Branded in the 80s!

Announcing Branded in the 80s, THE MAGAZINE!

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:29:00 GMT

Well, I've been mentioning it a bit here and there for going on a month, but I feel a little more comfortable making a more official announcement now. One of the reasons I've been sort of sparse on posts and column updates recently is that I've been working feverishly on expanding Branded in the 80s a bit with a print component. Basically I'm trying to put together a small (literally) magazine thatâs pretty much in the same vein as the site. I have no idea what kind of publishing schedule I'm going to try and keep (quarterly sounds about right though we shall see), but the 1st issue is in the can and back from the printers. I'm going to test the waters by taking Branded on the road for the shortest release tour in history, making only one stop this year at Wizard World Chicago.

Ever since high school I've been itching to work on some sort of project that would end with a print component, and I'm finally getting off my butt to do it. This first issue of Branded in the 80s magazine is a bit small both in page count (clocking in at around 20 pages) and stature (it's about 5.5" x 7", manga sized), but considering I only gave myself 2 weeks to work on it I'm actually a little surprised it got done at all. The issue contains four articles, most of which are culled from material on the site (I haven't figured out whether or not I'm going to pursue the webcomics or an exclusive content model yet), though I've expanded on all of them to try and give them more of a 'magazine article' feel. The tone of this first magazine is more or less an introduction to Branded in the 80s and is mostly intended for sale at the convention (it'll also include a CD insert of a handful of the Branded podcasts I did way back when.) I'm also taking a second micro-magazine to Wizard World, an eight-page issue that'll hopefully act as a stepping stone to the longer magazine and has an exclusive article (wow that sounds pretentious) on Choose Your Own Adventure style books.

I'll be honest, I have no idea if this is a crazy idea or not, but I'm excited about it and it's been a huge challenge creatively, and I've really dug taking a crash course in layout & design. I think the first issue could be much better, but hopefully that'll be something I can work on in the future if I decide to put together some more issues.

Anyway, for all of those reading who might be attending WW:Chicago, I'll be at the show the whole weekend, June 26th-29th and will be in the Artist Alley area at table 4914 (yeah, I'll be in the back near the freight docks, huzzah!) Also, part of the reason the wife and I decided to go to WW:Chicago this year is to meet up with a bunch of the Sugary Serials creators who will also be exhibiting at the convention. Our table is going to be part of a row which will include Barry Gregory of Ka-Blam printing and Indy Planet comics (who is also the publisher of the Sugary Serials project), Jerzy Drozd (of MLaT Comics, the Art & Story Podcast, and a creator and the editor of the Sugary Serials anthology), Mark Rudolph (of CV Comics, the Art & Story Podcast, as well as creating or co-creating a bunch of the Sugary Serials comics), Chet Lucero (who Iâll be sharing a table with and is the creator of the webcomic Storm Corps as well as the Dreamform Defenders for the Sugary Serials anthology), and Diana Nock (who has some great comics up at her website Jinxville.com and is the creator of the Sugary Serials comic Imaginary Friends Forever.)

I've done my best these past two months getting a bunch of stuff ready for the table at the con, and in addition to the two magazines, I'll also have Branded in the 80s buttonsâ

If you can't make it to WW:Chicago, but would like to help support the Branded in the 80s project, you can order a print copy from the Indy Planet store by clicking on the cover below. The book is $3, and all orders from the store will not include the CD insert (which shouldn't be a big deal as the podcasts are all free and available for download here, click the banner in the right hand sidebar.) We'll see how the sales at the con go, but I'm assuming that I'll also have copies of the micro-magazine left, as well as buttons. If I do, I'll update after the con, and if anyone wants to get one of either you can drop me an e-mail (at the link to the left.)

I'll be going on vacation before the con, so this will probably be the last update until after the show.

P.S. the quote at the bottom of the cover is real, but also sort of an absurdest joke on my part. I thought it would be fun to use a pull quote for the book, but unfortunately the only legitimate quote for Branded was a very silly bit from the Guardian (U.K. paper) which overestimated the rarity of my sticker collection. I don't know, I think it's funny. See you all after Wizard World...

It's not that my voice MAKES your ears bleed, it's that you'll want to make them bleed after listening to it...

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:31:00 GMT

What's this?!? Another Branded in the 80s podcast? Well, no, not exactly (though I love using the above header...) I recently took some time out to record a show with my wife and Jerzy Drozd (of MLaT Comics, Art & Story Podcast, and Sugary Serials editor and creator) about the upcoming Wizard World Chicgo appearance we're all going to make. Basically we dig into the expectations, hopes, and fears we're going to have at the show as well as some thoughts on what it's like being an attendee versus being an exhibitor. So if you are interested in hearing the soothing sounds of my voice (sarcasm folks) or are interested in listening to us chat about comic conventions, go on over to Sugary Serials and give it a listen (or click the picture below, it's episode 17 of the Saturday Supercast.)

You can also right click and download the show from this link.

I also pop up on this past Monday's Art & Story Alive, episode 18 (the sister podcast to Art & Story geared more towards furthering the conversation of the craft of comics art as well as encouraging listener participation), though only for a bit. The topic was long form comics, how they work online, how to approach character and world construction and how they differ from short form comics (mainly strips, but also single issues and such.) We also get into the concept of using photo reference to different degrees and whether this counts as cheating art-wise (if you're curious on my opinion on this topic, I wrote about my struggles with it back in 2006.) You can get the episode by right clicking and downloading it here.

Lastly, and also on the podcast news front, Branded in the 80s was discussed on episode 105 of the Paunch Stevenson Show. Greg and Rob take a little bit of time talking about the TV Guide and Peel Here columns as well as getting lost in my backwards site navigation a bit (just kidding guys, though I totally see your point on needing a "Next Page" navigation link at the bottom of the blogplane.) You can get to the episode here.

Silverhawks are go!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:25:00 GMT

Have I ever mentioned that I'm a nut for 80s cartoons on DVD? Yeah, okay just checking. Anyway, it was announced today (well, announced sounds so sure, lets say that it was "put on the schedule") by Warner Brothers that Season 1, Vol. 1 of the Silverhawks cartoon will be released on DVD October 14th!

The suggester Retail is listed at $44.98 (which I'm sure will be busted down at places like Amazon for aroun $38 or so when it goes pre-sale), which seems a little steep, but then again Warner Brothers are also the geniuses who released the Thundercats sets priced at $65 (for half a season.) Haven't these companies learned from the mistakes Rhino Home Video made with the Sunbow properties? Why haven't they taken a cue from BCI (who, in my humble opinion, are putting out some of the best packaged and priced sets)?

There's been some bootlegs of the Silverhawks show floating around on Amazon and eBay, but I'm glad to see it's finally getting an official release. It's been like 20 years since I've sat down and watched an episode of the show so I'm not sure how well it holds up, but I have to say that when it was on I was an addict. I'd rush home from school, plop down in front of the TV and sing along with the theme song (loudly if no one was around.)

Peel Here #74, Let the orange and black fur fly...

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:33:00 GMT

While sharing Shana Bilbrey's sticker collection last week I realized that we had a little bit of crossover in our collections, namely a set of Halmark Heathcliff stickers. I figured I might as well post mine, as well as my page of stickers from another famous orange feline today.

These birthday themed Heathcliff stickers came out in 1983, about a year before I ever took notice of the overbearing bully of a cat. My first introduction to the character came with the 1984 DIC cartoon Heathcliff and the Cadillac Cats, and honestly, I was way more interested in the Cadillac Cats half of the cartoon. Looking back at the cartoon, I think it's partly because I like Three Stooges-esque aspect to the trio of cats (Hector, Wordsworth, and Mungo) that followed Riff-Raff around, but more importantly they had that swell red and white Cadillac, which could transform into other vehicles. I guess the Cadillac Cats were just a bit more dynamic than the Heathcliff shorts, enough to keep my interest at least.

