Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: I'm not sure which puppet will be giving me more nightmares tonight
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) Kukla and Ollie were a popular children's show from 1947-1957. They made a resurgence in the late 1960s and early 1970s--when those kids grew up and were now on acid. So, this explains a lot.
2.) You know it's the '70s when everything is a lovely hue of sepia. 3.) What has Smokey so busy that he's too busy for a Public Service Announcement? Isn't that his only job? Does Smokey get vacation, sick time, holidays, and a sensible 401k plan?
4.) Always breaking matches in two somehow magically puts the flame out. How, I don't know. Try it at home and see if your house goes up in flames. 5.) Ollie is apparently a dragon. I had to look that up because he looks like a deformed lion in need of Invisalign.
6.) Somkey's face is placed onto matches. Pause and let that linger for a second. Some marketing guru thought using Smokey's face to make a flame was quality branding.
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: Grandma's lurking in the shadows.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) Who knew Hartford was such a hotbed for criminal activity? Next thing you know, McGruff will say Sioux Falls is overrun by the Sicilian mob. 2.) If McGruff sees all this crime, why doesn't HE call it in? 3.) You're telling me that Mimi here has such keen eyesight to make out a van's license plate a couple hundred feet away? 4.) How did the criminals not see Mimi and Albert's gigantic walkie-talkies from three blocks away? It's like a 20ft antenna strapped to a 10lb brick. 5.) Isn't "neighborhood watch" just another way of saying "nosy neighbor"?
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: The best life lessons occur when you're on a rowboat and bored out of your head.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) Sure as hell looks like the fish aren't biting today. 2.) Way to go, Gramps. You raised a son or daughter who then brought-up a bigot as a grandkid. 3.) Personally, I'm prejudiced against the casual hats used in this PSA. Did Pops take a fedora and festoon it with fishing lures? And where did little Bobby get the teal hat? Were all the chartreuse-colored hats sold out? 4.) Are we just going to sit here and ignore the copious amount of back hair crawling out of Grandpa's shirt? 5.) Bonus points for the one-eyed stinkeye Gramps pulls off that channels his inner Popeye. 6.) This commercial ended way too soon. Did the kid have any other offhand follow-up revelations? Like, "Sarah says I'm a homophobe. And Bobby says I belong in the KKK."
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: May the immunizations be with you.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) Wait--whooping cough? Whooping cough?? Whooping cough was the go-to illness R2 thought he had? 2.) The fact R2-D2 doesn't even know droids can't get diseases immediately makes his intelligence suspect. I don't want him working on my space ship. Kill someone else, buddy. 3.) C-3PO is the real Debbie Downer here. He just skips right ahead to inevitable horrors for children, including brain damage and death. But, hey, back to your Saturday morning cartoons! 4.) This PSA is 40-years old. Anti-vaxxers were pulling their shenanigans early. 5.) What, no address? You just send stuff off to Pueblo, Colorado, and the postal carrier knows where it goes? You just "write" them? What do you write? Recipes? Casual advice?
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: Hey, hey, HEY! This didn't age well!
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) Marie Kondo is going to lose it if she sees the mess on Bill's desk. 2.)"Maybe it was shoplifting or stealing a car." Or maybe it was dabbling in roofies. Who knows what gets someone into prison, kids?! 3.)"Whatever it was, it probably started small, became bigger. Maybe they even got away with it at first and thought they'd never get caught." Whoa-whoa-whoa--is Bill Cosby confessing 40-years ago on Saturday morning TV? 4.)"Prison isn't fun." But prison probably has an excess supply of Jell-o pudding cups, so it has that going for it.
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: TWO Red Cross PSAs for the price of one!
Random Thoughts and Questions (PSA #1): 1.) Some tender flute music is the hallmark of a quality PSA. 2.) Everything in the 1970s was just a varying shade of sepia. 3.) Correction: Everything in the 1970s was just a varying shade of sepia with a dash of beige to jazz things up. 4.) The two seconds of wannabe Saving Private Ryan was unexpectedrandom lacking missing limbs. 5.) So I take it that the wife/mom is bored out of her skull with her kid? 6.) That three page brochure is probably chock-full of info. It might take all day to read.
Random Thoughts and Questions (PSA #2): 1.) Ten days at this aquatic "center." Also known as the woods. 2.) BREAKING NEWS: Every modern man today from Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia is still rocking a hairstyle popular forty years ago. 3.) The hand gesture for diving seems redundant. Did he think the diver was going to take flight? 4.)"...come to the aquatic skooowa..." 5.)"Most students come [...] to learn water safety," says the teacher. And the rest show up to get a nice tan apparently. 6.) What's with the freeloader in the middle of the canoe doing nothing? AND THEN HE FLIPS THE BOAT LIKE A TROUBLEMAKER!
