If you were growing up in the 80s then the chances are good that you know about Alyssa Milano and you might have even heard that she had her own workout video out. Having been one of the hottest teenagers around in the 80s Milano was a shoe-in for something like this since she was to many young women, and men, a classic symbol of what it meant to be a teenager that needed to let off steam and stay in shape. There were literally hundreds of young people begging their parents to buy this video and many young girls actually found good use for it as they would come home after school or take time out of their day on the weekends to follow Alyssa and her fellow teens throughout the workout. For many young women it was a positive way to work out and to just blow off some steam when they needed to.
The video came out not long after Jane Fonda’s videos started coming out.
Stars have always needed ways to stay relevant and Alyssa found hers pretty easily. Since Jane Fonda had come out with her videos and they were doing so well Alyssa decided to cater to a different demographic and came out with her own video. Having already been into fitness it didn’t take much to figure out how to make it work and get the video going. By the time all was said and done she’d made something that young women all over the country were wanting and had found another measure of success that kept her career going and kept her relevant to the business. She had to have something to keep her busy after her Who’s the Boss? days and this seem to fit the bill very nicely.
At this point when she looks back at it she cringes.
That’s fair to be quite honest since when a lot of us look back at our past and some of the things we’ve done the basic thought is “what was I thinking?”. It was the 80s after all and the fashion, the design, and everything was a bit goofy but it was popular at the time and more importantly it was what the kids were into so it wasn’t too hard to believe that they were ready and willing to beg their parents to buy this VHS. When you realize that it was that long ago you really do start to think the fashions of the 80s were something that are best left in the past, but of course in some ways they’re starting to make a comeback no matter what people think. Back in the 80s though it didn’t really matter if the fashion was in or not with this tape, young women wanted to be like Alyssa and young men just wanted to ogle and dream.
As you might be thinking, a lot of the staging was done specifically for the video.
Obviously it wasn’t filmed in her bedroom, but the rest of it, along with the two women working out, was all staged. Apparently there was no real camaraderie off stage as one might have hoped for since the two ladies that worked out with her were hired actors that were there to do the job and get paid. That might seem just a tad bit sad but to be honest Alyssa was a very popular person and didn’t have much trouble making friends. Plus it was a gig for a lot of people that came out to participate or play a role in making the video happen. Just because you work with someone doesn’t mean you’re going to be best buddies the moment everything wraps up. It’s a business just like anything else and while the camera is on everyone’s smiling and having a good time. Once that camera is off though a lot of people immediately go their own way and do their own thing.
It might take some jogging of the memory but a lot of people should probably remember Teen Steam largely because it was a fairly big sensation when it came out, at least for a short while. Like all fads in the 80s it served a purpose and was then on its way out pretty quickly since it was a one-and-done kind of thing. If Alyssa had any designs on making another one they didn’t come to fruition obviously as she moved on with her career and went off to do something else. Eventually she started making a name for herself again when she got a bit older and Charmed became her claim to fame along with a few others things she did in her career. But for that one moment in the 80s she had everyone’s attention when she needed to let off a little steam.
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