Anyway, I did have a couple of those paperback-sized Heathcliff collections that I picked up through either the Troll school book club or one of the various book fairs we had in elementary school, but beyond that my heart really belonged to another tiger striped orange cat, the one and only Garfieldâ

Though the above stickers have a 1978 copyright date on them (and that's the date they're typically sold under on eBay) I believe these were probably released around 1982 or '83 as the big lug has taken on most of his trademarked characteristics, leaving behind the much larger more realistic appearance that he had in '78 (here's an example from the 1st Garfield strip.) Without a doubt, Garfield was my entry point into the concept of comic art. When I first seriously took up a pencil and paper to try my hand at drawing when I was 12 years old, I turned to copying from Garfield strips (which later morphed into an odd obsession with drawing the cast of characters from the Tiny Tunes cartoon.)

What I think it kind of fitting in an odd parallel continuity sort of way is that when the Garfield and Friends cartoon came on the air, I had a very similar reaction to as I did for the Heathcliff cartoon. I was way more into the U.S. Acres shorts, though I did enjoy the Garfield bits as well. In doing a little research today I discovered that U.S. Acres wasn't created for the cartoon, but in fact started as a daily strip by Davis (though whether or not he was only ghosting on the art and writing duties by that time is a question), though it only lasted for a few years before it was canceled. Having never read it I can't say much about its quality, but apparently Bill Watterson called it an abomination and an insult to the reader's intelligence. Crazy.

Well, it looks like another slim week around here, and it'll probably be this way for the next few weeks. I'll be leaving to go on vacation next weekend, and then the weekend after that is the big Wizard World Chicago appearance. I'm probably going to have a post about that and another Peel Here before I go, but we shall seeâ

Peel Here #73, Sharing a guest's collection, Cat-Style!

Fri, 6 Jun 2008 19:00:00 GMT

I've got something a little special for this week's Peel Here, scans of a vintage sticker collection from 1985. Why's this special you ask? Well, these images were supplied by Shana Bilbrey, and are of her personal collection, so it's another rare occasion when I can take a look at some stickers from the 80s that I haven't been compiling and starring at for year before I get a chance to post them. It's kind of nice to get a chance to see something new like this every once in awhile. So anyway, thanks Shana for supplying some really nice scans of your collection.

**Update** As was pointed out in the comments and a few e-mails, the too-cute-for-words pink and white puppy that appears a in couple of the puffy stickers in the pages below is named Poochie, not Pookie. Always learing something. Thank the gods that the kismet/karma worked in my favor and the sticker actually apologized for me...

The first thing I noticed was that these stickers are housed on an actual sticker collecting book instead of the converted photo albums that I tend to see (and had myself growing up.) Each page, including the cover, has a television screen theme going on which is fun. I didn't have a ton of stickers growing up (my collection was mostly Garbage Pail Kid-centric), so I was surprised by the letter themed stickers on the cover below (the ones with the animals) because I had a few stickers from this series, namely the S, H, A, and N depicted (as well as a W sticker.) I remember the snake coiled around the S in particular as I had a little bit of a snake fetish growing up in Florida. My mom is terrified of them and she was constantly warning me about the pond behind our house in Tampa. Anyway, I think it's one heck of a bit of luck that Shana and I share the same letters in our first names because now I can revisit these stickers. I'm not sure of the company that produced them, but I remember getting mine off of a huge spinner rack filled with rolls of stickers that you'd tear off and purchase individually (which is in the Lisa Frank/Mrs. Grossman/Sandylion sort of territory.)

Anyway, there's a really nice mixture of styles, brands and properties in this collection, which you can already see on the cover (Hallmark Thanksgiving, Garfield, Heathcliff, My Little Pony puffy stickers, as well as what I believe is a puffy sticker from one of the Pink Panther shows, as well as the large bumper sticker with a cartoon cat that I recognize but canât name for the life of me.) Heck, there's even a knock-off Michael Jackson sequined glove prism sticker.

On the back cover we can see that this sticker book was produced by Hallmark, and there's even more brands and styles including a puffy googlie eyed mouse, some Garfield scratch-n-sniffs, some Smurfs stickers as well as what looks like a Hallmark "Create You Own" style sticker featuring a cartoon dog. It reminds me of a similar set of stickers I shared last Halloween.

You know, if there's one aspect of pop culture that I wasn't really hip to during the 80s it was probably music. As a young kid I only had ears for Michael Jackson, the Monkees, the Beach Boys, and Weird Al, and then later on it was pretty much only Metallica, Megadeth, and weirdly enough Poison and Motley Crue (as a 10 year-old.) As far as the whole pop and new wave deal, I totally missed out. I remember getting into viscious arguments with my best friend's older sister about the validity of bands like Duran Duran and U2 (which led to the awkward shouting match, Me: "Well, U2 sucks!", Her: "U2!") I remember trying to follow the stuff my sister was into, Christopher Cross, Prince, Cheap Trick, Madonna, and Rick Springfield, but it was all too much for my addled little brain. So it's pretty interesting, at least to me, to see stickers for groups like Huey Lewis and the News, the Thompson Twins, and Wham in Shana's sticker book right along side her Mrs. Pac-Man, root beer scented teddy bears, and Care Bear stickers.

Again, thinking about the whole sticker-collecting boom in the 80s, this is the sort of thing that I find so fascinating. Stickers are the perfect bits of advertising (portable and fun), and as far as inadvertently chronicling a period in pop culture history a sticker book is just an amazing and potentially comprehensive look into the past.

If there's one constant in Shana's book, it's certainly cat stickers. The ones on the bottom of the page below I would have to assume are Lisa Frank (at least they have that airbrushed multi-colored, yet heavy on the purple and pink look of LF products.) Shana also had some very diverse tastes in terms of sticker styles, with plenty of puffy, fun die-cut shaped, glitter, scratch and sniff, prism, foil, and hologram stickers.

As a another great sign of the style of the 80s, are the City Cats stickers on the below page (including odd geometric shapes, loud colors, and plenty of music references.) I also dig the lone electrified cat sticker (Halloween perhaps?)

This next page has a nice gamut of holidays represented, from Easter, and Christmas to Valentine's day (not to mention two huge properties Peanuts and Heathcliff.)

The first thing that jumped out at me on this next page was the one lone Christmas present tag sticker which just reinforces my opinion that anything, no matter what it looked like or was for functionally, was fair game as long as it was a sticker (like my meager collection of produce stickers that I had growing up.) There's also some nifty Marilynn Monroe stickers here, as well as some fun international cat stickers (the geisha being my favorite.)

On the page below there is a pretty cool glow in the dark Snorks sticker. I've managed to find a couple of Snorks prism stickers, but have yet to see any glowing ones. That's a nice glittery Smurfette too.

Here's a nice page of varied puffy stickers. I really dig the Kool-Aid stickers. I was never allowed to drink it as a kid and thus developed a need to have it whenever I was at friend's houses, and since have always been a fan of the product. I believe that cute cartoon dog was called Pookie, but I'm not positive. There's also the rest of the stickers from the Pink Panther set.

Yup, Shana definitely likes her cats (only joshing with ya Shana, it's cool to see your childhood interest reflected in the collection as it makes it very personal.)

Take a gander at that awesome banana scratch and sniff sticker on the middle right. I believe Shana said this was her favorite sticker, and I have to admit, it's pretty darn awesome, if not a little bit disturbing. A sexy banana doing a nutritious strip tease is enough to stop me dead in my tracks I'll tell you whatâ

I of course love the inclusion of the Halloween stickers at the end here. I'm really digging the artwork on the Devil and that wolfman.

Well this is it for this sticker book. There is one more in this series though, which I'll hopefully convince Shana to share soon.

Work has been really kicking my butt lately so I won't be able to get to the next TV Guide installment just yet, but hopefully I'll be able to start working on it this weekend. I also wanted to throw out a reminder that I'll be attending the Wizard World Chicago Con at the end of this month (June 26-29th.) I'll be located in the Artist Alley (where ever that will be), so if you're in the Chicago area, come by and chat a little. I'll also have copies of my mini magazine available for purchase soon on the site, details to followâ

Peel Here #72, Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude!

