If you rushed to area stores for Black Friday deals Nov. 27, 1981, tune in — your feathered hairstyle or long sideburns may appear on a NewsNation celebration of Christmas in the 1980s.
A documentary called “A Very Eighties Christmas” includes snippets of regional news coverage from the era. It premieres on YouTube on Thursday and will air on the NewsNation cable network Christmas Eve, both at 8 p.m.
The local footage comes from WBRE-TV. Like NewsNation, the local station is owned by Nexstar Media Group.
Northeast Pennsylvania is represented in several segments, including Black Friday coverage, shoppers marveling over the realism of Atari games and footage of the infamous Cabbage Patch riot.
The Scranton area is a microcosm of a community built by generations of hard-working Americans, said Susie Pinto, one of the documentary’s producers.
Newspaper coverage of the Cabbage Patch riot, which is mentioned in a new documentary on Christmas in the 1980s.
“The 1980s was an iconic decade, such an interesting time in American history,” Pinto said, citing bold fashion, a thriving economy, Madonna, Michael Jackson, movies and arcade games.
“It’s really a decade that left a lasting nostalgic pop culture legacy and we thought it would be just so wonderful for Americans to remember those times and to remember how we celebrated Christmas throughout that decade,” she said.
News Scene 22’s Sue Miller reports while driving on crowded Route 6 in Scranton and does a standup outside the Viewmont Mall in Dickson City. A driver can be seen shaking both fists. Another segment is shot inside the Wyoming Valley Mall with commentary that says the day started slowly but picked up by the afternoon.
A segment on electric toys also includes Northeast Pennsylvania footage. Shoppers demonstrate the toy Simon and marvel over Atari games and Game Boys.
Some shoppers got nasty nationwide in 1983, swept up in a fad for Cabbage Patch Kid dolls. The documentary features a Wilkes-Barre incident that was one of the most high profile of what was called the Cabbage Patch riots.
The crowd became unruly after waiting in line for hours for the opening of Zayre’s Department Store in Wilkes-Barre, on Nov. 27, 1983. Shoppers fought over the dolls, a manager grabbed a baseball bat as he tried to restore order and several people were injured.
Why that Zayre’s? Maybe because the store was selling dolls at a discounted price of $17.99, instead of typical store prices that started around $27 locally, according to newspaper coverage of the time. They went for more on the resale market.
The $27 of 1983 is equivalent to $86.57 today.
The local Cabbage Patch riot is featured in another documentary, “Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Kids,” available on streaming services.
“A Very Eighties Christmas” also includes country music star Merle Haggard playing video games on his tour bus, Christmas at President Ronald Reagan’s White House and news from Jerusalem and the Vatican.
A NewsNation spokesperson did not know if the documentary will air on WBRE-TV and the station could not be reached for comment.