I had what the characters of TS had.
Pat - Tennisgamer3@ I love this how like you all do. I started watching when it was on LIFETIME TV. My daughter was just born and while I was breast feeding her I would watch the taped shows. I loved whenJaney was a baby because I was just starting out with my Husband and new baby in a small house that needed everything done to it just like Hope and Michael. I would go everywhere with my Daughter just like Hope. My Husband is very easy going like Michael was. I liked the first two seasons the best. I miss it and hope there will be a reunion show.
Kirsten - Kirstendanielle@ I watched and ep. in the sprintg of 1988 while visiting a friend and saw Ken for the first time; been hooked ever since. I taped the entire series when LIFETIME first aired the re-runs in the spring of 1992.
Mike - sarahwak@ Though I was watching TS before, the message below reminded me of feeding my daughter in the middle of the night when TS reruns were on (my wife was ill & couldn't feed, and I remember those first several weeks of 3-a-night feedings!) Twisted as it sounds, I'd talked to my kid and would tell her who all the characters were.
Jane B - janebeecham@ So you want to know how it all started for me...well - I remember the series being advertised and trailers show on Tv and I didn't see the first few as wer weer poo-pooing it as being wet and drippy and probably not our kind of show here in England. I mean it was about relationships and talking about reltationships and yawn...I just didn't think it would be up my street - and then I watched one episode - I have no idea which was the first I saw - and went to work and asked my colleagues if they watched the show and everyone shook thier heads or stuck out their tongues - except one ...she said she'd been watching it from the start and it was worth sticking with - and of course - it was and I was stuck - !! We eagerly awaited more and more shows and by the end of the run we were devastated that it was over ...the first apeal I suppose was the fact that they were working in an agency - very similar to the line of work I was in - we wore similar clothes, I loved the houses - the hojmes - one was an illustrator - my partners occupation at the time - so there were many connections - I loved the homey Americanness of it all ...it just worked for me. I came to the TS list when I first linked up to the computer - we were surfing the net one night - the friend who originally owned up to watching site ...we sat agog - and read it all - wow - a web site devoted to TS!! I saved it as a favorite and made regular visitis ...and then I signed the guest book and joined the mailing list where I met many friends that I talk to now everyday. I tink my first mail was a plea - a search for bathroobe like the ones MIchael and Elliot wore - woven gowns with Navaho - American Indian designs on - the response I got to the question - Where can I get this tiem of clothing? - was HUGE - and many other TS mailers pointed me in the right direction - the J Peterman company - Sadly they had gone bust and then reopened not carrying that particular item - so I am still searching. But without the mailing list I wouldn't have met my internet friends that I have today - I wouldn't have every episdoe of TS on tape - I wouldn't have every episode of TS on tape - I would have missed out dreadfully. So here's to a show that had some amazing effect on peoples' lives. ____________________________________________________________
Jen - JWelfer2@ I was in my early 20s when I began watching reruns on Lifetime. I've been hooked ever since. That was 10 years ago. When it came back to BRAVO I was astounded and so amazingly excited to begin the hourney once again. Unfortuanely they haven't exactly repeated it th way LIFETIME did; I complained to BRAVO about taking it off in the middle of the reruns the 2nd time around bu tthe response was unfavorable. I 'd love to have another opportunity to buy these someday so hopefully it'll come around. I think the reason I loved the show was because it made me feel "safe and secure" as silly as this may sound. WIth the music as perfect and intriguing as it was, I'm sure this added to my love of the show and cast. I'm a music thearpist so of course this would affect me! I loved relating to the characters and looked forward to the time when I would be in my 30's. Now in my 30's I relate even better to this show. I am married with a child; however, I do work and probably have a more complicated lifestyle than Hope presumably did. I enjoyed reading others' feelings and thoughts on this show so I hope to hear from you more.
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Catherine (Cat) I saw a piece of it in French on a French channel. At that time, I did not know what it was. I was hooked to the music of the end generic. A few months later, they showed it on the Dutch TV in English subtitles, and I was hooked immediately. I loved it from the first second to the last. I was crazy aboutit, probably being the only Belgian who ever watched it... One day, I was bored and searched the internet for TS and found the TS mailing list. That was a huge life changing thing for me. I made friends on that list, that I have met in real life in all that time. In fact, one of the TS list friends lived in the UK, I went to visit her and her family, and fell in love with the UK too. After three years in a row having a holiday there, they introduced me to a friend of the family, and that friend of the family is now my husband. I had been single for 25 years, could relate to Melissa most of all. ND now I am married to my Billy Sidel, a mix of Elliot and Billy, with the feeling for responsibility of Michael, what more can one ask????
