More To Come... Right After These Messages
The "present date" is
September 9, 1979 (a Sunday). In Pasdena, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, the 31st Emmy Awards are underway, just as they were at about the same time the year before. The United States, and much of the world, is in the throes of a major recession, of the kind that had made the economic woes from earlier in the decade seem like a dress rehearsal. On the other hand,
other countries seem to be doing surprisingly well. And even where there are problems, there
also exist encouraging signs that technological infrastructure will be built which allow the First World to emerge from this crisis stronger and more durable than ever before. But the beacon of hope for the future can't blunt the immediacy of hardships. Entertainment, on the other hand, can do the trick, and the late 1970s see the rise of escapism to levels not seen since
another turbulent time, about a decade before. Even behind-the-scenes, the David-versus-Goliath story of the quintessential scrappy New Hollywood couple against the archetypal media mogul and corporate tycoon captivates the nation. That the subject under deliberation before the courts is the definition of "profit" is no coincidence...
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So, what can we expect next, and all on account of that wacky redhead?
We'll be taking our usual general overview of the next production and broadcast season: 1979-80.
There will be an in-depth look at the British monarchy as the 1970s come to a close, riding the wave of the worldwide revival of interest in monarchism, as it takes advantage with multiple well-timed events, and serves as bulwark to the emerging Commonwealth Trade Agreement.
We'll revisit the American space program, and how it endeavours to go where no man has gone before in orbit, on the Moon, in deep space, and all places in between.
The search for alternative power sources - a major preoccupation of the era, ever since the Oil Crisis - will finally produce results, which will prove highly controversial.
Our exploration of pop culture will continue with a discussion of how two dominant trends of the 1970s - escapism and sexuality - came together, in memorable fashion.
And, finally, we'll join the media circus and bear witness to the Trial of the Century...
All this and more, coming up on... That Wacky Redhead!
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Acknowledgements
As always, this timeline would not be anywhere
near as good without the gracious assistance of many and varied consultants -
Chipperback,
e of pi, truth is life,
vultan,
Thande,
Andrew T, and
Dan1988 - who each help me to bring my half-baked ideas to life as vividly and clearly as the limits of my writing ability permit.
I would
also like to take this occasion to extend my gratitude to those of you who were generous enough to spread word about
That Wacky Redhead elsewhere on the internet. Many of these instances came some time ago, but unfortunately I only recently discovered a way to hone my Google-fu to such a degree that it isolated mentions of
That Wacky Redhead on sites other than this one or TVTropes,
without returning mentions of... well, That Wacky Redhead herself. Thus, without further delay...
First of all, thanks to
Mal-3, a very old friend of this thread (in fact, his readership predates
the famed 1968 elections posts), who made what appears to be the oldest reference to
That Wacky Redhead outside of AH.com, on December 14, 2011, which was before even many of my above-listed consultants started reading. His endorsement was on the spacebattles.com forums, a place which has been very kind to me (perhaps because there is a sizable overlap in membership between that forum and this one).
But the lion's share of the mentions of TWR on Spacebattles were made by
Lavanya Six, who was also good enough to endorse this timeline in no fewer than three separate locales, including on a personal blog. In recognition of this achievement, I therefore award the No-Prize for Diligent Dissemination, which is, indeed, a whole lot of nothing.
And last but not least, to His Imperial Majesty,
Emperor Norton I, who actually plugged one of his mentions of TWR to the outside on this very thread some time ago, but is continuing to do good work, having mentioned this timeline on none other than the TrekBBS. Truly, I am humbled by your majestic benevolence.
With regards to those links which I may have overlooked, please rest assured that no omission was intended and that I'm very much obliged by your gesture of support. And to all of those readers from various sources, a (possibly very belated) welcome aboard! Thanks for taking an interest in this quirky little thread of mine.
Well, maybe it's not
that little any more. Because today marks its entry into the Top 10 Most Viewed threads on the entire After 1900 forum, with a total of
369,486 views to date! That is truly amazing and most humbling, and I can't thank all of your many querying clicks enough for helping me to reach this wondrous threshold.
With all that said, I'm going to slow down the update schedule a notch for the coming cycle. You deserve the very best, and I don't want to get burnout from putting out too much material, too soon. Also, I want an opportunity to touch base with my consultants, and to catch up on my reading. And you're welcome to do so as well. Remember that, if you'd like to review only the Official, Canonical posts of
That Wacky Redhead, you can do so on the
Alternate History Wiki page for this timeline. Flattered as I am at the many wonderful and often insightful replies to this thread, I understand that it can be very easy to get bogged down in them.
And finally, a very special thanks to everyone who has read and maintained
the TVTropes page for this timeline. It brings me great joy to see that page brimming with tropes