Fri, 30 May 2008 17:41:00 GMT

Well, though I'm a few days late on the actual anniversary, I thought in honor of Return of the Jedi's 25th I'd post some of the sticker cards that were released by Topps back in 1983. There were actually two sets of ROTJ cards and stickers, and from what I can tell these are from the 1st setâ

ROTJ is such a weird beast for me when compared to the other two flicks. Being born a month or so after the release of the first film, and only being 3 when Empire came out sort of negated me from really having the feeling that I got a chance to experience them first hand. When Jedi came out though, I was 6 and doing my best to play catch up with the lore and merchandising of the first two films (I had an army of figures by that time.) When Jedi hit it seemed like the biggest event ever (at least in my insular little world) with all of the toys and product tie-ins. All of a sudden my entire room was covered in one movie's merchandise, from bed sheets and posters to all of the toiletries in the bathroom (I was washing my hair with Chewbacca shampoo, washing my body with a bar of Luke Skywalker soap, and brushing my teeth with an Ewok tooth brush.)

Later on this film in particular became my favorite in the series because it was the installment I got a chance to see the least often (my parents bought copies of the first two on VHS) proving the whole absence makes the heart grow fonder concept. It never occurred to me how different a good portion of this film felt in relation to the other two, what with the obvious child-friendly aspect to the Ewoks, to the multiple singing and dancing scenes. Heck, even though Iâm more of an Empire guy these days, I still can't help but love a lot of aspects to this film, more than anything else the inclusion of the Mon Calamari race and characters. I'm a pretty big Admiral Ackbar fan truth be told, though besides my leaning towards everything squid-like, I couldn't tell you why.

I think I only had a handful of these stickers growing up; I remember a series of off-color puffy stickers much more vividly. I think Topps did a pretty good job of capturing the majority of the 'good characters' in these stickers. On the other hand, they really dropped the ball on including any of the Imperial characters, namely Vader, the Emperor or the Royal Guard. I haven't seen the stickers from the second series of ROTJ cards, so maybe these characters are covered there. Actually now that I'm thinking about it, I guess there really are a lot of characters missing considering the size of this sticker sub set (at 33 cards.) Why give the Max Rebo Band three separate stickers and then neglect to include one of the Rancor? Oh well.

I've got my Admiral Ackbar sticker, so I'm happy right now.

Anyway, work has been kicking my butt this week, so I think I'm going to cut this one short here. Hopefully I'll be back early next week with another TV Guide post as well as another installment of Peel Here.

Kids in the Hall ... Live in Atlanta 5/24/2008

Fri, 30 May 2008 13:56:00 GMT

I finally got a chance this past weekend to see five guys that have had the most influence over my sense of humor and worldly outlook, the Kids in the Hall. My mom introduced me to KITH right around the time they really got going with their show on HBO back in 1990, which just happened to coincide with a lot of changes in my life. I just turned 12 and was leaving the southeast (having spent my life to that point in central Florida) to move up north (and getting to see snow for the first time), not to mention all the rigmarole that comes with moving up into middle school and becoming a teenager. Up until that point my reference for comedy didn't stray much past John Candy, Tom Hanks, and the Amazing Spider-Ham (with a dash of MAD and Cracked magazines.) I totally missed out on Monty Python up until then, and my exposure to the classic SNL skits was limited by the crappy heavily edited rerun specials that would air late at night on the weekends, so I didn't really have all that much exposure to sketch comedy. Well, that's not true per-se, I did watch more than my share of You Can't Do That on Television and Out of Control on Nickelodeon. Anyway, pointless story short, I love the Kids in the Hall and I finally got a chance to see them live at the Cobb Energy Center in Atlanta on 5/24/2008â

Before I get to the rest of this post, I wanted to give a shout out to Melanie McDermott who took all of the pictures below. I never think to bring a camera to live events (always afraid it's going to get confiscated), and I stumbled upon her KITH pictures on her Flickr feed this past week. I love it when I can get my hands on photos from the exact concerts I've attended, as I'm a pretty big archiver and well obviously a nostalgia whore. You can see a lot more of photos from the 5/24 event in her KITH gallery.

I had no idea what to expect as I've only seen one comedy act, and never gotten a chance to see sketch comedy live. After opening with a short pre-recorded bit (which was freaking hilarious and totally set the tone for the rest of the evening), the Kids burst out on the stage and it was pretty darn crazy. I don't tend to get star-struck all that easily, especially after years of attending comic conventions and getting ample opportunity to see a lot of my childhood heroes from TV and the silver screen, but it still put a lump in my throat to see Dave, Kevin, Bruce, Mark and Scott race out onto the stage.

My only wish going into the show was that we'd get a monologue from Bruce (which we didn't), but my wife got a chance to see him and Scott bring the Cathy's to life, as well as seeing Scott's Buddy Cole character do a monologue.

All in all my favorite sketches are probably the ones Dave and Kevin write and play out together. In probably the funniest moment of the night there was a little back and fourth between the two involving a prank on Dave by Kevin (an in-joke involving Dave's jacket) that broke the fourth wall a bit and for me made for some great ad libbing and vamping. I thought it was really cool to see behind the curtain a bit, and it was obvious that they were really enjoying themselves which is always a plus.

The capper to the night was Mark performing as Mr. Tyzik doing his whole head-crushing bit, but in a very interesting way. Mark brought out a video camera and shot the audience while he did his sketch and he used a large video screen behind him to get the whole head between the fingers deal across. It was great when he got an uber fan in his sites (a dude who too the time to construct and wear a cabbage head toupee) and they had a little tÃte-Ã-tÃte (the fan using the patented head-crushing parry.)

It all ended with Mark's Tyzik picking off the rest of the Kids, one by one and insulting them on their post-KITH work, and then crushing their heads before he ultimately turned the camera and his fingers on himself. I don't think I'll experience quite the same rush ever again, not at least unless science finds a way to reanimate Graham Chapman's body so he can perform with the surviving members of Monty Python.

The Essential TV Guide Fall Previews of the 80s, Part 5: 1982!

Mon, 26 May 2008 19:45:00 GMT

Apparently I really started perking up and paying attention to the new fall schedule sometime in 1982 because this is the first issue of TV Guide that I've flipped through where I recognize and remember watching most of the shows previewed. I guess it kind of makes sense in a strange way. I just turned five, started kindergarten, and was probably very aware of my nightly impending bedtime, and thus was more prone to arguing so that I could stay up and, I don't know, watch Knight Rider or something. '82 was also the year that I missed out on a ton of Saturday morning cartoon time as my Dad decided that it would be good for me to get outside and meet new kids, so he enrolled me in the local soccer league (which he co-coached.)



When I first starting taking a close look at these TV guides I was figuring that there'd be a ton of crazy ads with way out of date prices (either insanely expensive appliances or insanely cheap food items), but for the most part everything has been about the same as it is now (at least for what would qualify for the equivalent by today's standards.) That VCR above though is exactly what I was hoping to see. Granted the video revolution was still in its infancy and no where near the peak it would reach in the mid 90s, but seriously, was $600 ever a good 'on-sale' price for a piece of hardware like a VCR? It was normally $900. In 1982 dollars! I think that's like 1/10th what my parents paid for their Mazda 626 around that time. I mean, doing the whole automobile divided by electronics equation for today's standard, well, I thinkâ Wait, no, I think that computes (scratching my head and doing the little calculator mine in the air)â Yup, I guess you could evenly divide about 10 decent sized HD TVs into one Volkswagen Rabbit. Damn! Still though, I can't bring myself to buy an HD TV so I guess if I were in my parents shoes back in '82 I also would have waited until about 1987 to get our first VCR as well. Going by those theoretical calculations, I should be joining the HD movement sometime in the next decade or so.

