TFTP Will Return After These Messages: Commercial Block from ABC (Nov. 4, 1983)

Posted to YouTube by user 'MicroJow'
Length - 10:02

Every Wednesday, TFTP takes a break from regular programming to bring you a selection of classic commercials. We will return after these messages...

This block of commercials from November 4, 1983, comes from Tampa Bay-area ABC affiliate WTSP. It features ads for Arrid Extra Dry deodorant, Canon Snappy cameras, Biskits restaurants, Nutri Grain cereal, L'Oreal lipstick, Polaroid cameras (with longtime pitchman James Garner), Sears department stores, Wrigley's Spearmint gum, Burger King (with Emmanuel Lewis of "Webster" fame), and Gulf Oil car care centers. In addition, there are two different ads for AT&T, which was at the time trying to re-establish itself in the midst of antitrust action against it; one of these ads is for the re-branding of the Bell Telephone Phone Center into the AT&T Phone Center.

There are also several ABC program promos representing the cream of ABC's 1983 crop--for "Hardcastle and McCormick", "T.J. Hooker", "Love Boat" (a 2-hour "Oriental holiday" episode), "That's Incredible", "Monday Night Football", NCAA college football, "Trauma Center", "Nightline", the network TV premiere of the movie "Stir Crazy" with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, the special "Life's Most Embarrassing Moments, Part III", and an ABC News special on JFK that was presumably timed for the approaching 20th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination.

Interestingly, ABC was really getting a jump on promoting the 1984 Summer Olympics, as every promo here--a full nine months before the start of the games--features a line of text at the bottom that says "1984 - The Olympic Tradition Continues". A newsbreak from local WTSP news appears, too, along with a promo for the upcoming late local news from WTSP.

TFTP Game Shows: "Wheel of Fortune" from NBC (Dec. 4, 1979)

Posted to YouTube by user 'The Fun & Games Channel'
Length - 27:03

"Wheel of Fortune" is a game-show juggernaut that in 2017 celebrated its 35th anniversary as a nightly syndicated program. Many people might be aware that it also existed as a daytime game show in its early years before and after its launch in syndication. What most people probably do not know (or remember) is that its original host (from 1975-1981) in its daytime version was game-show stand-by Chuck Woolery.

In the classic game-show precincts of YouTube, these early, Woolery-hosted episodes are known as "Woolery Wheel", and here we have a 1979 episode of "Woolery Wheel" that also features original letter-turner Susan Stafford. Contestants Susan, Lea, and Ginger face off in a version of the game that seems terribly quaint and retrograde to us today, with letters that actually had to be turned, a returning champion similar to many other game-shows of the era (and thus no bonus round), a wheel with much fewer bells and whistles, and the original bazaar-style shopping segment at the end of each game. Because of the need to physically turn the letters, the show is considerably slower-paced than it is now. But the core of the game is already there--and is one of the things that has made the game so perennial.

This recording includes original commercial breaks, with many interesting late-1970s era ads. These include: Nestle Bowl O' Noodles, Mueller's Spaghetti, a Sears commercial for women's clothing, Purina Moist & Chunky and Gravy Train dog foods, Metamucil, Chiffon margarine, Maxwell House coffee, Sunlite sunflower oil, Rice Krispies cereal, Milk Mate chocolate milk mix, and Cross Your Heart bras. In addition, there is a bumper ad for Ben Franklin Five and Dime stores and a WNBC local program promo for "The Newlywed Game".

TFTP Flow: "CBS Late Movie" Intro & Commercial/Promo Break from KXJB/Fargo, ND (Sep. 1983)

Posted to YouTube by user 'robatsea2009'

Television "flow" - an unbroken sequence of various on-air elements such as program segments, news breaks, commercials, program promos, PSAs, station IDs, bumpers, and other interstitials, which can be analyzed to understand what viewers of the past experienced when watching TV.

Some time ago, TFTP featured a hometown station sign-off segment from CBS affiliate KXJB/Fargo, North Dakota. Here is a "flow" clip from the same station from September 1983. (See above for a definition of television "flow".) An intro to the CBS Late Movie is followed by several commercials, including ones for Rubbermaid microwave cookware (just becoming a thing around this time), Sears, and Kibbles n' Bits (n' Bits, n' Bits). Two program promos join the mix: for the "Barbara Mandrell Show" (Saturday nights at 10:30) and for a pre-scandalous Jimmy Swaggart's Sunday morning religious program. Finally, a PSAs for United Way and the US Dept. of Health and Human Services round out the flow sequence.