by Michael Lyons
Long before we could cruise our remote around innumerable channels, before switching over to countless streaming services, there were three. Three networks - ABC, CBS, and NBC were the big, no make that, the only players in the game.
As the new fall TV season started, new shows were a big deal, and the three major networks knew this.
They would "tease" us all summer long with their promotions (think "teaser trailers") for their shows that were debuting in September. But these were more than just clips of these new shows; these promotions had their own slogan, their own jingle, and, sometimes, the stars of the network shows would gather like they were all together at an office party or shared universe.
And, while we couldn't stand the thought of summer ending and fading vacations, a return to school and colder weather, these network promos, at least, were a soothing reminder that there was new entertainment just around the corner. We all wondered which shows would be the next big thing, and which wouldn't make it to Halloween.
What follows is a rose-colored, nostalgic look back at just three of these network promos:
"Bright New World of ABC," 1975
"Welcome! Welcome Welcome! Welcome to the Bright New World of ABC!"
Fifty years ago, that's how the jingle for ABC's promotion began, backed up by a funky, '70s electric guitar and the ABC logo rising like a neon sun.
Quick images of popular shows were intermixed with new series, like Starsky and Hutch, Welcome Back, Kotter, and When Things Were Rotten (a Mel Brooks Robin Hood parody sitcom, years before Men in Tights), as well as sports and specials, including those celebrating the upcoming bicentennial.
The rapid-fire promo was so high energy, it almost made you look forward to Labor Day...almost.
Enjoy it here!:
"Looking Good Together," CBS, 1980
This promotion for CBS's fall line-up from forty-five years ago not only has a catchy theme song with a country twang, but it also had multiple versions.
One featured the song playing over fast-paced clips of shows, sporting events, animated specials, and movies (remember when theatrical films, like Foul Play, airing on network TV was a big deal?).
But, there's also a version featuring stars of every CBS show at the time, from One Day at a Time to The Dukes of Hazzard, singing the promotion theme in a "sing-along," that features the "CBS Eye," as the bouncing ball bopping across the lyrics at the bottom of the screen.
Watching the collective network community enthusiastically performing the earworm of a jingle is pure, entertaining, TV innocence of another time
Enjoy it here!:
"Let's All Be There," NBC, 1985
Oh, so '80s! Forty years ago, NBC was on top with blockbuster shows like The Cosby Show and Miami Vice, and their campaign and song invited even more viewers to "All Be There," that fall.
In addition to commercials where clips would play along with the promotion's theme song, NBC presented a prime-time special early that fall, The NBC All-Star Hour, where a chorus of almost every actor from every show sang the song together!
Enjoy it here!:
These are just three of the many network TV Fall Promotions. In the pre-VCR, pre-cable, pre-streaming world, we all ran home from school, work, and the dinner table to watch these shows. Ah, lovely, wistful memories that now seem as clear as a "snowy" TV reception.
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