I was glad there was a different Vivran ad in this issue as well. It makes a nice sister ad to the one I posted a few weeks ago. The main difference is the hilarity. I know when I screw up at work because I'm too tired to count money, I want my boss to give me the equivalent of a low level legal narcotic to keep me going (okay Vivran isn't really anything near a narcotic, but take enough of them and I'm sure it'll feel a lot like taking some speed.) Besides, the ad makes me laugh when I shift the situation in my head to another profession, like a rough and tumble news helicopter pilot ("I destroyed three News11 copters and killed 2 traffic correspondents before my dispatcher gave me some little yellow pills that kept me in the air and flying for hoursâ") or a daycare worker ("I wiped twenty kids runny noses with the same tissue before I realized that the first kid had the chicken pox. Thank god my supervisor had some Vivran Stimulant Tablets handy because it was my turn to walk the kids to the bus todayâ")



Like I mentioned above, in getting to the show previews in this issue I'm finally feeling a little like Iâm on more recognizable ground. Take that first 2-page spread featuring Joanie Love Chachi, the 9 to 5 sitcom spin-off, TJ Hooker and Cagney and Lacey. Though I haven't watched many episodes of any of these shows (with the possible exception of TJ Hooker which I have some garbled, yet vivid memories of), I've been well aware of them all since they debuted. I guess my threshold for remembering pop culture starts at 5 years-old.

I guess this is also the beginning of a comfortable time-frame in which these actors and actresses would go on to stay (more of less) in the public eye. I mean TJ Hooker is Heather Locklear's beginning of a very long love affair with network television as she'd go on to star in no less than 4 more long running shows (yeah, I'm including LAX as it went to a partial season run, but c'mon, Melrose Place, Spin City and Dynasty all in one career?) Heck, while I'm at it I might as well point to Shatner as well. This would be his second big hurrah after Star Trek. I wish I could say the same thing for Adrian Zmed, but this was more of his last hurrah after his turns in Bachelor Party and Grease 2. He sure does encompass that early 80s hunk look very well (not to mention giving Locklear's feathered hair a run for itâs money.) There's also Scott Baio in his post Happy Days, yet pre-Charles in Charge glory with Joanie Loves Chachi (which I'm all of a sudden dying to see after taking a gander at the opening credits, shudder.)

Of course, then there's Silver Spoons, my hands down favorite 80's kid-centric sitcom (with Punky Brewster and Diff'rent Strokes coming in at a tie in second place.) If there was one person I wanted to be like growing up it was Rickey Schroder, and if I could have two wishes I would have wanted his house. Rickey was basically a live action version of Richie Rich, though he was a little more frugal (having come from a slightly broken home.) Looking back though I think I was more influenced by Joel Higgins' performance as Edward Stratton III, who suffered from the worst case of arrested development ever. That's who I basically am these days, though without the family fortune (inherited from a grandfather who invented the inner tube.) Add to this the awesome Erin Grey (I never made the Buck Rogers connection as a kid oddly enough), and great guest stars like Jason Bateman and Alfonzo Riberio and you had the perfect kid sitcom.

I was surprised to see Rock Hudson in the Devlin Connection preview, as I didn't realize he was still acting at this point. I heard his name bandied about by my parents a lot when I was young, but I've never really gotten a chance to watch any of his movies, so he's sort of a name without a face to me. There's also a preview for Ripley's Believe It or Not, which the perennially scary Jack Palance lent his presence and amazing voice to. Rounding out the group above is a preview for the show Voyagers!, which I had never heard of. From what I gather after watching the intro, it's basically the same type of show as Quantum Leap, only with an adventurer and a kid sidekick righting historical wrongs throughout all of history. It's weird that I missed it though, because it looks like a show that would be right up my alley, and I see that it's on DVD, so I might have to check out and see if Netflix carries it.



If you remember back a few posts ago I made a little fuss over another preview, which starred Pricilla Presley, Burgess Meredith and a Chimp (which actually turned out not to be a fictional show, but rather an animal variety show.) Well, if only I'd waited a little bit I'd have seen that Burgess Meredith took another whack at a sitcom starring along side a bunch of animals (and Sally Struthers, who is actually the true star of the show), and even though it's no Every Which Way but Loose spin-off (instead it was an All in the Family spin-off), I'm sure it was still enjoyable.

We also get a preview of a show that really seemed to hit the 80s on the head, at least fashion wise (like the Zmed), Square Pegs. Like Locklear, it was the beginning of a long career in television and film for Sarah Jessica Parker, and coincidentally was just released on DVD this past week.

As a side note, has anyone ever seen a more sexually suggestive design for a television special ad than that one starring Sylvester Stallone ever? Holy crap, he's starring as his own penis in that mock up. Weird.



There's an interesting little ad for Madame's Place, a show with a puppet that I have a hard time keeping separate from that crazy Genesis (or was it Phil Collins solo) video with all the weird looking puppets. Here's a bit of Madame from youtube. I guess this was Corey Feldman's shot at stardom between the Bad News Bears sitcom and flicks like the Goonies. Always glad to see one of the Coreys pop up.

On the page opposite the Madame ad, there is an interesting advert for a science special hosted by Peter Graves and presented by the fine folks at Atari.

Probably the weirdest ad I've seen so far in any of these TV Guides was the small one above called Beefeaters Delight! From what I can gather the ad is for entire sides of hanging beef at amazing prices, but what I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is the idea that it's being presented to the general public instead of in another more industry-centric fashion. I mean, I realize there are a ton of hunters out there that kill, keep and eat entire deer carcasses, but seriously, who invests in an entire half cow? I mean, that's why we have supermarkets right? I do have to say that the insert advertising 5lbs of hotdogs or Bacon for $.99 a pound is mighty tempting. I wonder what that would work out to in 2008 dollars?

Again, because the majority of these TV Guides came out of the Los Angeles area there is a smattering of ads for the Z Channel (as well as the listings in the guide itself.) I thought I'd take a second to point to the wonderful documentary on Z channel again, as well as the trailer for the docâ

There was also an ad for the Miss Piggy Show special that aired in '82. Here's a clip via youtubeâ



Unfortunately there weren't as many Saturday Morning Cartoon ads in this issue, just the one above (which is almost identical to the version that ran in comic books at the time.) As I mentioned above, I think I was being forced to 'take a break' from SMC's at the time to play soccer on the weekends (the strongest piece of evidence is that besides the Looney Tunes I don't recognize any of the shows in the above ad, and I'm only partially familiar with the line-up in the '82 ABC ad as well, never having seen the Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, or Little Rascals cartoons.) The Meatballs & Spaghetti cartoon looks pretty weird and is both a little bit of a holdover from the 70s family as a traveling band sort of show, as well as being kind of progressive in terms of the MTV generation and coming before shows like Kidd Video or that Wolfman Jack cartoon. It wasn't until recently that I discovered all of the very odd sitcom to cartoon spin-offs of the late 70s and early 80s like the Gilligan's Planet cartoon (or the Mork and Mindy/Laverne and Shirley cartoons mentioned above), which featured out favorite castaways building a spaceship and landing on a distant planet, again getting lost/stuck. I was also surprised by the Pandamonium cartoon, which has a very odd mixture of anthropomorphized animal comedy and action (in the main characters battles with Montragor master of evil.)

Aside from the shows I am familiar with in this issue (like St. Elsewhere above), there are also a bunch that caught my eye, if only because of the actors involved, but like Voyagers! above, some of the plots seem right up my alley as well. Take for instance the preview for Bring 'em Back Alive, which is an adventure show based on the life of Frank Buck a 30s era animal collector/adventurer starring Bruce Boxleitner (of Tron, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, and Babylon 5 fame.) Apparently the studio was looking to cash in on the success of Indiana Jones pitting the Buck character against Nazis and junk (not to mention adapting a 30s era adventurer.) Awesome! (Here's the intro via youtube.) Similarly there was another IJ cash-in with Tales of the Gold Monkey starring Stephen Collins as Jake Cutter, a cargo pilot and all around Harrison Ford wannabe (here's the intro.)

There were also some shows that weren't quite up my alley, at least not at the time, like Gavilan (starring Robert Urich post Vega$ and pre Spenser for Hire), or the weird TV spin-off of the 7 Brides for 7 Brothers play and film starring MacGyver himself, Richard Dean Anderson, as well as Peter Horton (who would become a household name in my family later on for his turn on 30 Something), and a young, cute-as-a-button River Phoenix.

