TFTP Promos: Affiliate Station Promo from ABC (1971)

Posted to YouTube by user 'VintageTelevision'
Length - 2:04

This two-minute long promo film is not one that was used on-air by ABC affiliates but rather one that was part of a presentation to affiliates at their annual convention in 1971. As part of the network's presentation of its promotional campaign themes--"This is the Place to Be", which appears at the end here, was used as ABC's on-air promotional slogan for a while--films such as this served as mood-setters for the staffs of the dozens of network affiliates that convened to hear what the network had to say.

The music here is so seventies-mellow that it's almost ridiculous (at first listen, the first few moments sound like Nilsson's 1969 hit "Everybody's Talkin'"). The raster-like graphics of the multiple ABC logos have a definite seventies-mellow vibe as well. And the multi-colored silhouettes, presumably from scenes of ABC shows, are just bizarre.

The many images from ABC programs that make up the middle portion of the promo film include glimpses from then-current shows such as "The Brady Bunch" (with several images), "Marcus Welby, M.D.", "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", "The Odd Couple" (with separate images of Jack Klugman and Tony Randall), "The FBI", "Monday Night Football" (which had just premiered in the fall of 1970), "The Smith Family" (with Henry Fonda), "The Mod Squad", and "The Partridge Family".

TFTP Promos: ABC Friday Night Line-Up (Fall 1970)

This 3-minute promo highlights the ABC programs on Friday nights for Fall 1970; featured are "The Brady Bunch," "Nanny and the Professor," "The Partridge Family," "That Girl," "Love, American Style," and "This is Tom Jones." "Brady Bunch" and "Partridge Family" are well-known, "That Girl" a little less so. "Nanny and the Professor" ran for about two years, from January 1970 to December 1971. "Love, American Style" was an anthology program featuring humorous stories about love--it's biggest claim to fame being that it featured as a 1972 episode the pilot for "Happy Days" (entitled "Love and the Happy Day").