H.W Bush/Dole 1980 (Collaborative Thread)

January 17th, 1982: William Casey suffers a severe seizure and ends up hospitalized. The prognosis from doctors is rather grave. Though Casey has survived, he has suffered extensive brain damage, plunging him into a vegetative state.
 
December 16, 1981: The American Rapid Transit Act has passed both houses and Bush promises work will begin by autumn 1982. While both parties supported it, a significant minority of Republicans did not - Bob Dole responds to Bush's speech by declaring "this is not the fiscal conservatism he promised to stand for, so what does he stand for?".

January 18th, 1982:
Admiral Bobby Inman is moved up to acting-Director of Central Intelligence. Having been frustrated with Casey's cavalier attitude (and lies to him personally), he makes it clear he intends to "straighten out" the CIA. Bush is a bit worried about where that might go and morale drops at the agency (who sees Inman as an interloper due to his NSA background).

January 26, 1982: News breaks that the UK's unemployment is up to 3m. With Thatcher already weakened by slipped polls, party dissidents led by the charismatic Michael Heseltine plead with her to change direction - which she outright refuses to, even as the SDP dominate snap opinion polls. Whitelaw and Nott are both on her side, though Nott (who remembers being briefed against in spring 1981 when he didn't vote her way [otl]) is thinking that somebody else might be needed to keep the party on course...
 
August 12, 1981: Pope Leo XIV has the Holy See's quiet funding of Solidarity ended - he sympathises but doesn't believe the Vatican should be directly funding political rebellions.

January 7-9, 1982: Pope Leo XIV visits South Africa. His statements on apartheid cause deep disquiet among the apartheid government and spark an increase in catholic pressure on SA worldwide.

January 28-Feb 1, 1982: Thatcher dismisses the "wets" of Jim Prior, Baron Carrington, Douglas Hurd, and Francis Pym. This is meant as a warning shot to Heseltine but backfires when he abruptly resigns, and to everyone's shock Geoffrey Howe leaves with him. On the 29th, Helestine begins a formal leadership challenge to Thatcher. Both of them get enough votes to run against the other but with the polls down, the party angry, and Heseltine dominating the media coverage, Nott urges Thatcher to resign. When she doesn't, he puts himself forward as well. Betrayed and angry, Thatcher resigns. She then immediately endorses Whitelaw as leader and, to Nott's dismay, a three-way battle is on and Thatcher-friendly MPs have turned on him. (Satirists are overjoyed as the Queen has to step in and ask Howe to 'form a government', to officially have an acting-PM when so many big figures have gone down)
 
September 26th, 1982: Norman Lear and John Waters's "Hairspray" airs at 9PM up against CBS's "Dallas". It is an instant hit, due to it's campiness and sardonic humor.
 
February 4th, 1982: The pilot of Bojack Horseman is completed and submitted to CBS. The board instantly falls in love with the quirky little comedy, praising the spot-on satire of the has-been status of many actors from the 1950s and Belushi and Murray's chemistry. The show is picked up for a full season, consisting of 13 half hour episodes, scheduled to begin airing in the fall of 1982. Realizing that he has a potentially active career ahead of him, Belushi totally commits to his sobriety, hurling his empty can of beer onto the ground after ecstatically leaving CBS studios. Meanwhile, John Kricfalusi scouts out potential voice actors for The Ren and Stimpy Show.
 
December 15th, 1982: East of the Sun, West of the Moon, TV film directed by Don Bluth, is completed and shown to NBC as a possible pilot for an animated series, one aimed at the entire family, rather than the more adult oriented Bojack Horseman. Bluth himself will not be involved in the series, instead choosing to animate a Laserdisc game called Dragon's Lair.
 
February 7th, 1982: John Lennon makes a surprise appearance in London, while secretly working on his next album at Abbey Road. He unofficially performs a small concert for people passing by, mostly singing songs from his album Can You Imagine? He surprises the crowd by singing one of the most famous Beatles songs "Revolution", with the intention of mocking Margaret Thatcher's self-proclaimed: "borderline fascist conservative acid trip". He changes the lyrics slightly to fit with his scathing criticism of the former PM. After finishing his impromptou concert, he jokes to the crowd that: "At this rate, with the unexpected situation in our government, I wouldn't be shocked if they let a washed-up former rockstar run!" Though most take the statement as a mere joke, some Labour party members suspect that Lennon has newfound political ambitions.

December 16th, 1982:
Bojack Horseman premieres on CBS at 7 PM EST. It becomes the talk of the water cooler instantly, with critics not only praising the no-holds barred satire on 1950s sitcoms, but also the audacious characterizations of the show's protagonists. John Candy, who portrays Bojack's long time rival Dogbert Peanutbutter, receives widespread praise, with critics citing his and Belushi's excellent comedic chemistry. Ralph Bakshi is asked to sign off for a second season with an extended 20 episodes, set to air in the Fall of 1983. He accepts.

December 21st, 1982: Steven Spielberg completes the script for Batman. Darker then the Adam West series, but still fun enough to make for an action-packed summer blockbuster, the film is set for release in June 1984. John Travolta and Robin Williams are confirmed as Batman and the Joker respectively, while newcomer Geena Davis signs on as Batman's damsel-in-distress lover Vicki Vale.
 