Speaking of household names, probably my mother's favorite show of the 80s was St. Elsewhere. Between having a stellar cast (including Howie Mandel, Ed Beagley Jr., Denzel Washington, David Morse, Mark Harmon, G.W. Bailey, Stephen Furst, Ronny Cox, Helen Hunt, and William Daniels just to name a few) and the intense plot lines (Mark Harmon's character contracting AIDS was our family's 'who shot JR'), it quickly became a must watch series.



Joining Silver spoons and St. Elsewhere were another couple of family favorites, Family Ties and Cheers (though I saw more episodes of Cheers in syndication later on as I think it was on past my bedtime.) Next to the Cosby Show, I think Family Ties was the biggest show for me in the 80s and Michael J. Fox is certainly up there as one of my favorite actors from my youth. If I wanted to be Rickey Schroeder, than I wanted to be best friends with Fox.

I thought it was pretty weird seeing Michael Dudikoff in the Star of the Family preview. I have a hard time not thinking of him as a second rate action star as I watched the American Ninja films religiously. It's weird when he pops up in comedies like the above sitcom or Bachelor Party (hmm, another connection to the Zmed.) Same goes for Ron Glass, who stars as Felix in the fourth incarnation of the Odd Couple (after the play, film, and first sitcom.) I have to admit that I'm more familiar with Glass from his turn as Reverend Book in Firefly than his time on Barney Miller.

We also have the second attempt to launch the Powers of Matthew Star show. Apparently Peter Barton had a pyrotechnics accident the year prior which caused the fledgling show to shut down while he recovered. I wonder if this was the show that helped to typecast Louis Gosset Jr. as the grizzled older mentor character, which he would go on to play throughout his career (in films like Iron Eagle or the Punisher?)



1982 also saw the introduction of a show that I've always considered as one part of a trio of action shows that feature a vehicle as the main focal point (and to an extent character) of the series, Knight Rider. The other two are Airwolf (doing for helicopters what Knight Rider did for Trans Ams) and Street Hawk (ditto for motorcycles.) I watched the living heck out of KR growing up. I had the electronic toy and action figure set and would endlessly debate the episodes with friends well into high school. In the context of this TV Guide Fall Preview issue, it really does seem like 1982 was a stellar year for William Daniels (with this and St. Elsewhere beginning; 2 long running shows.) I still can't believe that the show is being reconceived for modern audiences though (I missed the pilot movie, and from what I hear thankfully.)

Well, I didn't get this up last week like I'd hoped, but I do plan on doubling up this week. There's a possibility that I might get to the 1979 issue (as I finally found a cheap copy on eBay), but I might just plow on ahead to 1983. We shall see.

Updated...When Richie Rich grows up he'll marry Irona the Maid and become Iron Man!

Thu, 22 May 2008 13:55:00 GMT

I can't believe that I completely forgot about the upcoming DVD release of the Richie Rich/Scooby Doo Hour coming out on May 20th. Of all the cartoons I watched as a kid, Richie Rich is one of the shows that I really associate with Saturday Mornings because I don't remember ever seeing it in syndication later on during the weekdays or on cable. Though it's been forever and a day since I've had the opportunity to sit down and watch any episodes I can still vividly hear all the characters in my head as well as picture my favorite character, Irona the robot maid. The show featured the voice talents of Frank Welker, Nancy Cartwright, and Joan Gerber (Mrs. Beakley on DuckTales), as well as Mark Evanier as one of the story editors.

It was paired up with probably the most unpopular version of the Scooby Doo cartoon (which was sans Fred, Velma, and Daphnie, and featured a whole bunch of Scrappy Doo) when it initially ran from 1980-1981, and then it joined the Pac-Man and the Little Rascals cartoons from '82-'84. Unfortunately the set coming out is only listed as having 7 episodes of the series (it's titled the Complete Series Vol. 1), but there were actually 61 episodes. I'm not sure if the 7 episodes contain multiple shorts (I'm guessing the 61 episodes of the series are actually shorts), or if there is going to be like 9 volumes in the eventual set of DVDs. The Warner Bros./Hanna Barbera sets that have been hitting shelves recently have been very sparse, episode count-wise, so I'm afraid it might be the latter.

**Update** The 7 episode Richie Rich/Scooby Doo set is in fact 7 collections of shorts. There are 21 RR shorts in the set, and 21 Scooby Doo (without much of the gang, but including Scrappy) shorts. With that in mind there should be another 2 volumes of DVDs eventually (I guess hinging on this set selling well.) I just picked my copy up today and I can't wait to get home and watch some of these again after 27 years...

Anyway, I'm just glad the show is finally hitting DVD. It's available for pre-order through Amazon.com right now for $20.

I also updated the complete list of 80s cartoons on DVD with the upcoming release of the Complete Galaxy High set (which is available for pre-order for the awesome price of $13!)

Peel Here #71, Q: Where does a Bigfoot sit when he stays at your place? A: Anywhere he wants. Ugg...

Tue, 20 May 2008 16:58:00 GMT

For this week's edition of Peel Here I thought I'd break out my collection of sticker cards from the 1987 Topps Harry and the Hendersons card set. When this flick hit theaters I think I was just about the perfect age (10 years-old) for a goofy Bigfoot movie like this; any older and I probably would have been caught up in the smarmy mockery and 'growing up' that comes with the passage into middle school. That next year I distinctly remember giving up Weird Al and the Fresh Prince for Metallica and Megadeth, trading in my roller skates for a skateboard, and Chef Boyardee Mini Raviolis for the more regular and respectable adult size Raviolis. In fact, I think 1987 was one of the last summers where I really got a full dose of fun silly 80s movies as the Monster Squad, *Batteries Not Included, Big Shots, and Garbage Pail Kids were also hitting theaters at the same time.

As far as HatH goes, I've always loved the film and feel that it has aged pretty well considering. I think a lot of this has to do with the cast including one of my favorite actors from the 80s, John Lithgow (who starred in Buckaroo Banzai, the Manhattan Project, and The World According to Garp just to name a few of my favorites from the decade.) Along side Lithgow were Don Ameche (who was enjoying quite the renaissance in his career at the time, along with Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, and Wilford Brimley), David Suchet (best known as playing the titular role in Agatha Christie's Poirot), and the awesome Kevin Peter Hall as Harry (who I know best as the guy inside the Predator suit as well as starring on Misfits of Science.) Looking back I think the amazing job on the practical special effects is what really keeps my interest in the film all these years later. I can only imagine that this would be tackled as a totally CGI cartoon affair if done today.

As far as this sticker card subset goes, I have to admit that I didn't expect there to be any stickers that DIDN'T feature Harry. At least the designers took the time to work in pretty much every memorable character, and most of the memorable moments from the film. I also kind of dig the leafy background they went with.

I did come across one bit of surprising info while doing a little bit of research for this post. There was a Harry and the Hendersons TV sitcom, which aired from 1991-1993 with a total of 72 episodes. I'll be honest, though I'm pretty much a pop culture nerd, and I spent a good time on my butt watching TV in the early 90s, I don't remember a single thing about this show. Maybe I blocked it out or something, I have no idea. I certainly didn't realize that the property got that much mileage, and with no cartoon spin-off or toys either. Here are the opening credits (from Youtube, and in German.)

I should be back later this week with another Vintage TV Guide installment as well as another update to the complete 80s cartoons on DVD list (and hopefully the last for awhile.)

Rambo the Animated Series: First Blood (probably with no blood though...)

Fri, 16 May 2008 16:55:00 GMT

Holy crap! I thought I was done updating the 'Complete list of 80s cartoons on DVD', but today while in the grocery store picking up some lunch I spotted the above DVD on the discount rack by the checkout. I did not realize that the 1986 Rambo and the Force of Freedom cartoon (produced by Ruby Spears) had made it to DVD, 3 years ago no less. Even though it was volume 4 and a single disc release I couldn't help myself so I picked up the only copy left on the rack and was excited enough to whistle a little on my way out. When I got back to work I took a quick detour to Amazon and found out that all 65 episodes of the series were released in 2005 by Lion's Gate over 6 individual discs.