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: People are still trying to figure out what was going on in 1979.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) The music budget was clearly slashed at some point in production. Seems like some guy whipped out the Casio keyboard and just played one note. Ta-dah! A soundtrack was born! 2.) "Of all the planets we know..." So you're saying there's a chance? 3.) When did this become Sci-Fi Smokey, with a 2,000ft tall version of him peering over the mountains? 4.) Is Smokey okay? Is he having a stroke? Why is he talking so slowly? 5.) For a PSA about forest fires, there sure is a lot of water imagery to be had.
PBS as a whole isn't really known as a live wire of humor or excitement. A pledge drive featuring James Taylor or Downton Abbey marathons is about as wild as they get.
Specifically, the nightly PBS NewsHour is as zany as a retirement community in Del Boca Vista after 7pm, which is why it's odd that the newscast decided to hold a haiku contest recently. Lest you think rules were left open-ended, viewers were invited to submit seventeen syllables of creativity regarding healthcare in America.
Indeed...you just reflexively yawned just now at learning that.
Regardless, haiku were submitted, and the NewsHour selected two winners: __________
Can’t pay the M.D.,
no money for surgery,
but I can die free!
–Ronnie Dugger __________
The Health Care Debate
A final insanity
Which no one can win.
–Dorothy Workman __________
Dugger and Workman won nothing for their effort it seems. Not even a PBS tote bag, and those things are handed out like there was an Amazon Prime sale on them.
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: Wing it. But if the tire explodes, ehhh, you probably inflated it too much.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) ...annnnd the mannequins were used why exactly? 2.) No one can deny the sex appeal of a wood paneled station wagon. 3.) So the sticker tells the mechanic what to inflate the tires to if you're afraid, but how do you get the numbers in the first place if you don't know? Was this thought out? 4.) Who was having trouble remembering 26/26? 5.) That's right--I always see the pilot of a commercial airliner out there checking the tire pressure of his Boeing 747. 6.) At the end of the second PSA the man goes to open the door...and then lingers without opening said door. The tension was palpable!
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: BAM! KAPOW! TREASURY ACTION!!
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) Is Batman farsighted? What's going on here? Why is he holding the card so far away at the beginning? 2.) Don't his gloves look like something Audrey Hepburn would've worn in Breakfast at Tiffany's? 3.) That's right kids, get cracking on those savings bonds and pull your weight. No one cares if you're in kindergarten still. 4.) What is "practical citizenship" exactly? Isn't that, like, taking out the garbage and mowing your lawn? 5.) Don't forget, kids, you're also helping in Vietnam! I hear that whole get-together turns out well for the U.S. in the end! Thanks, kids!
Two game show contestants in England were playing a sort of Wheel of Fortune knockoff called Letterbox when they had to spell out a fictional character. Everyone in the audience, the host, and the two players' teammates knew the answer, but this intellectual dynamic duo was a bit dense.
"Does that open things up for you Lyndsey?" asks the host kindly. Oh, I think we're opening her up to a world of 19th century literature right before our eyes.
Hell, even Disney made a version of Hugo's classic awhile back. But we all know Quasimodo is no Mufasa or Aladdin.
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: Mom and Dad need to step up their game.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) I don't know about you, but I'd slip little Suzy $5 to do my laundry. 2.) So the mom and dad are angry often. At what point do they actually get around to teaching their kids life lessons? The son looks like he's old enough to buy a 6-pack of Schlitz. 3.) You always want to creep up behind your adult children like a ninja and scare the bejeezus out of them as they hold a razor blade to their face. That's quality parenting right there. 4.) The dad and son seem to get heated fairly quickly, as if there are unresolved issues between the two. Because no one gets that irked over AM radio. 5.) Little Suzy is the only winner here, as at least she wears a pair of knock-off Chuck Taylors. Kid's got style.
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: Personally, I blame the oncoming car for all these shenanigans.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) I feel the smooth brass section playing music is hugely misleading here. 2.) What's the horsepower on this red car? 15hp? How can it not out-motor two lackadaisical bike riders? 3.) This all turns into the worst episode of The Twilight Zone ever really quickly. 4.) Bonus points for the acting chops on the bike riders. Not often do you get jazz hands while being flung through the air. 5.) "...the rider is dead." And now back to Scooby-Doo, kids!