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February 8th, 1982: President Bush makes another speech regarding the spread of AIDS at Harvard University. He emphasizes that: "AIDS is not a mild, benign illness like the chicken pox or mumps. Based on what we've discovered so far, it's a dastardly, dangerous virus that anyone can get! If we want to stand together as Americans, we must do our part to destroy the spread of this horrific illness!" Making a move that many consider risky for a Republican, he makes it clear to the young college students that: "Unprotected sex is no laughing matter! I urge all of you to exercise caution and judgment, by using common sense preventative measures while partaking!". Many moderates and liberals praise the President's speech as they feel it emphasizes his continued commitment to bi-partisanship, while many conservatives see the President as a threat to moral values.
 
May 22nd 1981: Feeling uncomfortable in the United Kingdom, Lady Diana Spencer moves to New York City. Though she receives less attention in the tabloids there, she finds much more public support from Americans.
 
February 6-10th, 1982: The SDP assume that the next Prime Minister might call an early election to get a mandate - that means they need to be ready sooner. An alliance is brokered with the eager Liberal Party and a leadership election is held - to Roy Jenkins' irritation, as he's not currently an MP he can't run despite already being the de facto leader. Shirley Williams, though unsure if she really wants leadership, runs against David Owen in order to make it a proper democratic challenge; she narrowly wins.

February 22-3, 1982: Whitelaw has defeated Nott and Heseltine and is now Prime Minister. Most of his Cabinet remains the same as Thatcher's, though reshuffled: Howe (due to his recent prominence and to mend bridges) is made Foreign Secretary, Keith Joseph is moved to Chancellor, Leon Brittan becomes Home Secretary after Thatcher turns the job down. (Whitelaw will have her sent to Lords) Heseltine is still out in the cold. Bush is the first foreign leader to congratulate Whitelaw, though he doesn't personally like the man and prefered the 'self-made' Thatcher.
 
There's a lot of good stuff here. Hopefully we can get a draft compiling everything written so far soon. I will try and get some more pop culture stuff posted later today after I am done with work.
 
February 12th, 1982: John Lennon assures that he isn't seriously running for any political office, in an interview with the BBC.

September 1st, 1982:
Israeli Mossad Agents capture Alois Brunner in Damascus, Syria.

September 13th, 1982: Princess Grace of Monaco is severely injured in a car crash. Fortunately the injuries, though severe, are not fatal. (She doesn't have a stroke ITTL, but she still gets in the car accident)
 
April 5th, 1982: John Belushi, while recording his dialogue for the first season of Bojack Horseman, signs on for roles in the comedies National Lampoon's Family Vacation as Uncle Eddie and Ghostbusters as Peter Venkman. Vacation is scheduled to begin filming in May, while Ghostbusters is scheduled to begin production in January of next year. In the midst of this, he guest-stars on an episode of Taxi as Louie's German-accented cousin.

April 6th, 1982: Belushi's son, Jacob Adam Belushi, is born at 5:23 PM CST. Belushi describes his happiness at his newfound responsibility in an interview with Johnny Carson, stating: "Ya know before, I was just this overgrown child in a fat guy's body! But now, with all these acting roles and *holds up a picture of Jake* this little guy in my life, those party days are long behind me!
 
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February 10th, 1982: Bob Dole (again) speaks out against Bush's AIDS policy: "money wasted when the simplest and cheapest of cures is already known, keeping it zipped up!" Polls suggest over half of Americans agree with Dole but most don't agree enough for this to threaten Bush. While Dole is the current front for the disgruntled social and fiscal conservatives, a number of their pundits believe he just lacks the 'it' factor.
 
February 13th, 1982: President Bush, realizing that the ART act will have a potentially negative impact on the debt, decides to take drastic measures so it can still get funded. He starts making speeches around the country, trying to raise funds from private companies to contribute to the project. He promises that any company that contributes will receive tax cuts starting in 1983.
 
January 12, 1983: Channel 4 buys the rights to show Bojack Horseman in the UK. They also contact Dianne Jackson to make a British equivalent, fresh off her success with The Snowman.

January 18, 1983: Dianne Jackson gets a six-episode order for Equal Rites: a farce on school and college stories (in particular the recent Brideshead Revisited adaptation) and modern gender relations, featuring the first female wizard at a hidebound academy. Young comedy fantasy author Terry Pratchett co-created it and is invited to write it; his earlier idea, The Colour of Magic, was rejected by Jackson as not being mainstream enough.

December 10, 1983: Equal Rites comes out to critical acclaim and moderately good ratings. Sarah Sutton voices the lead, Esk. Pratchett (interested in using fantasy for broader satire and commentary) and Jackson plan a satire of politics and social acceptance as the sequel, Musical Thrones, where a dragon attacks Anhk-Morpork and the city just decides to normalise it.
 
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January 20th, 1983: John Kricfalusi completes the pilot for The Ren and Stimpy Show. However, since he cannot find willing voice actors for the show, he decides to, in his words, "do a Mel Blanc", by voicing all of the main characters. While he is not a trained voice actor, he believes he can handle it easily. During the pitch to ABC, the executives, while praising the animation quality, question Kricfalusi's excessive use of gross-out humor. They tell him that while they're pleased with his enthusiasm, that they're not interested in picking up The Ren and Stimpy Show at the moment. Kricfalusi, though disgruntled, decides to try his hand at a more 'experimental' network; MtV. The pitch at MtV goes much better and Kricfalusi signs on for a 13 episode first season. However, Kricfalusi writes in his contract that he gets full artistic control over the program, or else he will quit the network. The board at MtV reluctantly agrees to this, as long as the first season is successful enough to warrant a second one.
 
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