Normally this would irk me a bit as I'm not a fan of single disc releases, but these are that bad considering each one has 11 episodes (vol. 6 has ten) and they're modestly priced at about $6 a disc. That's about $20 for the equivalent of a 33-episode set, not bad. My main gripe about these DVDs are that the episodes are presented wildly out of order, though like most 80s action cartoons there is little to no continuity so I'm sure the episode order doesnât matter all that much. Also, even though it's cool that there are 11 episodes per disc, I'd be willing to bet this has hampered their quality a bit. Oh well.

All in all I'm really excited to have found these episodes as I never saw the show in it's original run (I was more of a G.I. Joe loyalist when it came to military cartoons I suppose.) Can't wait to get home and pop this disc inâ

Also, since I'm updating the list of cartoons anyway I thought I'd throw out a shout out to the release of the Lone Ranger and Zorro Volume 2 which should hit store shelves July 15thâ

The Essential TV Guide Fall Previews of the 80s, Part 4: 1978! Yeah, I know that still makes no sense...

Thu, 15 May 2008 19:24:00 GMT

I'm back this week with the fourth installment of this series on vintage TV Guide fall Preview issues. As I've explained in the previous posts, though I generally talk mostly about the 80s, I have a weird preoccupation with the Quantum Leap time travel theory, so I decided to include the '77-79 issues as well. So this week we're going to take a look at the highlights from 1978. By the time this issue hit newsstands and grocery store checkout lanes I think my parents had just moved into a house in Austin and were ready to stop referring to my age in months. I'm sure I was still completely unaware of TV in general, probably spending more time on trying to grasp, walk and understand one-syllable words, you know all the basic fundamentals for an enjoyable TV watching experienceâ



As has been the case, the first chuck of the TV Guide is mostly ads, like the obligatory Toyota one above. What I found interesting in this issue was the sort of sloppy, left-field-ness of the ads. Take for instance the Anacin ad opposite the Corolla one. Where is the word Anacin? In the small print. Weird. You'd think it'd be in big block letters over that disturbingly moster/robot looking 'medical' pain diagram. Heck, you'd think there'd at least be a picture of the pill bottle down at the bottom. The other ad that really got to me was the one for Vantage cigarettes on the next page featuring a very Photoshop filtered looking image of a one Vince Dougherty (who looks like the lovechild of Kevin Nealon and Tom Snyder.) I guess this got to me because I'll be honest, I can't figure out who the guy is and why he's telling me all about Vantage giving him the good taste and low tar he desires. After googling him I came up with a Vince Dougherty that is a member of the Pennsylvania government (which corroborates the ad location), but makes me wonder if he was paid off by the tobacco company to back their brand. Again, weird, especially set against the article on the new fall lineup of cartoons and children's programming on the facing page.

Back on a more normal level is the great Zenith System 3 television ad up next. Why doesn't anyone make a TV that feels like a piece of furniture anymore? That's the kind of setup that can really tie a room together (design and flow-wise.)

One awesome aspect to flipping through these old TV Guides is seeing all of the shows that either didn't make it very long or featured familiar stars on the rise. The preview for Apple Pie stuck out for me because it starred Dabney Coleman (who I fell in love with after repeatedly watching him help out Henry Thomas as a secret agent in Cloak and Dagger, and terrorize Dolly Parton, Lilly Tomlin, and Jane Fonda in 9 to 5 as a kid), but it wasn't until I took a closer look that I realized the lady in the picture is Rue McClanahan from the Golden Girls. I'm so used to seeing her a little older that I totally didn't recognize her.



It was also pretty cool to see Pricilla Barnes in the Preview for The American Girls making her first big jump from guest starring on a bunch of shows to starring in one of her own (that is before she replaced Suzanne Somers on Three's Company.) She was one of those actors that I never really put a name to the face until I saw her in Mallrats (playing the topless fortune teller with three nipples) and then in her very disturbing turn in Rob Zombie's the Devil's Rejects (probably the most uncomfortable I've ever felt watching an actress on screen ever.)

Also, I'd like to reiterate just how much I love illustrations in ads, even airbrushed work like in the Right Guard advertisement above. I wonder where the artwork for that piece is right now? Probably in a landfill or something, which I think is a shame because it would make a nice piece of pop art.

Up next we've got a preview for a show that I've surprisingly never seen, the original Battlestar Galactica. Of course it's making a resurgence these days, what with the uber popular reinvisioning that all of the geeks are aflutter about (and yet another show I haven't seen.) Coming on the heels of the Star Wars explosion, the show (much like Buck Rogers) seemed like it was reaching for something it couldn't quite provide yet (at least not on a TV budget.) I'm honestly surprised at myself for never taking the time to watch the show as I'm really into 70s sci-fi and Dirk Benedict. My only real connection to BG were the toys that I saw floating around in the various comic book shops I frequented in the late 80s. It's also the second time I've thought about Lorne Greene this week after reading about an awesome Bonanza View Master reel that he helped to goof up for the kids back in the day (in an article written by Brian Heiler of Plaid Stallions.)

At first blush I was going to pass up scanning the preview for Mary, but after reading the description I was intrigued. It wasn't the toned-down, sketch-comedy approach Mary Tyler Moore was going to take at a variety show, but the cast she had lined up to help her out. Along with some names I don't immediately recognize are Swoozie Kurtz, David Letterman, and Michael Keaton. Really!?! I'm dying to see this now as I've always wondered where Michael Keaton learned to hone his genius comic timing. I didn't think he did stand-up (though you never know), and this would go a long way to explaining it.

Again, as I've mentioned before, I love these old TV Guides because of the wealth of Saturday Morning Cartoon ads they have crammed in them. Above is the '78 ABC line-up featuring the debut of the Laff-A-Lympics, Challenge of the Superfriends, and Fangface. Below is a really nice CBS ad featuring some cartoons I've never heard of like Web Woman, Micro Woman and Superstretch (though I have a sneaking suspicion that they're all part of the Space Sentinels cartoon.) There's also Jason of Star Command, another 70s sci-fi show I've yet to see (but I'm actually excited about as it's a spin-off of Space Academy, which seems 10 times more action packed not to mention starring the one and only Sid Haig, also of Devil's Rejects fame.)



Rounding out the cartoon ads is the novel approach by NBC, which made advertising into a board game for the kids. It's probably the worst board game in the history of the format, but nonetheless it's still interesting. I've always been curious about the Godzilla cartoon, as it seems like such an odd character for a cartoon series (on the other hand, live action with a man in a suit is no problem.) Same goes for the Fantastic Four cartoon, which eschewed Johnny Storm in favor of a robot sidekick.

The spot illustration on Us Against the World II is kind of cool if only because it's a prime example of the quick ad drawings done by Jack Davis in the 70s. From the stories I've read, he'd whip out stuff like this in minutes all day long, getting the work of practically an entire agency's staff done in a day.

Now if there was one show that my parents never missed it was 20/20. Growing up this was the one show that my parents never argued over, and it always signaled my bedtime as it tended to come on later in the evening during the 80s. It also signaled the end of a lot of boyhood debauchery and fun as they always seemed to be right on top of the latest dangerous fads, dishing out the possible consequences to my parents before I even had a chance to try and convince them I was capable of handing what ever it was. I can vividly remember agonizing over asking my parents for some nunchucks and a couple of Chinese throwing stars, and then completely dropping the idea when I walked in on them watching an expose on the dangers of these exact things. I also never realized that Carl Sagan was a correspondent in its original incarnation. I wonder if he and Geraldo ever did any stories together, like unlocking the hidden secrets of the universe (only to find a lot of concrete and nothing much of interestâ)



This issue also contains the premiere and preview of Mork & Mindy (which has been finally getting more DVDs released) and Taxi, as well as the preview of WKRP in Cincinnati. This reminds me of the review I did this time last year for the truncated WKRP DVD set that came out. Though I still enjoyed getting a chance to watch the first season, I still wonder what it was like to watch it first run getting all of the original music, and in turn understanding some of the jokes a little more.

