The big day has finally arrived; it's Halloween in the 1980s. Your costume is set, your pillowcase is ready, and you've strategically planned your trick-or-treating route. But before you get to the big night, you still have to get through the day.

Welcome to The Everything 80s Halloween Special. Today, we walk through a typical Halloween day during the 1980s. We start the day at school before catching a quick dinner at the fast food place that did Halloween as well as anyone in the 80s.

With time to kill before heading out to trick-or-treat, you have time to watch some cartoons, but we'll look at a few unsuspecting ones that were caught up in the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.

Finally, it's time to head door-to-door, and you're looking for the best candy possible. But which candy was the most popular at Halloween during the 1980s? We'll look at the top choices for each year, along with the one that is the most popular overall (along with the one considered the worst...).

And before the day is finished, there is still time to watch some Prime Time TV, and we'll look back at the Halloween episodes of some popular sitcoms.

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In 1986, Clifford Stoll -- originally a Berkley Lab astronomer -- had become the manager of their computer department. One day, he noticed something, a small accounting glitch that seemed insignificant, but would become the first great Cold War hacking story.

One tiny clue led Clifford Stoll on a real-life digital spy chase that included West Germany, the KGB, and the most top-secret, classified information on earth.

In an era of dial-up phone lines and dot matrix printers, computer security wasn't given much priority, but this event would lead to the dawn of modern cybersecurity.

• Rambo movie review: Patreon.com/80s

The 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics ended up being a historic one when it came to stats and records on the field. But this series would be famous for a much more serious reason: The Loma Prieta earthquake.

On October 14th, 1989, the highly anticipated cross-town series had created a buzz throughout the Bay Area. This was the first cross-town series in more than 3 decades. But on October 17th, just before game 3, everything changed forever...

This is a look back at what has been dubbed "the World Series earthquake," an event witnessed by millions of people watching the live broadcast. At first, those watching -- and those in attendance -- weren't quite sure of the magnitude of the quake. But, in the coming days, everyone learned how deadly serious it was.

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The summer of 1985 will forever be known for Live Aid, the charity benefit concert that defined 1980s pop culture. But a few months later came Farm Aid '85, another massive musical event with a very different mission.

This time, the spotlight turned to America's farmers as some of the biggest names in Rock and Country -- Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, and Neil Young -- came together to raise awareness for a growing rural crisis.

Inspired by an offhand comment by the legendary Bob Dylan, the concert came together in just 6 weeks. But unlike Live Aid, Farm Aid kept going, evolving over the decades, still happening to this day.

Today, we look back at how Farm Aid began, the challenges it addressed, and the changes it helped create. And the event itself also gave us some of the most historic moments in 1980s music history...

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Before the 1980s, Disney kept its animated classics in the mythical "vault." The only way to see them was through theatrical re-releases, but it could take years for your favorites to hit the big screen. But when home video began to take off in the 1980s, Disney had to reinvent this strategy for a new era.

Today, we look at how the Disney Vault revolutionized home video, and how, if Disney had had their way, home video would have never existed in the first place... But by creating scarcity, the company created huge demand, and it changed the home video market forever.

If you grew up with Disney movies only on VHS for "the last time," or being told your favorite movie was being "put back in the vault," this episode will take you back to a time when owning a Disney classic was like possessing your own treasure.

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Growing up in the 1980s, commercial breaks weren't just interruptions--they were cultural events we all experienced together. In this episode, we look back on the golden age of 1980s TV commercials while also exploring the broader history of advertising.

We'll trace how advertising evolved from radio jingles to early television spots, and how those traditions carried into the big-budget, pop culture-driven campaigns of the 1980s.

In this episode, we'll also break down some of the most iconic commercials of all time, including Apple, the burger wars, and the impact of the King of Pop. We also explore how MTV influenced the ads of the 1980s, along with the massive impact of some 1980s commercial jingles -- some of which may still be stuck in your head to this day...

• Special guest: Cynthia Meyers - profcynthiameyers.com
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In 1983, Coleco launched the Adam--a bold attempt to turn its hit ColecoVision video game console into a full-fledged home computer.

By this point in the 80s, Coleco had made a huge dent in the video game market, and, at the same time, was behind one of the biggest toy crazes in history.

With all their success--and deep pockets--was Coleco ready to take on the big PC players like Apple, IBM, and Commodore? What Coleco released ended up becoming one of the most infamous product failures of the entire 1980s.

It's the story that includes leather shoes, Pong, and Full House, and it's a look at how cruel the world of 1980s technology could really be.

• Karate Kid movie review: Patreon.com/80s

If you grew up watching Wheel of Fortune, you probably read the title of this episode the same way the audience would call it out during the show's opening.

That's the cultural impact Wheel of Fortune had; it's the game show that goes back to the mid-70s but really rose to prominence in the 1980s.

Not only did the format change in the 80s, but the show made the big move from daytime to the evening. The 1980s are also when the world first met Pat Sajak and Vanna White.

So grab some consonants and a vowel as we dive into the history of one of the most popular game shows in history: Wheel of Fortune.

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