WNEV-TV (CBS) Commecials - November 22, 1989

Well, I DID say Thanksgiving would be a busy time for me. Who knew getting engaged would be such a big deal? This week, the Basement shows us what TV was like on WNEV-TV on November 22, 1989. Had I put this video together last week, it would have been a bit more appropriate, but there’s enough Christmas goodness to make it all come together.

0:00 to 1:43 – “Jeopardy!” ending with still ads (at 0:46, the wrong audio was used for the ad. The device pictured was actually an appliance made by Dazey Products Company, which produced kitchen appliances until the company went bankrupt in 1999.)

1:44 to 2:13 – “Be a Culture Vulture” Contest promo (the RTG they’re talking about is “Ready to Go”, a locally produced kids’ morning show that ran from 1988 to 1991. Here’s a sample clip:    • Dario and Eddie - Ready To Go TV Show  -  ...  . Callaway went on to become pretty successful in musical theater, and is best known for the singing role of Anastasia in the 1997 movie “Anastasia”, while Reese became a professor of musical theater at the University of Maryland http://tinyurl.com/jc3qx8y)

2:14 to 2:43 – Gaviscon “The Fire…EXTINGUISHER!!one!”

2:44 to 3:13 – Pepsi “Pepsi Nintendo Holiday Game” Mario (From Dinosaur Dracula: “The ad mixed traditional animation with an 8-bit flavor to rave reviews, and if you’re not won over by the sight of Santa Mario treating a general store like Level 1-3, you’re horrible and there is no pleasing you.” http://tinyurl.com/ng7cjow)

3:14 to 3:44 – Ames (a chain of discount department stores HQ’d in Rocky Hill, CT that went out of business in 2002. At one point, it was the fourth largest discount retailer in the United States, but ultimately fell victim to excessive debt and competition from none other than Wal-Mart.)

3:45 to 3:49 – News 7 New England Update

3:51 to 4:21 – “Prancer” promo (a rural Midwestern girl finds an injured Prancer in the woods and nurses him back to health in time for Christmas. From Roger Ebert’s review: “OK, I know, this sounds like a cloying fantasy designed to paralyze anyone over the age of 9, but not the way it's told by director John Hancock and writer Greg Taylor. They give the film an unsentimental, almost realistic edge by making the father (Sam Elliott) into a tough, no-nonsense farmer who's having trouble raising his kids alone, and keeps laying down the law. And what really redeems the movie, taking it out of the category of kiddie picture and giving it a heart and gumption, is the performance by a young actress named Rebecca Harrell, as Jessica.” http://tinyurl.com/qg9um2s)

4:22 to 4:52 – Matchbox Superfast Machines

4:54 to 5:24 – Nestle Tollhouse Semi-Sweet Morsels

5:25 to 5:55 – 7Up feat. Cool Spot (classic Christmas ad featuring Cool Spot. Created by the Leo Burnett ad agency, Cool Spot was just about everywhere in the late 80s to early 90s, and popular enough to warrant (crappy) video games until 7Up was purchased by Cadbury Schweppes in 1995)

5:56 to 6:06 – Bugs Bunny Thanksgiving Day Diet promo

6:08 to 6:11 – CBS/WNEV interstitial

6:12 to 6:22 - CBS “Stop the Madness” anti-drug PSA feat. Michele Lee (Ms. Lee is best known for her role as Karen Fairgate on “Knots Landing”. Here’s what she considers her best moment on the show:    • Видео  )

6:24 to 6:53 - Cinnamon Life Cereal

6:54 to 7:10 – Playskool Weebles Farm

7:10 to 7:25 – Wendy’s “All Dogs Go to Heaven” Promo

7:26 to 7:45 – CBS All-American Thanksgiving Day Parade/Muppet Babies/Dink the Little Dinosaur/Care Bears II promo (based on reviews, the subtitle for Care Bears II should have been “The Search for More Money”)

7:48 to 8:17 – Alpo Cat Food feat. Garfield (at the time, Alpo was a relatively unknown pet food company. Thanks to this ad campaign---signed off by Jim Davis himself after a visit to their factory in South Whitehall, PA---the company earned $100 million in revenue from cat food alone. Here’s an academic paper that documents the rise and fall of Alpo and Garfield's role in both. http://tinyurl.com/q5l74jj)

8:18 to 8:29 – “Circus of the Stars” promo (yes, that is Alex Trebek at 8:26, and here’s his act: http://tinyurl.com/zuwr3l2)

8:30 to 8:39 – “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” promo

8:40 to 8:45 – CBS interstitial

8:48 to 9:17 – Pearle Express

9:18 to 9:47 – Milk

9:50 to 9:52 - News 7 New England Update (the Shuttle Discovery mission was designated STS-33, and was the first nighttime launch of a shuttle after the Challenger disaster. Its mission, the details of which remain classified, was the deployment of a military satellite. All that's known is that the payload was heavy. http://tinyurl.com/zz7v9tl)

9:53 to 10:23 – Pizza Hut “Solar Shades” (I know, I know, I missed Back to the Future Day, but you can get your Solar Shades these days for a very reasonable $24.99 plus S&H from eBay. http://tinyurl.com/zvf9fsh)