There’s a reason why my post from 2022 on the bad girl we love from Zapped! is one of the most viewed in this site’s history. Sure, Zapped! is a cheesy teen sex comedy favorite for many a Gen Xer who grew up watching it in the eighties. That’s not why the post is evergreen, though. We all know the main reason it keeps on drawing eyeballs, and that reason is named Heather Thomas.
If you weren’t there, it might not be common knowledge, but if you were there in the eighties then you know that Heather Thomas was easily one of the most popular and significant crushes of the decade. Thanks to her work in Zapped! and as Jody Banks in the hit television series The Fall Guy, the bodacious blonde bombshell from Santa Monica, California rocketed straight into the hearts of fans everywhere. I was a fanatic for The Fall Guy. Watching Thomas adventuring alongside the super-cool Lee Majors and Douglas Barr was appointment television for me every week as a kid.
No one who watched television in the eighties can forget Heather’s astonishing, jaw-dropping, blue-bikini-clad entrance during the opening credits of The Fall Guy. It’s one of those moments that, no matter how often I saw it, continued to blow my mind. It was iconic. As was every instance of her clothes getting telekinetically zapped off by Scott Baio in Zapped! It’s also important to emphasize she gave great performances in these roles—she has a gift for lighthearted comedy. Then there was her bestselling poster, which I’d hazard to guess adorned the walls of every other teenage male across America during the eighties. In a lot of ways, it was the Farrah poster of the eighties.
Sadly, I didn’t have Heather’s poster. I was too young in the early to mid-eighties when Heather Fever was at its highest pitch. My mother would’ve vetoed any attempt I made as an adolescent to get her to buy that poster for me. By the time I was old enough to buy it on my own in the late eighties, the poster wasn’t as readily available. At that point, circa 1990, I was proudly pinning another stunningly sexy poster on my wall: a shot of Janet Jackson from the music video for “Love Will Never Do (Without You).”
That’s a story for another day, though. For now, just a few days after Heather Thomas turned 66 on September 8th, let’s celebrate how integral she was to our pop culture consumption back then. Between the poster, her magazine covers, and her numerous TV and film appearances—who can forget her guesting on The Love Boat, or competing on Battle of the Network Stars?—Thomas was everywhere during that time—and none of us were complaining. She left acting behind eventually. Now she’s a writer and an activist, but her impact on a generation of youth will likely always transcend anything else in the public consciousness.
Happy belated birthday to one of the most iconic eighties crushes around, Heather Thomas! Thanks for the memories.
The Starfire Lounge 
I may be a bit biased, But Heather should have won an Emmy or at least a Golden Globe for the blue bikini scene in the opening credits.
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I couldn’t possibly agree with you more!
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Thank you for linking to my post!
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