And now, a word from their sponsor: The Disco Body Shaper?

The Museum of Classic Chicago Television account has done it again, sharing a clip so shocking, so astonishing, so Seventies, that words fail me. Let the YouTube commenters do the talking today.

It's the Disco Body Shaper:

This ad has it all except for one important thing.

That's right, it's missing Disco Ethel Merman!

12 Days of Christmas Watching 2022 Day 1: It begins!

This is your friendly neighborhood podcaster Rick sending you all Season's Greetings and announcing that starting today and going up to December 24, I will be sharing the 12 Days of Christmas Watching with you. Each day I will post a few words about a bit of holiday television I watch this season, with the only rule being it will be something I have never seen before, or at least something I don't remember seeing before.

Maybe we can make this an annual tradition on par with screening A Charlie Brown's Christmas, with the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Plaza, and with me stabbing myself with one of the cheap ornament hooks I insist on keeping each year as I pull them out of the box.

So how do I start the 12 Days for 2022? Uh, well, I don't want to write about a few things because what I saw first is from a series we are likely covering in Season 11. So...oops!

To save this new feature from instant terminal lameness, though, let me share a cool commercial. Take the world's biggest toy store and combine it with the world's biggest trend, and you get 1979's roller disco Toys R Us ad!

This has it all, except Ethel Merman! OK, some actual toys would be nice, but skates are toys!

Another thing is, this isn't an actual store. If it is, boy, I really regret growing up 40 minutes away from the nearest location. They knew they didn't need to show the products or the setting, but all they had to do in 1979 was show DISCO, and everyone would arrive ready to buy.

I don't think that is a Christmas commercial, so here is the classic one that I loved even though it irritated me because I didn't have a store in my town:

I'll be back tomorrow with more variety!

YouTube Spotlight: Little House goes disco?

When considering which of the many videos to highlight from our YouTube playlist for Little House on the Prairie, we confront a tough choice between intriguing commercials, sobering PSAs, and--oh, who are we kidding? We're spotlighting the disco clip.

Much love to The Media Hoarder for uploading this, and in the comments, the channel posts this message: Melissa Gilbert herself has seen this upload! Her response was: "OMG! Adolescence at its worst!"

The clip is from a 1978 American Bandstand, and it was a time when every song, no matter how old, had to have a disco arrangement.

YouTube Spotlight: Ethel Merman, Disco Queen

When we first stumbled upon this video, it was bizarre, nonsensical, and inexplicable: Ethel Merman performing a disco version of Alexander's Ragtime Band to a live and TV audience of children:

However, now that we know Ethel starred in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, as we discuss on the podcast this week, and that this performance took place not too long before that special was in production...

Nah, sorry, it's still bizarre, nonsensical, and inexplicable. And I love every second of it!

The song was a little--I don't like to use the word "dated" on a site devoted to classic television, so let's say it was a little traditional even in 1978. Even the hearty discofication of it can't change the fact that, "the bestest band what am, oh, my honey lamb," isn't gonna sound cutting edge. I doubt it did when it was written.

Ethel gives this her all, though, and if you look hard enough, you can see, or at least imagine, genuine enthusiasm from an appreciative disco-and-ragtime-crazy cross-section of America's youth. The playlist for the podcast features her singing this on The Tonight Show, but this performance is even more amazing. What better way is there to celebrate this Independence Day weekend than to celebrate Ethel Merman's attempt to cash in on disco...by watching this again and again and again...

Happy Birthday, David Naughton!

David Naughton, star of An American Werewolf in London and numerous Dr. Pepper commercials, turns 70 today.  We haven't gotten around to My Sister Sam nor At Ease yet, but one of his other starring TV roles is on my What I'd Like to See list and is a guarantee if CBS does the right thing and puts it on Paramount Plus. That's right, it's my favorite disco sitcom of the Seventies even if I have only seen one episode: Makin' It!

I will admit this is quite possibly the kind of show where the opening delivers so much of what you want that you are better off watching it over and over than the actual episodes. This intro checks off so many of the Disco/Garry Marshall/Period Sitcom boxes, though, we have to consider it one of the best of the forgotten sitcom themes (the sitcom itself is forgotten, but the song itself was a top-5 hit for Naughton)!

Great Moments in 70s and 80s TV History #6: Disco Twiki

Twiki is not only one of our favorite TV robots, he is also one of our favorite TV dancers. Check him out in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century's  "Cruise Ship to the Stars" in season 1:

We do have to give credit where it's due, though. When his robot girlfriend Tina praises his moves, Twiki says Buck taught him everything he knew. Then he gives Tina butt bump that almost knocks out her circuits.

So we have to say, hey, Buck and Wilma represent pretty well for us humans:

But at the end, it's Twiki who gets the girl:

Where will 'Cruise Ship to the Stars" rank in our list of season 1 episodes? Find out tomorrow when Mike presents a definitive rating!