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: Cheap labor never sounded so good.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) "Psst. Psst. PSST! You're on, Governor." --Said by the director of this PSA probably. 2.) The statues on Easter Island are less rigid than this guy. 3.) Soooo, you're just letting us know boy scouts are going to be some free child labor? 4.) Meanwhile, the Girl Scouts were raking in the bucks by making all of us happy with their cookies. No one can deny a Thin Mint or Samoas.
When I was a kid, I memorized The Golden Girls and Cheers theme songs, like it was a Jeopardy category. I was made for karaoke at Japanese bars or to entertain 80-year old grandmas in their living rooms with my dulcet tones.
If you're over the age of fifty--or you're someone who was raised on Nick-at-Nite reruns by nostalgic parents--there's a chance these musical theme songs sound familiar to you. The definition of an ear worm is what these theme songs represent. You'll hum one of them for the next week while standing in line at Starbucks for a unicorn frappuccino. You'll hum them at a bus stop. You'll hum them walking down the street.
In the end, you--will--hum.
It seems many television shows from bygone eras with catchy themes had lyrics all along, except we never knew there were any words to them. THERE WERE WORDS.
So, here are eight television shows that were always known by a musical theme, but apparently had lyrics all along. Impress your grandma and sing them to her the next time you see her.
1.) The Dick Van Dyke Show
If you're over 60-years old, skip ahead. You're humming it right now as you read this.
If you're under 60-years old, The Dick Van Dyke Show was one of the most popular shows on television in the 1960s, routinely airing in the top-10 most watched shows. Its stars, Dick Van Dyke (shocker) and Mary Tyler Moore, both won multiple Emmy Awards for their roles.
And the theme song heavy on the brass section actually had lyrics all along:
So you think that you've got troubles? Well, trouble's a bubble So tell old Mr. Trouble to get lost! Why not hold your head up high and Stop cryin', start tryin' And don't forget to keep your fingers crossed. When you find the joy of livin' Is lovin' and givin' You'll be there when the winning dice are tossed. A smile is just a frown that's turned upside down So smile, and that frown will defrost. And don't forget to keep your fingers crossed.
That's passively-agressively depressing in a lyrical form. Just a hunch, but maybe that's why the producers of the show just went with the instrumental version.
It sounds better when the actual star of the show, Dick Van Dyke, actually sings it, as he did a few years ago on Rachael Ray's show, of all places.
When the 90-ish year old, white-haired star of the show sings it in a grandfatherly tone, it sounds quaint and adorable.
Hat-tip to Mary Tyler Moore for the sound effects.
2.) Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes took all the rib-tickling hilarity of Nazi POW camps and made a sitcom out of the situation. If you can't laugh at your own potential extermination, what can you laugh at, amiright?
The jaunty lyrics never sung before the show sound like a propaganda film come to life. A public service announcement for the U.S. Marines has less machismo then these words:
Heroes, heroes, husky men of war, Sons of all the heroes of the war before. We're all heroes up to our ear-o's You ask the questions We make suggestions That's what we're heroes for. All good heroes love a good, big fight Open up the bomb bays and brighten up the night. We earn laurels solving your quarrels You pull the roses, We punch the noses, That's what we're heroes for. What's a hero do? Well, we're not gonna tell ya Cause we wish we knew. That's why we heroes are so few. We've got a slogan From Colonel Hogan And Colonel Hogan's a hero too. Never flinch, boys, never be afraid, Heroes are not born, boys, heroes all are made. Ask not why, boys, never say die, boys, Answer the call, remember we'll all be heroes forever more
Well, after hearing that, I've already called my local recruiting office and signed up for a tour of duty.
Side note: Hogan's Heroes ended without World War II ever ending. Did the war ever end? Don't spoil it for me! I want to be surprised!
3.) Bonanza
There was a cute time in America--mainly around the 1950s and '60s--where everyone was in love with cowboys. The whole craze single-handedly kept John Wayne with employment for a solid two decades.
Bonanza aired for 14 seasons AND 431 EPISODES on NBC. Seinfeld, by comparison, in the 1990s had only 180. (And if you think that's insane, another cowboy show, Gunsmoke, which aired during the same era, HAD 635 EPISODES on CBS. Americans loved themselves some rootin'-tootin' stuff in the 1960s.)
The theme song of Bonanza was catchy, though. The version with lyrics never aired, but the original pilot episode had the cast sing them at the end of the episode.
I'm not afraid of any pretty maid — Bonanza! Bonanza! When I give a kiss to any little miss She'll learn a lot from me Hair of brown, hair of gold I'll take what I see We're not a one to saddle up and run — Bonanza! Bonanza! Anyone of us who starts a little fuss Knows he can count on me One for four, four for all This we guarantee
All the appeal of sexual aggression and brouhaha antics that usually leads to arrests and a court date. Sounds delightful!
