Awesome Fest Pays Homage to 80s and 90s TV at the Fillmore
Awesome Fest founder Josh Goldbloom has had an odd tune stuck in his head for the past, say, two decades: the theme song to Perfect Strangers.
Sometimes, when you just can’t get something out of your system, the best thing to do is give in to it. That’s exactly what he’s doing starting at the end of this month, when he kicks off a free weekly gathering at the Foundry in the new Fillmore Philadelphia that pays homage to all things TV from the 1980s and early-90s. The event, called Thank God It’s Monday!, promises “nostalgic overload of curated sitcoms, commercials, oddities, rarities, VHS movies, sweatpants & TV dinners.”
There will be never-before-seen TV pilots, Bob Ross paint nights, sitcom intro sing-alongs, MacGyver gadgetry demonstrations and more — all alongside house-made TV dinners served up by the Foundry Kitchen.
Awesome Fest made its name in Philly as a screener of films, but Goldbloom says he’s excited to throw a little TV in the mix. “I’m absolutely obsessed with the 80s and early 90s. Kelly Bundy was my first crush … In my teenage years, I would stay up all hours of the night consuming as many re-runs of Night Court and Coach as possible. TGIF lineups on Friday nights were an institution in my family, and that is the comfort zone I wanted to re-create here. Only now, for adults. There’s a treasure chest full of endless content from that era, and I can’t wait to experience it with everyone, all over again.”
TGIF kicks off just before New Year’s Eve, on December 28th at 7 pm at the Foundry (29 East Allen Street). All events are free and two hours long. Goldbloom tells me the very first theme night will be “an end-of-the-decade 1989 blow-out,” with two hours of sitcoms, hilarious commercials, party hats and “probably a few dirty Dice Clay nursery rhymes.”
Future themes and more information can be found soon at awesomefest.com.
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