Jon Erik Hexum. The first tv “hunk” I ever had a crush on. He and Lee Majors (I know, I know: how Marge Simpson of me) both had the hairiest chests on tv back then, at the start of the 80s. And Gil Gerrard too. Know him? No google searches…I will tell you in a moment.

There was a big boom of hairy chested beefcake on tv at the turn of the Me Generation: Regan was just a small virus spreading in California, Battlestar Galactica was so close to finding Earth, V was tv’s most lackluster metaphor for the Nazi rise to power (I thought Steven Speilbergs career at the time, was a better allegory), Magnum PI was using Higgins’ Ferrari, Dallas was on everyone’s yammering lips, and Buck Rogers (There…Gil’s tv show. Did you guess right?) was shooting up the Draconian space navy with Dale Arden. Bidda bidda bidda, Buck! Im rambling. Every male lead had a hairy chest for some reason. When did everyone become hairless? Was it with the death of disco? No more open shirts? Do we blame the Italians? Iranians? Turks? I can fathom the exact point in pop culture where we went from beautiful naturally hairy chests to these shaved house apes. I blame Calvin Klien.