Online Pick of the Week (10/2): Vintage Promos

Been scouring YouTube and been gawking at many of the older ways networks and local stations tried to grasp our attention with the shows they had to offer. I like how promos back then seemed to be more catchy and memorable. This is kind of a missing element from today's shows. I know networks still do a fall preview show, but it seemed to be a much more glamorous event back in the day.

From a local standpoint, WXIN in Indianapolis had a great campaign from circa 1989: "Indiana's Best." Some have their cheesy elements, like WAGA Atlanta's "Good News Atlanta" 1986 ad here with the balloons and such, but it's still very fun and heartfelt. Some of my favorites also include the old ads of WUSA in Washington, D.C. (back then known as WDVM, and before that WTOP).

And I can't make an entry like this without mentioning a few of the network promos that have graced our screens over the past several decades. Including ABC's "Still the One" in 1977, the successful campaign of CBS's in the mid 1980's (1983-86), "We've Got The Touch". About a year later in 1984, NBC had come up with "Let's All Be There," and used it for two years, this was when the network really started to bounce back with success with hits like The Cosby Show.

A good look at nostaglia here with some of these. Vintage station promos, my online picks of the week!

CBS' replacement for ATWT

CBS has announced that a new daily talk show, Project Mom, will replace As The World Turns this fall. The show will be hosted by Sara Gilbert, Julie Chen, Holly Robinson Peete, Sharon Osbourne and Leah Remini.

Truth be told the more I think about it I think Pyramid is best off as a 30 minute $100,000 version in syndication, maybe with new bonus round amounts for regular play sufficing.

I was never that excited about any new show in this slot, and Les Moonves‘ douchiness in the CNBC interview the day As The World Turns was canceled pretty much drained my interest in anything new coming in. But the biggest issue I have with this new talk show is that we already have The View at 11 am, I'll watch that on ABC; I don't need to see another version hours later. And I love how from the press releases that it doesn’t hesitate to sound like such a blatant rip off of The View -- even down to having 5 female hosts. As much as I loved Sara Gilbert on Roseanne and Holly Robinson-Peete on Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, I can’t say I’m excited about this.

Ugly Betty Canceled

Ugh. I cannot begin to describe how much I hate this. This season of the show was easily starting to become incredible. With the exception of Matt leaving, I was really enjoying the storylines. I really enjoyed the Blackout episode the other week, and I loved Betty moving back out on her own.

I hate how this show was treated in the past year. First it was put on a hiatus in the spring last season in favor of two shows that just wound up getting canceled anyway. Then it moved to Fridays at 9 with little promotion, then they moved the show again with little promotion, and they didn't give people enough time for people to adjust to the second move. It's no wonder the ratings didn't pick up. They should have left it at 8 pm on Thursdays. Damn ABC.

The good thing though is that there will at least be time to have a finale with closure. Silvio Horta said that he had a plan to end the show in case something like this would happen, so at least there’s that. Otherwise… sigh.

NBC: The End of a Short-Lived Era

Wow, last night’s episode of The Tonight Show, which was Conan O’Brien’s last night hosting, was absolutely brilliant and moving. Hearing how he talked about NBC being a home for him for over 20 years just goes to show that things were obviously pretty much fine until recently. And all the jabs made at the current network heads were well deserved. I’ve never seen so much support for a host, and there’s also the fact that his ratings went up at least 50% in the end. There were also plenty of celebrities supporting him. For example it’s pretty safe to say that after seeing Robin Williams’ Irish jig Thursday night, he is in strong support of Mr. O'Brien. Knowing that they’re willing to let Conan leave and Jay come back after all that as well as considering how NBC is in a hole right now in most other spots leaves me to believe Jeff Zucker and Co. are simply not too bright. “Morons! Incompetent morons!” indeed.

And I know Conan isn’t into cynicism, but I’m sorry, I can’t help but not like Jay after all this. I don’t wish the man death or anything, but it’s becoming much clearer that all he had to do was just bow out, or if he wanted another show so badly he could have easily gone to another network or try first-run syndication and Conan would still be hosting Tonight. Considering how he managed to push Johnny Carson into early retirement and screw David Letterman out of the job, I’m more than convinced he is not an innocent victim at all in this late night situation. This stuff and knowing that he’s stolen bits from Letterman and Howard Stern pretty much leave a bad taste in my mouth as far as his professionalism, or lack thereof is concerned.

