Monday, April 21, 2008

Great to Be Back Monday!

Wow, did I miss you guys. I loves doing me some bloggin'.


Brainiac 5: C*ck Block.
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Here's a classic comic ad for the CBS morning roster. See, back in the day, when there were just three networks and PBS, you relied heavily on what they gave you, so the annual line-up was quite the big deal.


Yeah, I know. Most of these shows were best forgotten (with the obvious exception of the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour) , but we had another season of Shazam! and, lame as it was, it was a live-action adaptation of a comic, which made it awesome by default.

But check out the text for Isis, an insufferably boring character (until last year when she told Black Adam to wipe out humanity during the Infinite Crisis) and a show that was about as entertaining as a 9th grade history class:


Isis fights evil in all its forms! Apparently, that includes evil in the form of a train. Not sure what the train did to deserve such a bitch-slapping, but I'm sure it had it coming.
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So, my fellow readers from the 70's, did anyone mutilate enough comics to get this belt buckle back in 1976? I seem to recall most of those titles were cancelled before the respective issues were published, but if anyone actually pulled it off, I'd love to hear if the buckle was worth the effort.
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My sister had one of these. I think we made one shrunken head out of it before we realized it was actually a crafts project, which meant it took patience and effort so we never tried it again.

For you young 'uns, the "head" was actually an apple (you provided) which was peeled (which you did) and dried (which you did) and then sewed teeth and eyes on (which you did). Then, you waited about two days before your mother chucked it in the trash in disgust.

Hey, we didn't have Game Boys in the 1970's, ok? Stuff like that constituted entertainment back in the day.

Glad to be back, everyone!

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great to have you back son,
but did you honestly have to sit through the News TEN times in a morning around cartoons? Kid's dont give a crap about the News, why put it on twice an hour? Not that short or simple?

FoldedSoup said...

Wait.. that's not the Funky Phantom!

I still fondly remember Space Nuts to this day.

Adam Barnett said...

You would not *believe* the crap we had to suffer through in between cartoons back in the day. I think the network got credit for PSA's by doing that or something.

Unknown said...

"In The News" sucked really hard, but they were only about 1 minute segments. The only seemed to go on for an hour.

I vaguely remember the Shazam! live action show.

Captain Infinity said...

Sadly, I can say I remember watching 8 out of 10 of those shows.

Comixbear said...

Hey, when I was growing up and watching Saturday morning tv (the only time to watch cartoons, I may ad) then I DEFINITELY didn't want to learn anything!

http://comixbearbarecomix.blogspot.com/

Gildas said...

Remember how Isis had to say an incantation whenever she wanted to work magic? Any bad guy could have either cut her throat or put three bullets in her by the time she finished.

Comixbear said...

Maybe so, but Isis made sure to only fight natural disasters or villains who didn't own weapons of any sort!

D.B. Echo said...

I remember all these ads!

I LIKED "In The News." It made me feel all informed and stuff. I remember when they announced its cancellation - in an "In The News" spot. They just basically said "This is the last segment of 'In the News.' It's been fun. Goodbye!" I was pretty shocked.

The stars of F-Troop in a show called "Ghostbusters" years before Ivan Reitman & company ripped off - I mean, independently developed the idea. And then they get sued by Harvey Comics AND Huey Lewis.

The term "Live" confused me in that ad. Like, is it going to be performed live? No, it just meant it wasn't animated.

Isis was kinda hot.

Kukla, Fran, and Ollie: Causing kids to say "What the hell IS that thing?" even after all these years.

SallyP said...

Ah, Saturday morning cartoons. I blush to confess this, but I actually kind've liked Schoolhouse Rock. The News thing however was boring.

Oh, and glad that you're back!

Anonymous said...

did you notice that isis was her secret identity? i guess that's the professor wandering round like a mummy in waiting blasting people with magical go-go power

Anonymous said...

Wow--The best of that Saturday morning lineup was the Pebbles and BamBam show--I used to love that--Moonrock, Wiggy, Penny and all their friends!--
--Oh, sorry. Is my age showing?

Tom

Sea-of-Green said...

Oh, lord, Kukla, Fran, and Ollie. I NEVER understood those stupid puppets. I think they were just sad holdovers from the Baby Boomer days, kinda like Lamb Chop and Howdy Doody. I never understood Captain Kangeroo, either.

Bozo the Clown ROCKED, though. ;-)

Everyone remember how the networks used to have hour-long programs on Friday evenings before the new Saturday morning lineups, to promote the new shows? My brother and I used to watch those religiously, then plan our TV viewing for the next morning.

In The News sucked. Schoolhouse Rock was great. And does anyone else remember that stupid little cartoon about eating cheese as a snack? "-- Add carrot sticks and olives, and all the other knickknacks; Then set it by the TV set for when you want those quick snacks" ? What the hell kind of public service announcement was that? It didn't make me eat more cheese, but I still remember the stupid cartoon.

Adam Barnett said...

You mean Timer, sea of green! Time for Timer, who told us pizza was a perfectly good breakfast!

Mr. Echo, that whole Ghostbusters thing annoyed the heck out of me from ground zero. Spencer, Tracy and Kong were around long before the movie, and no one seemed to care that the idea had obviously been poached.

Anonymous said...

"remember that stupid little cartoon about eating cheese as a snack? "

Ah yes. "Something something hunk of cheese!" I think.

"Any bad guy could have either cut her throat or put three bullets in her by the time she finished."

No way, her hotness would distract them.

Gildas said...

I admit I hadn't thought of that.

Erich said...

"I hanker for a hunk of cheese!"

You just don't get enough opportunities to use the word "hanker."

D.B. Echo said...

God bless YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3jgo5ea_zc

I sort-of remember this version. But there's another one where he doesn't have the western accent and is dancing through a refrigerator. Remember, kids, refrigerators are fun places to play!

D.B. Echo said...

Ah, here's the other version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjnKzIU-obI&NR=1

Pere Ubu said...

Thank you for posting that ad! Not only did I not hallucinate the weird foreign films of "CBS Children's Film Festival", but in the process of researching the film titles I found the title of a Hanna-Barbera cartoon I'd been afraid was nothing more than a red kryptonite flashback for years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh6YbL4uCOk