4.) M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H was originally a 1968 novel made into a 1970 movie, which then became a 1972 television series that lasted eleven years. This is to say it was a cash cow.
It all had to deal with the hilarity of surgeons out in the field of battle of the Korean War--a war which, itself, only lasted three years. Nothing brings a hearty chuckle like extending the thought of warfare by a decade.
But M*A*S*H's theme had lyrics, written originally by the film director Robert Altman's teenage son. The song's title? Suicide Is Painless.
Clearly, it's a comedy built on a speedball of lyrical depression.
Through early morning fog I see Visions of the things to be The pains that are withheld for me I realize that I can see That suicide is painless It brings so many changes And I can take or leave them if I please The game of life is hard to play I'm gonna lose it anyway The losing card of some delay So this is all I have to say The sword of time will pierce our skin It doesn't hurt when it begins But as it works its way on in The pain grows stronger watch I bring A brave man once requested me To answer questions that are key Is it to be or not to be And I replied oh why ask me
What? No references to Lou Gehrig's Disease and cancer while you're at it? Where are the chuckles?!
In case you have short-term memory loss, remember that these weren't the lyrics to some horrifyingly depressing medical drama. This was a comedy show. But apparently nothing tickles the insides like the thought of suicide.
5.) Bewitched
Theme songs in the 1960s were always jaunty little 30-second numbers that apparently had a secret jazzy life, as we see with Bewitched's theme.
Here's Steve Lawrence, famous for being from the husband and wife duo of Steve & Eydie, but also known for a head of hair that required amazing amounts of styling products and creepy Vegas lounge club vibe where he's winking at you nonstop from the stage while he takes a drag from his menthol cigarette.
Bewitched, Bewitched, You've got me in your spell. Bewitched, Bewitched, You know your craft so well. Before I knew what I was doing I looked in your eyes That brand of woo you've been brewin' Took me by surprise. You witch, you witch, One thing is for sure. That stuff you pitch Just hasn't got a cure. My heart was under lock and key, But somehow it got unhitched. I never thought that I could be had But now I'm caught and I'm kinda glad To be Bewitched.
I'm just taken by any song that uses the word "woo" seriously in its lyrics. That takes some moxie.
6.) I Dream of Jeannie
1967 was the Summer of Love, which is to say everyone was in a haze and cloud of various, uhhh, medicinal products freely passed from one to another.
This also explains how two television shows about a witch (Bewitched) and a genie (I Dream of Jeannie) could somehow be the peak of television ratings then.
Jeannie had a boppy little musical intro which had lyrics thrown away by producers. Because when you're high on LSD, odds are the lyrics don't make much sense anyway.
Jeannie, fresh as a daisy. Just love how she obeys me, Does things that just amaze me so. She smiles, Presto the rain goes. She blinks, up come the rainbows. Cars stop, even the train goes slow. When she goes by She paints sunshine on every rafter, Sprinkles the air with laughter, We’re close as a quarter after three. There’s no one like Jeannie. I’ll introduce her, To you, but it’s no use, sir, Cause my Jeannie’s in love with me. She’s in love with me.
Oh, that not-so-subtle second line of how "she obeys me" can't go unheralded. The 1960s were such a hoot for casual misogynism!
7.) Star Trek
It's incredibly hard to find a video of the lyrics to the show without some fanboy of Star Trek dressed up like Spock or some random green alien singing the theme while snacking between their latest Taco Bell Supreme.
Many hours of my life were lost to find even just this basic video. Feel my pain.
Beyond The rim of the star-light My love Is wand'ring in star-flight I know He'll find in star-clustered reaches Love, Strange love a star woman teaches. I know His journey ends never His star trek Will go on forever. But tell him While he wanders his starry sea Remember, remember me.
Whosa--whatsa--whosa singing these lyrics? Is this a mystery woman? What just happened?
Now, Captain Kirk macked on a few women during his travels over the years, but these lyrics are straight out of Days of Our Lives. And a "star woman"? I didn't drink enough to understand what's going on right now.
8.) I Love Lucy
The timeless show--in that it's insane that after all this time people still know of I Love Lucy. It's only pushing seventy years at this point. No rush.
Move on? Pssh.
