Top Ten #386: Special "Is it really the most wonderful time of the year when That's My Mama is leaving Tubi again?" Edition!

1) Presents: Did anyone get some nice DVD or Blu-Rays this year? I mean, come on, they're still a thing, and I enjoy getting them!

2) Holiday cheer and warmth and giving: Of course giving beats getting, right? We hope all of you are enjoying a happy holiday season.

3) New Year's Day: The turning of the calendar brings resolutions, goals, and Guy Lombardo! Yes, Guy Lombardo! Everyone still remembers Dick Clark, but Lombardo was a staple of the holiday, too.

4) Toys: Hey, remember, we released a new bonus episode on Christmas Day! I shared a photo of this in our Facebook group, but here's another one of my favorite childhood toys. I didn't mention it on the podcast because I did not remember any TV ads:

5) United Negro College Fund Parade of Stars: Go back 40 years ago in time, and you will see that on the telethon Lou Rawls welcomes LeVar Burton, Robert Guillaume, Lola Falana, Gregory Hines, Danny Cooksey...Wait, a minute. Lola Falana?

6) Lost Horizon/Buck and the Preacher: Back in 1975, broadcast premieres of theatrical films was a big deal. On December 28, these two made their network debuts on NBC and ABC, respectively.

7) David Susskind: "How to Be a Jewish Son" was the theme of the episode 50 years ago this weekend, with the host welcoming guests Mel Brooks, David Steinberg, and George Segal. Surely it's a sobering, academic discussion.

8) Antenna TV/Rewind TV: The diginets announced their January schedule changes. New or returning: One Day at a Time, Sanford and Son, Mork and Mindy, and more. Some shows are moving from Antenna to Rewind. See the link for details!

9) Tannis Valelly: Happy 50th birthday to the former Janice from Head of the Class! I believe a Weekly Reader poll once named her only the fourth-most-annoying character on the series.

10) College football bowl games: 40 years ago today, we got the Sun Bowl and the Aloha Bowl! I miss the Aloha Bowl, maybe because a young Rick watched Penn State (kind of slumming it, to be honest, after a down year) in the second edition of the game. Below is a clip from the 1985 Sun Bowl and a promo for the 1989 Aloha Bowl:

Happy Boxing Day!

 

Credit to the Weird Hollywood Facebook page for the photo. You can hear us talk about this special on this episode.

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Bonus--Toy Ads!

 *Merry Christmas and Happy Even to everyone! Happy holidays to all who celebrate everything!

*We hope you enjoy this week's look at some vintage toy ads.

*Super Powers lasted 1984-1986 and was based on the DC Comics characters. A season of Super Friends was Galactic Guardians.

*Super Joe was on shelves from 1977 to 1978 but was apparently killed off by Kenner's Star Wars line.

*Babe Ruth was in the 1924 Harold Lloyd film Speedy.

*Touche was from Gabriel Games, which also produced Othello and Trouble.

*Minnesota Fats was known as "New York" Fats until The Hustler came out with a character named Minnesota. The real-life Fats (Rudolf Wanderone) adopted the new name to cash in, claiming the character from Walter Tevis' original novel was based on him.

*This week's video playlist contains the ads we mention on the podcast! We also include a few other things we talk about and an epic compilation of Atlanta TV ads from 1985.

List-o-rama: Favorite Toy Commercials

For a lot of us growing up, the holidays meant one thing above all others...TOYS...and for those of us glued to our TVs, nothing stoked the desire for those toys more than the TOY COMMERCIALS (except the half-hour cartoons based on those toys, which of course were really ads, but let's not talk about that)! What better way to celebrate the holiday season and Christmas day than to highlight some of our favorite toy commercials? After you've unwrapped your socks and gift cards and retro TV DVD sets and filled up on eggnog and fruitcake, join us for a little more holiday fun.

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#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #eighties #toycommercials #toys

 

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from BOTNS!

We're running this post a couple days early this year because, well, just keep your eyes and ears open the morning of December 25.

Thanks to everyone enjoying our current podcast season. There is much more to come!

Here for your convenience are some links to past holiday episodes if you want to enjoy a podcast to go with your Christmas cheer:

Our first Christmas episode combines The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold with A Family Circus Christmas! Keep listening for a bonus!

We enjoy the holiday toons! Here is The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas. An awe-inspiring array of classic characters gather for Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper! Speaking of classic characters, how about the Eighties special The Little Rascals Christmas Special?

Finally, enjoy our look at Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July!

Once again, from all of us at BOTNS to all of you, we wish you Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa, and of course Happy EVEN, even!

YouTube Spotlight: The Zoo Gang and ITV

On the most recent podcast, we broke down The Zoo Gang, and today we spotlight one of the clips in the episode's video playlist.

You may be asking why this is in the list, but it's just an attempt to get some of the flavor of ITV 1974 (when Zoo Gang premiered) into the mix. I do love this set of promos, though, because of the variety of the subject matter--Benny Hill, followed by a peppy advert for TV Times, the absolute classic Thames TV indent...The only thing that would make this better would be to see an actual glimpse of the sobering epic documentary that followed, The World at War.