Greetings, and Happy 22 to go. (-:
Hope everyone has been enjoying the holiday weekend.
As we continue forward, closing in on only three full weeks left remaining, let’s take another quick trip together.
This time around the fringes of TV Land.
A few years ago, I was invited to a conference. (Unlike many such events, where much of the excitement centers around the
over/under on which of your co-workers will fall asleep first, I was actually looking forward to this one.)
The agenda for that day’s meeting involved commercials – Super Bowl commercials, actually.
I remember thinking about all the great ones I’d seen over the years, going all the way back to when I was a little kid, even before the Super Bowl became the ultimate media circus.
As we all took our seats in the conference room, I could see that there was a six-person panel in place up front.
“How cool is this?” I remember thinking. “We’re ‘gonna break down old Super Bowl commercials and discuss them!”
What I didn’t know, though, was that we were going to break down the commercials for the then-upcoming Super Bowl; we would be reviewing those commercials that hadn’t even aired yet.
Call me a hopeless purist, but I actually remember being disappointed by that. I mean who really wants to see those commercials before the actual Super Bowl, right? (I know it’s pretty much common practice now to view and rate those commercials before game day, but back then, I didn’t want to know anything about it.)
Waiting to see which commercial was ‘gonna do what – and when – was all of the fun to me. I didn’t want or need to see any of them before game day.
So, do you have a favorite commercial? It doesn’t have to be one from the Super Bowl, you know. Any commercial that moved you or made you laugh or had you admiring how clever it was, will do nicely.
I had a few favorites of my own way back in the day. And they weren’t even national – just a few great regional ones. I’m surely going back a few years, but maybe some of you will remember them:
- Who remembers the one with the cowboy? Yeah, that brave-looking ranchero, clad in every article of western garb there is, including chaps, a 10-gallon hat, and even spurs, grabbing a shotgun and chambering a round? And as the camera goes close on his handsome face, we clearly see that he is crying, as he tearfully says,
“Goodbye, Old Paint.” We expect to see a faithful, yet decrepit horse, but instead, the camera cuts to an old car, badly in need of a paint job. Pretty sure that was a regional ad from back in the mid-1980s, but I still get a kick out of it! - And my absolute favorite? ‘Gotta be from Aamco Transmissions, all the way back in 1982. That particular commercial reminded us all how expensive car repair could truly be, and they managed to turn a car owner’s worst nightmare into utter hilarity. Complete with a malevolent service station owner, stereotypically puffing on a nasty-looking cigar, and adding in a four flushing yes-man-of-an assistant, the unfortunate car owner quickly learns that he is being charged $22,000 for the repairs. (Yep, that’s twenty-two thousand dollars. Tough news for anybody, right?!)
As for us, my friends, automotive nightmares aside, we are closing in on the goal!
Enjoy what we have left of the weekend, and please join me in keeping your eyes on the prize.
Come wake-up time tomorrow, we will have hit another milestone. (-:
Best,
JFish
PS Regarding those two TV commercials I referenced, unfortunately, I have some limitations that preclude me from posting them directly on this site.
So, if you’re interested in the above commercial gems, try pasting the following into a separate browser window:
- youtube.com/watch?v=0p5qAHcbOrs (Maaco, 1986)
- youtube.com/watch?v=cSTIvBUguJA (Aamco Transmissions, 1982)