I’m predominately a Letterman watcher, but I watched a few times for a couple celebrity interviews before, and with those, and as well as in seeing the show more recently, I’ve laughed with Conan’s short-lived era of The Tonight Show much more in this short span than I ever have when Jay hosted it. It’s really too bad that Conan was not given a proper chance to grow and find a good audience with Tonight. I'm glad that it seems Conan will have the last laugh though... all the way to the bank.

NBC: Late-Night Mess

As we all know by now, Jay Leno’s 10 PM talk show was cancelled by NBC, and he’d like his late night 11:35 timeslot back. Of course, this would delay Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon’s shows. Now Conan has responded to the issue of moving The Tonight Show to 12:05 AM, and he is against it. It seems that this network has learned nothing from the Leno/Letterman situation in the 1990's.

I'll admit that while I will always respect his contribution to the early years of The Simpsons, that I'm not the biggest fan of Conan as a talk show host, (I honestly either watch Letterman or Chelsea most nights around this time), but after reading that response of his, I agree with him. The Tonight Show is an institution that has been in the same slot for over 6 decades. This is a big enough mess and I think re-accommodating Jay will just add to the problem. And not to mention, a very classy response from Mr. O'Brien.

I don’t know what NBC was thinking in the first place by giving Jay a 5-night-a-week timeslot in the first place. It would have been one thing to give him a weekly or bi-weekly show, but it’s been proven over and over that letting a show air multiple times per week in a network primetime slot is just asking for failure (see Millionaire and Deal or No Deal). Just another bad decision by this network and it’s all the more reason why Jeff Zucker should have gotten his pink slip a long time ago.

The CW: Fall 2008 Schedule

Here it is, the CW's prime-time schedule for the fall 2008 season:

Monday:
8 PM Gossip Girl
9 PM One Tree Hill

Tuesday
8 PM 90210
9 PM Surviving the Filthy Rich

Wednesday
8 PM America's Next Top Model
9 PM Stylista

Thursday
8 PM Smallville
9 PM Supernatural

Friday
8 PM Everybody Hates Chris
8:30 PM The Game
9 PM America's Next Top Model rerun

Sunday
TBA


I cannot tell a lie: I am really not psyched at all about The CW. Honestly, if it weren’t for Supernatural, One Tree Hill, Smallville, and Reaper, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be watching this network at all. I must admit, I am not a fan of televised wrestling these days, but I really don’t think it’s smart to get rid of one of their highest rated shows. But then again, the person in charge is the same person that got rid of Everwood so 7th Heaven could have another season that it desperately didn’t need. And Reba would have been cancelled if it wasn’t for a syndication deal, despite the fact that it was The WB’s highest rated sitcom. So I can’t say I’m not that surprised to hear that they’re getting rid of another high rated show.

As for the shows I do watch, I’m ready and eager for season 4 of Supernatural. That is my favorite current television series, and boy was the season 3 finale one hell of a cliffhanger. And I’ve heard that this will be the last season for One Tree Hill. I wouldn’t say season 5 was the show’s best season, but despite that I say let’s see if Dan can cheat death for the umpteenth time. Has anyone else noticed how much that show loves to play with that character’s life at the end of a season? Smallville will be gone too after this fall. And I don’t feel too psyched about Smallville’s last season after hearing Michael Rosenbaum is leaving the show. Kristen Kreuk’s departure to me won’t be that big a loss, but how can you have Smallville without Lex Luthor? I’m not a huge fan of Reaper but it has grown on me a lot, despite the fact that the Sock character still annoys me. I’m glad to see Bret Harrison get another shot at a series and I enjoy seeing him on it. I'm a bit disappointed though that we won't be seeing a full season of it. That's not coming back until mid season.

Despite my love for the four shows I’ve mentioned, this network is a perfect example of something in my eyes that wasn’t broken and doesn’t need fixing. The WB and UPN should have never merged. Ever.