Rosemary pookieadams66@ Here's my TS story. I didn't watch it at the begining but started watching it when my mother recommended it, of course, I was hooked, and I never missed another episode. I enjoyed watcing the reruns on Lifetime, too, and taped some of them. Since then, wit the exception of MSCL, I've always watched H&Z's shows religiously (I didn't watch MSCL at the time, but enjoy it now). I lked Relativity, was sorry to see it cancelled. However, thanks to you Mary, I have some of those shows now. If H&Z ever have anything else on TV I'll watchi it, too, even though it would probably be cancelled before its time. It's because H & Z shows are so marvelous, and so much better than the majority of shows out there.
Mary W goldenautumn@ I first saw TS when I had moved to Florida in 1987, with the first episode being Saturday night, (But not for me). I was close to 30 then, and the title alone intrigued me. I loved it, but I was very busy BEING Ellyn at the time and watched it sporadically. When I moved to Virginia in 1989, I lived in the mountains and had no cable and was at the mercy of friends to see the last two seasons when they could tape it for me. In 1994 my son was diagnosed with Autism, and we moved back to Minnesota. I was unable to work for awhile to care for him, and so I got cable and started watching TS on re-runs on LIFETIME cable. It became something to do for myself at the time, and I did, with a vengeance. I went to the library, as I did not have a home computer yet, and copied all the episodes down to make my own guide. I soon got on the internet and as soon as Lisa opened up the mailing list I was on it. She and I corresponed off list, and when she got to busy to moderate it I took it over. I had collected photos and magazine articles for and about TS for years, which is what you see at this site. Ellyn and I could have been the same person back in the late eighties, later when I watched it with children I felt many of the things Hope did. I loved the shows about Elliot and Michael and work...when they lost their business and when the tired to take over DAA.. I also loved how all the characters evolved, changed, grew older, learned, lost and loved. It is a masterpiece in the history of television, and I'm afraid we may never see TV this good again. All I can say is, Zwick and Herskovitz better think HBO next time, because main stream TV doesn' seem to embrace the quality that their shows hold. I have made many friends on the mailing list ...some of us have other places we connect and talk as well.
Thanks to all of you for the dedication you have shown to the list and to this timeless show...
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Farrah - sheffief@ I began watching thirtysomething during its first run at the age of 8. I often watched it with my parents, and while most of ht time, I didn't understand what was going on, I remember liking the characters; specifically Hope because I thought she was pretty and a good mom. I was too young to remember any of the episodes that my parents loved, but one episode that I do remember touching me at the time was the Christmas episode because it made my mother cry. I spent my summers in high school babysitting so during the day I would watch the reruns on LIfetime while the kids I watched took their naps. I became hooked. I was certain that at the time none of my 16 year old friends were so involved with a show about people in their thirties struggling through life. I still didn''t fully understand a lot of the plots and situations, but I continued to be drawn to the relationshops between lovers and firiends....there was just something about TS at the time that really got to me. My parents had recently gotten divorced so I loved watching the scenes with Nancy and Elliot and was certain that if my future husband and I behaved like Hope and Michael we would have the perfect marriage (that was such a crazy thought! Now I am in my twenties and love TS more than ever. I can actully relate to each of the characters because I have been, or know people in, similar situations. When I watch TS now it's like I've never seen it before. I look at the characters differently and am moved by the writing in each episode. I finally "get" a lot of the parts that I didn't understand, and often find myself laughing and crying out loud. Thirtysomething reminds me that alot of the situations and problems I've had in life are normal. I can't wait to see how I relate to it differently in 10 years!
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Dave Davideo@ I started watching 30s for the simple reason that the title coincided with my own passing the 31-year mark, therefore applicable. LOL. Seriously, though, that's what held me past the pilot, which even then seeemed overwritten. By about the third episode, I was hooked. When it was cancelled, I was heartbroken. That's about it - I don't have nearly enough episodes on tape, so I too wish that the music-rights/license b.s. that has prohibited the show being released on DVD would get ironed out. It's almost like the Bedford Falls Folks just think the fan-base will die out, or sump'n, and I guarantee that it ain't gonna happen for quite a while yet.
Jen Jen
