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Golden Surprise: 12 films, TV shows, and songs turning 50 in 2025
Discover a dozen iconic works in popular culture that are now a half-century old.
With the calendar now officially turned to 2025, we took a look back to discover what iconic entires in popular culture will be hitting major milestones this year. Specifically, we were curious to know which movies, TV shows, and songs will be hitting the big 5-0 in '25.
While many notable works were released in 1975, we narrowed it down to a dozen movies, TV premieres (and finales), and pop-music singles we think are the most worthy of celebrating.
FILM
Tommy (March 19, 1975)
This ambitious project began in 1969, as a rock-opera concept album by The Who. Writer/director Ken Russell expanded on the lore of the songs and created a psychedelic fantasia that spoke to social challenges of the day โ drug addiction, child abuse, an obsession with fame โ many of which are still relevant in the 2020s.
The movie contains notable performances by Who lead singer Roger Daltrey, 60s icon Ann-Margaret, and a blistering cameo by Tina Turner. A Broadway musical debuted decades later, and a revival is currently running in New York.
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Relive the 1975 film adaptation of The Who's epic psychedelic rock opera 50 years after its release.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (April 3, 1975)
Outrageous British comedy troupe Monty Python followed up its British television show Flying Circus with this literally and figuratively legendary take on King Arthurโs quest for the cup of Christ. Generations of dorks have memorized multiple sequences in the film, which has become one of the most celebrated comedy films of all time. In 2005 โ itself now 20 years ago โ Monty Python member Eric Idle readapted the story into the Broadway musical Spamalot, which had a successful run and won numerous Tony Awards.
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Monty Python's outrageous adaptation of the King Arthur myth turns 50 in 2025.
Jaws (June 20, 1975)
A little-known director named Steven Spielberg took an ocean-based thriller novel by Peter Benchley and created what we now know as the summer blockbuster. Nobody could have predicted how influential โ and successful โ the original Jaws would become when they were filming the project. Their thoughts were preoccupied with the challenging water-based shoots and a particularly difficult costar in the animatronic shark.
But the result was movie magic. Jaws went on to spawn multiple sequels, earned nearly $500 million at the box office, and cemented Spielberg as one of the great directors of our time. They really DID need a bigger boatโฆ
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The original Jaws film turns 50 years old in 2025. Is it safe to go back into the water yet?
Rocky Horror Picture Show (September 26, 1975)
In 1975, Richard OโBrienโs weird, wild musical send-up of B-movies The Rocky Horror Show made the jump (to the left?) from the London stage to the big screen via director Jim Sharmanโs film adaptation. Initially a critical and commercial flop, the movie would go on to become THE defining cult film of the 20th Century, running for decades at midnight screenings in which patrons would interact with the craziness on screen.
The film would launch the film careers of Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick. Songs like โTime Warpโ are now beloved classics, and the film has been given more than one highly publicized modern reworking (none could match the originalโs camp cred). Quite a legacy for a little film about a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania.
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Touch-a touch-a touch-a this cult classic as The Rocky Horror Picture Show turns 50 years old.
TELEVISION
Wheel of Fortune (Series Premiere: January 6, 1975)
One of the longest-running game shows in American television bowed the first week of 1975. Originally airing on NBC from 1975 to 1981, Wheel of Fortuneโs first host was not Pat Sajak, but another familiar face of 70s and 80s daytime TV: Chuck Woolery. Sajak took over in 1981, and remained the primary host when it moved to a syndicated evening show, only leaving his post last summer. Vanna White joined the show in 1982, and remains the hostess to this day.
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Wheel of Fortune turns 50 in 2025. Bring the game home with this playable version.
The Jeffersons (Series Premiere: January 18, 1975)
The Jeffersons was a spinoff of Norman Learโs genre-defining sitcom, All In the Family. The show followed Archie and Edith Bunkerโs neighbors, the Jefferson family, as they were โmovinโ on upโ to a deluxe apartment in the sky. While The Jeffersons was not the first television show to focus on an African-American family, it was one of the first โ if not the first โ to focus on an affluent Black family.
