Tuned In

John Hughes, R.I.P.

It’s not a TV moment, exactly, but an attention-must-be paid moment for pop-culture geeks of my generation (and maybe others): director John Hughes has died of a heart attack at age 59. 

The Breakfast Club, actually, figures heavily in Dan Harmon’s pilot for Community, the comedy debuting on NBC next month. And really it’s become a sort of master template for unlikely people forming unlikely connections—in TV teen shows, yes (there’s a little of it in Fox’s Glee this year, for instance), but not just those. It borrowed the everyone’s-alike-in-the-foxhole premise of war movies and applied it to a high school detention room, making the argument that jocks, burnouts, weirdos, princesses and brains could bond in a common geekuality. Don’t you forget about him: 

Related Topics: Remembrance
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  • Chaddogg

    Wow. Truly shocking, and a great loss on many levels. My condolences to his family and friends.

  • Chaddogg

    @James — by the way, it’s hard to say that Hughes’ death is not a TV moment, by the way. Ferris Bueller, for example, directly inspired a TV show of the same name, along with the superior “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.” Plus, it’s hard to look at Zack Morris and Mr. Belding on Saved by the Bell and not see the Ferris-Rooney connections.

  • sundancefilm

    A truly talented writer and director, one of my favorite modern day filmmakers, John made movies that I enjoyed watching over and over. He could make you laugh one moment, then touch your heart the next. His characters connected so well with audiences, ordinary people we all could relate, yet often filled with conflict and seemingly insurmountable differences among each other, nevertheless reaching a satisfying understanding and respect for each other in the end. I will miss his style of movies, a trademark rarely seen today. But at the minimum, he left us a unique film legacy for all to enjoy for years to come!

  • http://freshwebnews.com/john-hughes-dies-the-breakfast-club-lives-time-magazine/ John Hughes Dies; The Breakfast Club Lives (Time Magazine) | Fresh Web News

    [...] the rest here:  John Hughes Dies; The Breakfast Club Lives (Time Magazine) Share and [...]

  • mdduckman

    Devastated to hear of the passing of writer/director John Hughes…he was a personal Idol of mine and I am very sad I never got to meet him to tell him how much his brilliant work meant to me, both as a teenager as well as an adult.

    Not only was he a great writer who had a way of capturing what teens went through and how they acted and spoke, but he also was (in my opinion) a wonderful judge of good music – his soundtracks are amazing…wow. I’m in such shock…he was extremely reclusive in recent years, but still…knowing he’s no longer here is depressing. His movies will live on though…I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to watch Breakfast Club…it will still be relevant then as it was back when I was a kid.

    RIP John…

  • Jyotika Malhotra

    He spoke so clearly to our generation. His movies and characters resonate with us, still. They were our friends growing up…

    http://exshoesme.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/missed-john-huges-the-man-and-his-movies/

    /Jyotika, Editor-in-Chic, exshoesme

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