Walking right in step with the rest of the weird advertising in this issue is an ad for the Sunbeam Coney Island Steamer (being hawked by none other than Shirley Jones.) Honestly, I'm not sure if I can think of a more useless and depressing appliance than a hotdog steamer, which only cooks 1-2 hotdogs at a time. Talk about wasting precious counter space in the kitchen. I'm going to have to side with Alton Brown when it comes to appliances like this; if you can't use it for ten other things, ditch it.



I'm pretty much unfamiliar with the rest of the previewed shows in this issue, though I recognize a lot of the stars (like Connie Sellecca, who would go on to star in the Greatest American Hero, or Scott Baio taking a break in between Happy Days and Joni Love Chachi.) Coming off of his guest starring role in Soap yet before he was Spenser for Hire, Robert Urich was Det. Dan Tanna in Vega$, and after becoming a football legend Joe Namath tried his hand at acting in the Waverly Wonders. All in all this was a really fun issue to peruse.

I'll be back next week with the 1982 issue (I still haven't found a copy of the '79 issue that isn't insanely priced on eBay.)

Peel Here #70, We've Got Each Other, Sharing the Laughter and Love, no Really we do!

Wed, 14 May 2008 15:54:00 GMT

For today's post I thought I'd dip a little later into the 80s for a look at a weird little sticker card sub-set from the 1988 Topps Growing Pains cards. I say weird because even though I know Kirk Cameron was pretty damn big in his day, but I can think of at least ten other sitcoms at the time that seemed much more popular and more 'worthy' of a Topps card set. I mean Family Ties, the Cosby Show, Roseanne, Full House, and Perfect Strangers all seem like better candidates (and a few years later there would be a T.G.I.F. card set featuring some of these shows though sadly there were no included stickers.) I don't know, sometimes I wonder what the guys at these card companies like Topps were thinking when they decided on some of the properties they chased after. As far as TV shows having card series go there were some obvious choices (ALF and Mork & Mindy come to mind) and some weird ones (Welcome Back Kotter and Dallas for instance), and I would place Growing Pains in the latter category.

Because I was such a cheapskate while compiling my collection of 80s stickers (particularly with this set) I didn't fight to hard with other eBayers for a complete set, so as you can see above I'm missing the #6 sticker (which featured Alan Thicke.) I was actually quite surprised with the flow and symmetry in the design of the sticker card set when I finally got a chance to take a look at them. Unlike most Topps sticker sets there was an almost perfect balance of characters vs. the breakout star (in this case Cameron.) Not only does each member of the family get their own sticker, the actors are also acknowledged by name on their own as well. Throw in the group family shot with the final sticker (below), as well as the Whatta Hunk! Cameron (with the come-hither-and-get-laid-by-me-in-this-lei look on his face) and you have a very balanced set. In fact I think the only thing that would have made this set perfect would have been a Boner sticker (I bet you thought I was going to play the Leo DiCaprio card didnât you?)

For some reason I decided not to scan the puzzle poster backs to the cards with this set because I think the missing Alan Thicke sticker was actually quite important to the picture. Instead we'll just have to settle for the 'What your completed puzzle should look like...' card. Besides, the picture has already been repeated twice and I doubt there are any of you out there chomping at the bit to rush out to Kinko's with the scanned art to print on a poster sized sheet of paper (or are you, and if so why?) You know, now that I'm looking more closely at the family couch scene, I'm a little uncomfortable. Is it just me or does it seem a little inappropriate for Tracey Gold to be sitting on Alan Thicke's lap at her age?

I was never a really big fan of the show to tell the truth, though I did watch my fair share of episodes. I was more of a Candace Cameron fan myself (yes I admit that I watched the heck out of Full House.) Anyway, I should be back one more time this week with another installment of the Vintage TV Guide seriesâ

Filling the gap in the Essential 80s Saturday Morning Cartoon Ads...

Mon, 12 May 2008 17:02:00 GMT

Well, I did a little bit of website maintenance this past weekend, most of which is geared towards making it easier to browse the archives. Well actually particular portions of the archives like the Saturday Morning Cartoon ads and the podcasts I've out up. I whipped up a couple new banners (which I've placed on the sidebar to the right) so the majority of my Essential stuff and columns (Hostess Ads, Cartoon Commentary!, Peel Here, Saturday Morning Cartoon Ads, TV Guide, etc.) are now more accessible.

While doing this I remembered that I actually found a new SMC ad from the 80s (which browsing through junk comics a couple months ago), so I thought I'd go ahead and post it hereâ

The ad is for the 1987 cartoon lineup in NBC Saturday mornings and featured some long running shows like Alvin and the Chipmunks, ALF, Foofur, the Gummi Bears, and the Smurfs as well as the cartoon incarnation of Fraggle Rock, and the New Archies cartoon. It's basically in keeping with the style the NBC ads were taking since around 1985 or so and featured characters from these cartoons mingling with each other which I think is a pretty fun way of illustrating the lineup. I also dig the half drawing of Don Johnson to the right. Now why wasn't there an animated Miami Vice?

I'm glad I found this one because it helps to plug the three-year gap between the '86 and '89 ads in my collection. Again, if there's anyone out there that knows of any ads (in particular ABC and CBS) from the late 80s please drop me a line via e-mail or you can leave a comment on the blog. Pretty soon, after I've completed sharing my collection of vintage TV Guide Fall Preview issues, I'll go ahead and gather up all of the black and white cartoon ads for yet another Essential list.

The Essential TV Guide Fall Previews of the 80s, Part 3: 1977! Yeah, I know that makes no sense...

Fri, 9 May 2008 14:35:00 GMT

Well, I finally got around to throwing a banner together for these TV Guide posts. Makes it seem more official I guess. Anyway, I was planning on getting to the 1982 Fall Preview issue, but I received the '77 and '78 editions in the mail this week, so I think I'll go ahead and get to them first.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I sort of have this odd Quantum Leap-centric idea about the time period I want to cover on this site (nostalgia and ephemera-wise that is.) I like the idea of covering stuff that has taken place over my own lifetime, much in the way Sam could only leap (time travel for all those non-initiated Quantum Leapers out there) throughout the timeline of his own life. Honestly, I think this was a coy way that the writers could keep the show relevant for the viewing audience's experiences, straying away from the idea of leaping into medieval or prehistoric times for instance. It provides a bit of grounding I guess. Anyway, it worked well for that show, and I think it'll do for me as well.

So with that in mind, I present the highlights from the 1977 TV Guide Fall Preview issue. Again, the first thing I noticed about this issue (like the 1980 issue) is that the digest itself was folded and stapled instead of being perfect bound like a book. This makes for very difficult scanning; well difficult while trying not to destroy the issue as well as trying to keep relevant pages together.



Also, as I've been noticing with these older issues of the Guide, most of the advertising is set aside for cigarettes and booze, but there are a few other odds and ends that are interesting. I didn't realize that there was a deluxe version of Kraft Mac & Cheese available in the 70s. Mainly I subsisted on ramen during my college days, but every once in awhile as a treat I'd pick up the deluxe Mac & Cheese dinner (in particular the one with bacon bits included, you know to simulate eating something a little more substantial.) At first glance I thought the plated dinner in the ad looked a little weird with the two strips of bacon and the paltry makings of a BLT on the side of the plate, but right now it actually sounds pretty good. I do have to say that it throws off the illusion of a quick and easy dinner though; I mean if you're going to fry up some bacon and slice a tomato, why not go ahead and cook?

I also dug the heck out of the Quaker Oats cookies ad. First off I really love spot illustrations in ad work, especially when it's quality like this (are those watercolors?) But I also love it when the company mascot is front and center without just using the familiar iconographic image (like the Quaker man on the boxes in the coupon.) It's kind of interesting (and a little weird maybe) to see Quaker man fishing with some kid and his dog while enjoying a picnic of cookies and what I can only hope is milk in that thermos. It's kind of nice to think that Quaker man enjoys relaxing in his off time with hobbies like this, though I think in this modern world it's a little creepy that he's off alone with a strange kid. Heck, maybe it's his nephew or grandson, but then for continuity's sake I'd like to see the kid in a Quaker outfit as well. Also, who developed the crosshatching pattern for peanut butter cookies anyway? My mom always stuck to this tradition when baking them for our family when I was younger.