The Jeffersons would run for 11 seasons on CBS, earning more than a dozen Emmy Award nominations and a win for Oustanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Isabelle Sanford in 1981, making her the first African-American woman to win the award; we didnโt get another until Quinta Brunson in 2023.
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Move on up to the East Side all over again by reliving The Jeffersons, now 50 years old in 2025.
Gunsmoke (Final Episode: March 31, 1975)
Arguably the end of an era, CBSโ Western drama Gunsmoke was unceremoniously canceled at the end of its 20th season on television (it had started as a radio show in 1952, which ran until 1961). Westerns were once a significant part of the television landscape, with shows like The Lone Ranger, Bonanza, Cheyenne, and others having long runs in the mid-20th Century. By the 1970s, the genreโs popularity had waned considerably. While we still get occasional Western TV series (and slightly more often, films), the cultural fascination with that period of American history has largely dissipated.
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Relive the classic Western series with all 20 seasons of Gunsmoke on DVD; the show ended its run 50 years ago.
Good Morning, America (Series Premiere: November 3, 1975)
In 1975, ABC decided to compete with NBCโs Today, creating a more laid-back, relaxed answer to the morning news show with Good Morning, America. GMA was actually the second morning-news program launched by ABC that year, as a more hard-news approach โ AM America โ failed to launch.
While Good Morning, America settled for second place for most of its run, that all changed in 2012, when it overtook Today, and has remained the big dog in the morning space ever since. Hosts for the program have included Charles Gibson, Joan Lunden, and Diane Sawyer, but the show really took off under Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, and additional co-anchors Lara Spencer and Michael Strahan.
MUSIC
"The Hustle" Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony (April 18, 1975)
While it is now a pop-culture punchline, or a footnote in musical history, the primarily instrumental โThe Hustleโ helped to establish disco music as one of the major genres of the 1970s. The dance of the same name actually predates this flute-heavy track (a flute-heavy dance song โ the 70s were amazing), as arranger McCoy was inspired to write it after watching dancers at a New York nightclub doing the signature moves. The song would reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts and end up the 22nd most successful song of that year.
"One of These Nights" The Eagles (May 19, 1975)
While The Eagles had already hit No. 1 on the charts with earlier song โBest Of My Love,โ this song โ the title track off of the groupโs fourth studio album โ helped usher the band into its most successful era. That album would also produce massive singles in โLyinโ Eyesโ and โTake It to the Limit,โ all of which cracked the Billboard Top 5. A year later the group would release โHotel California,โ further cementing The Eagles as one of the defining American rock bands of the late 20th Century.
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1975 was the year that propelled The Eagles into musical superstardom; relive their best songs on this compendium..
"Jive Talkin" Bee Gees (May 1975)
While most music fans now primarily associate the Bee Gees with disco music, the band's original sound from the 1960s to the early 1970s could be described as easy-listening ballads (see: โHow Do You Mend a Broken Heart,โ โRun to Meโ). By the mid-70s, that kind of music was out of style, and so were the Bee Gees. That was until this comeback song from the album Main Course, a funky, driving track that catapulted the brothers back into the Billboard Top 10.
This would mark the groupโs shift toward dance music, which would lead the group to become one of the most successful music acts in the world, thanks to multiple Bee Gees songs being featured on one of the best-selling albums of all time, the 1977 soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever.
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The Bee Gees adopted a new sound 50 years ago that would make them one of the biggest bands in the world. Appreciate their catalogue with this ultimate collection.
โBorn to Runโ Bruce Springsteen (August 25, 1975)
The lead single off of Bruce Springsteenโs third album did exactly what was intended: it brought the rocker mainstream success after his previous two offerings failed to connect with audiences. Born to Run took a deliberately big-sound approach and it worked, with this song in particular reportedly taking months to record on its own. You can hear it in the mix, with the saxophone, percussion lines, brass, and more instruments all building to an ecstatic crescendo under Springsteenโs impassioned vocals. This song may be 50 years old, but it sounds just as good today as it ever did.
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Read Springsteen's 2017 memoir, which chronicles his path to musical superstardom achieved in 1975 with the album of the same name.