I love Lucy and she loves me We're as happy as two can be Sometimes we quarrel but then How we love making up again Lucy kisses like no one can She's my missus and I'm her man And life is heaven you see 'Cause I love Lucy Yes, I love Lucy And Lucy loves me
I have to call these lyrics out. The whole show was about how they argued 24/7 over everything, and yet their marriage was full of love? Really? Maybe Lucy doesn't actually love you, Desi--ever think of that? It's lovely to hear some smooth ballad crooned to your wife, but the remaining 23.5 hours of daylight you're yelling at her.
There's a reason Lucy and Desi had individual beds on the show.
She's getting irked because she saw someone do something nice.
Ayn Rand is either a philosopher, a genius, and a skilled writer,
OR
She's a selfish, frightening, and a miserable hack at making books.
Either way, she's as popular as ever.
The way you view her says as much as your view on literature as it does your own personal moral compass. While Rand wrote two novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, it is her creation and development of a philosophical movement of Objectivism--featured in her two books--that keeps her memory alive 35-years after her death.
Did you just ask her for a cookie? Did you??
While her philosophy's scope darts in a dozen directions, one area stands forth today. In layman's terms, Objectivism argues that people should be selfish for their own personal betterment, and that personal self-interest in the only proper moral action. In essence, Objectivism bristles at altruistic behavior, and finds nothing good in doing good deeds for others. Want to eat that last cookie instead of sharing it? Objectivism would tell you to have it all for yourself, then buy a new bag of Oreos and refuse to share them with your friends or loved ones. Keep those cookies away from the hungry people most, too.
Put another way, it's a fancy way to explain being greedy.
A how-to guide on how to be mean!
Jonathan Freedland, a columnist with London's Guardian newspaper, focused on how Rand's philosophy has been embraced with open arms by the current La Casa Blanca administration and executives in Silicon Valley, with believers like Donald Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, House Speaker Paul Ryan, the founder of Uber, Travis Kalanick, and even the deceased Steve Jobs, who called Atlas Shrugged one of the "guides of his life." It seems Ayn Rand is more popular in death than she ever was in life.
Says Freedland:
"No wonder the tech companies don’t mind destroying, say, the taxi business or the traditional news media. Such concerns are beneath the young, powerful men at the top: even to listen to such concerns would be to betray the singularity of their own pure vision. It would be to break Rand’s golden rule, by which the visionary must never sacrifice himself to others.
[...]
Such an ideology will find a ready audience for as long as there are human beings who feel the rush of greed and the lure of unchecked power, longing to succumb to both without guilt. Which is to say: for ever."
If, by chance, you feel the allure of Ayn Rand and Objectivism slowly wooing you, like you wouldn't mind being selfish and only praising yourself, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver had a quick comedic segment a couple seasons ago asking why Ayn Rand was still a thing:
Why IS Rand a thing? Because selfishness is a thing, and selfishness is easy.
That said, slogging through a thousand pages of Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead is hard. Be selfish and refuse to subject yourself to them.
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: Little dolls are the true drug smugglers amongst us.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) Slow down there, buddy! You're oozing excitement and enthusiasm! 2.) Now I'm going to look at every 5-year old with a doll as a potential dope smuggler. 3.)"But this doll isn't something to play with." I think any heroin addict would beg to differ, sir. 4.) Has this guy ever gone through customs? I'll allow a smack-peddling doll in our borders if it'll shed a few minutes off my wait.
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: Either it's Japanese anime or America on LSD and jazz.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) Make sure you take your seizure medication before watching this PSA. 2.) "Kind of nice, really, what happened in this country not so long ago." Uhh, Vietnam? Korean War? World War II? World War I? The Spanish-American War? Civil War? War of 1812? Jim Crow Laws? Slavery? What nice thing popped up? Maybe the flag-sewing industry is the nice thing? I dunno. 3.)"Washington and Lincoln, real people like you and me." If they weren't real people, then aliens have been messing with us a lot longer than we thought. 4.) What's with the drums? Did they get Buddy Rich to do this on the cheap? 5.)"It was a whole new groove then. And it's still a pretty groovy idea right now." I've always associated the American flag and politics with groovy ideas. 6.) The Air Force gets a shoutout in the last seconds. Because...uhh...Lincoln and Washington were amazing fighter pilots in their day. Yeah--that's it.
Today's public service announcements are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute of absolute fantasticness.
Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the Saturday morning cartoons.
Today: Taking an edge off.
Random Thoughts and Questions: 1.) Hey, it's 5 o'clock somewhere, amiright?? 2.) Wait--there was only nine million alcoholics in America in the 1970s? Nixon, alone, was worth a solid fifteen million. 3.) I like to think this gentleman is just trying to help the local economy. 4.) YOU CAN'T PROVE THAT'S ANYTHING BUT WATER HE'S DRINKING!!