The Toyota Celica ad is kind of cool too. I like that the designers were trying to ape the look and feel of a Mustang with the liftback version of the Celica. Making them feel a little more American I guess. Did you realize that car is 'hot'? On the other hand we have what I believe to be one of the most annoying ads I've seen in a long time (barring TV and radio that is) for the Vivatar 603 pocket camera. I get that the ad guys were trying to visually put a spin on the idea of other brands offering only 'half a camera' because the new Vivatar offers a build in flash, but because they cut the ad in half and shuffled with around like that on the page it's just annoying to read.



As far as the previews go for 1977, there sure are some whoppers as well as some weird ones. Above we have a preview for a show called Operation Petticoat (based on a movie of the same name) starring John Astin and Jamie Lee Curtis. I think it's kind of weird to have a sitcom set aboard the claustrophobic confines of a submarine (in particular with the main crux of the story surrounding the sexual tension of the crew vs. a bunch of military nurses that they are transporting.) After doing a little research though it looks like this was truly a vehicle for John Astin as he directed the first few episodes as well as starred as the sub's captain. I'm not sure how well the show did though as it only lasted for a season and a half, not to mention that Astin and Curtis jumped ship after the first season.

'77 was a very nautical year as the Love Boat also launched from port. Growing up there were two shows that it seemed like my sister never missed, Love Boat and Fantasy Island, so I caught my fare share of episodes while hanging out with her.  Looking back, the concept of the show was just marketing genius. Having the majority of the stories surrounding the plethora of guest stars that came aboard each show is almost a way of having sweeps episodes year round. I wish the studios weren't being so stingy with the DVDs that finally came out this year though (only releasing half a season of a 31 year-old show and charging full season rates is absolutely piratanical I tells ya.)

The TV set in the ad adjacent to the Love Boat preview looks a hell of a lot like the TV my family had until I turned sixteen. Same faux-wood box, and channel tuners. I wonder if TVs are being built that can last 16 years like these old monsters did? I doubt it.

I absolutely love the Camel ad in this issue. It screams action, adventure, and maybe a little James Bond, though only if an actor that looked like a cross between Tom Selleck and Patrick Duffy played Bond. I'm as interested as that bikini-clad assistant and the bearded seaman in what Camel man has found in the depths of the sea! I am seriously considering picking up smoking nowâ

With these older TV guides I've certainly hit the Saturday Morning cartoon ad jackpot as all three major networks make a showing. Above we have the line-ups for NBC and CBS including shows like The Adventures of Muhammad Ali, the New Archies and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Space Academy. I really dig the illustration done for the Space Academy show as it makes it seem ten thousand times more thrilling and action packed than the actual Filmation show was. It is kind of odd that the CBS ad is a truncated version of the ad they ran in comic books at the time (which you can see here in this post I did awhile back), and it really shows in how poorly it was translated to the digest size format of the TV Guide. It's also sort of weird because the times the shows are listed to air are different. It raises a question about whether comic book printings used to feature regional ads or if this was just a mistake. I can see the line-ups jumbling around from city to city, so the different TV Guides might have slightly different ads, but I always figured comic books were distributed country wide with the same ads. Anyone out there know?



Rounding out the cartoon ads is this beauty from ABC featuring one of my all time favorite shows, the Hanna Barbera Laff-A-Lympics. I never seemed to catch this show at home when it aired in re-runs, but I swear, every single time my family was out of town or on the road it seemed like the only cartoon that I'd find on TV in the various motels we'd stay at. It brings back a lot of fond memories of waking up to the show, and then off to the complimentary Ho-Jo's continental breakfast. I could so go for some plain scrambled eggs, bacon, and corn flakes while watching Blue Falcon and Dynomutt face off against Yogi Bear and Quick Draw McGraw in a battle of river rafting right about now. Also, I totally missed out on everything Kroft while growing up and I am dying to see the adventures of Bigfoot and Wildboyâ

One of the best parts in picking up these old TV Guides is getting a feel for what a week in the life of a 1977 TV viewer was like. I get a little of this watching shows like Freaks and Geeks (hearing Sam, Bill, and Eli pontificate on catching the latest Three's Company, Welcome Back Kotter, and Bionic Woman episodes), but it's really neat to see it for myself in an artifact like this. Again, I put out a plea to studios everywhere, get over your stupid money grubbing rights issues and put some of these shows out on DVD! I need to see Jamie Sommers and her bionic dog fight crime. At least they finally started releasing decent sets of shows like Welcome Back Kotter (instead of the pointless 4-episode best of discs.) The following page is just as exciting as the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew face off against Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein, while later on in the evening the Bionic Man is captured by Killer Sharks! You never see stuff like this anymore. When was the last time Meredith was captured by sharks on Grey's Anatomy? When was the last time a bionic dog was introduced into a show's cast? Makes me miss shows like Buffy as it was about the closest we got to stuff like thisâ

There was also an ad for an odd show called Lucan about a boy raised by wolves. At first blush I figured this was a werewolf show, but I think it's more of a raised by animals deal. I guess they should have thought twice before using the dripping blood font which just confused and unnecessarily excited me.



I thought it was interesting that the editors at TV Guide were keen on getting feedback from viewers in the premiere of CHiPs, going so far as to provide a little mail in coupon. I wonder why this show and not all of them? Were they being paid by NBC to facilitate it? Well if I could have at the time, I so would have written "Heck Yeah!" on the back and sent it in. I talked about my love for this show when I shared my set of CHiPs sticker cards a while back. I canât wait to pick up the second seasonâ

I was surprised to see an ad for the network premiere of the Making of Star Wars so soon after it hit theaters. I'd have to say that for once, a crazy claim on an ad has actually stood the test of time as well. I'd be willing to wager that Star Wars still holds the title as the most popular movie of all time. I also thought it was cool to see an ad for the season opener of Wonder Woman which boasts the jump in time from the 40s to a modern setting. I watched my fare share of this show in re-runs growing up and it never dawned on me that it was originally set during WWII. Shows how on-the-ball I was as a kid. Oh and lets all make sure not to miss the Muppet show (I really liked that the original owner of this issue circled all the shows they wanted to make sure not to miss.)

Much like my infatuation with the Rodeo Girl TV movie from the last post I made, I am now equally as intrigued by the disturbing ad for Curse of the Black Widow. I am so speechless. A spider-woman with huge boobs and creepy human appendages! Wow! I bet it has nothing to do with gigantic female spiders, but if it does, please somebody get me a copy of this filmâ

There's also another, much better though just as small, ad for Sha-Na-Na in this issue. Again, what was the draw of 50s nostalgia during the 70s and 80s? I guess it's no different than my current 80s obsession. Also, on the facing page, whatâs up with that weirdly sincere cigarette ad that's playing off of a cover of the Saturday Evening Post?



There were a lot of cool shows starting up in 1977, but the one I've probably watched the most of over the years is Soap. My mom introduced me to this sitcom when we'd both stay up late on the weekends during the late 80s and 90s watching Soap in syndication. I was hooked on all of the spoofy storylines and loved seeing all the actors who I knew from their later work in this earlier hilarious show. I'm pretty sure I even watched its spin-off, Benson, before I realized that this show existed.

Last but not least we have a couple of previews for some more sci-fi oriented shows that debuted in '77, The Man From Atlantis and the TV version of Logan's Run. Though I doubt it's as cool as I'm making it out in my head, I would really like to see TMFA as I've always been curious about the idea of a live action version of either Namor or Aquaman (though I'm completely un-interested in the pilot to the show that they tried to pawn off on us last year.) Before Dallas and Step By Step, Patrick Duffy sported webbed hands and feet in four TV movies and finally this show, battling mad scientists and criminals. Who'd of thunk it. Also, on a totally unrelated note, I just realized that all of the preview pictures in this issue have a spotlight shining on the stars. Nice design touch TV Guide...

Next week I'll be back, most assuredly with the '78 issue of the TV Guide Fall Previewâ