Mr. Wizard’s World

This show was awesome! Growing up, I had Nickelodeon on quite a bit. It was one of the few cable channels I didn’t have to quickly change when my parents came in the room. Back in the 80’s, there were so many wonderful shows on that, when I see a picture or see a clip, bring a smile to my eye. From the likes of Pinwheel, Today’s Special, The Little Prince, Danger Mouse, You Can’t Do That On Television, Double Dare and so much more, those truly were the Retro Days of Nickelodeon. Now, many shows they showed then, like Today’s Special, The Little Prince, Lassie, Dennis the Menace, You Can’t Do That On Television, and Danger Mouse were not created by Nick for Nick, like many of their shows of today, but that’s probably one of the reason why kicked so much ass back then. But this past week, I was surfing though old Nick TV Shows and came across to this:

Mr. Wizard’s World…the best show ever, and I mean EVER, to entertain kids and teach them about science at the same time. Can anyone out there who ever watched the show seriously say they didn’t try to do at least one of the things from it?

The one I remember trying the most, was when he challenged the kid to cut a hole in a piece of paper and jump through it. It was interesting. The kid cut a hold in it and obviously, was too big to get through it. He then when to show that if you fold it and cut it in a particular way, you can open it up and easily walk though it. Blew my flippin mind!

I could never make it as nice as he did, probably because you need patience to cut all the strips you need to cut, and as a kid, no way did I have that. But that didn’t stop me from watching the show. It was just mind blowing watching all this done. What we need today is a show like this. There use to be Bill Nye the Science Guy, but that show (which was pretty darn cool too) isn’t on the are anymore. Yes, there use to be Beakman’s World, but that show just sucked.

Oreo’s Christmas Commercial

I saw this commercial on Youtube the other day. Wonderful commercial it is. I can remember watching this one when I was younger and re-watching it took me back.

It starts off with a little boy going down stairs on Christmas Eve and I’m guessing he is going to stay up to see Santa. He sits down on a chair right beside where he has set out the cookies, wonderful Oreo Cookies, and milk as well as a nice class of milk. Of course, being so young, he is unable to stay awake. Shortly after falling asleep, the big man himself arrives and after spying the cookies and milk, decides to take a break. Eating those Oreo Cookies delays the big guy while he is brought back to his youth. As the young boy starts to stir, it brings Santa back to reality and he makes his escape, just in time, and the little boys missing seeing him. But that’s ok, because the cookies and milk are gone and that means he was here and the little boy is happy. It’s a wonderful commercial even if I do say so myself. Buy why? Let’s look:

1. It has a wonderful jingle with it. Added is the little boy saying he’s just going to rest for a minute, it’s wonderful. I know I say it all the time, but I miss the jingles from the 80s. There was never a better time for jingles.
2. The story was cute and very well done. Shows the kid excited about Christmas and seeing Santa…what kid didn’t at least once try to wait up? The wonderful part is even though he didn’t see the big man, he didn’t get upset, but was still overjoyed to see that he ate the cookies!
3. Makes me actually want some Oreos! Come one, watch the gosh darn thing and tell me, in this Christmas Season, you couldn’t go for a couple of Oreos? Now, I love mine nice and stale and soft, so if I buy a pack now, I’ll need to open it right away and not touch it for a week, but hey, I can wait

Anyone remember this commercial? I dare say it is a classic. Come, tell me about your attempts to stay up late and see Santa. Did you leave him cookies, milk, and some carrots for the Reindeer? I did, but my story will have to wait. Until then, sit back and enjoy some Oreo Cookies and Milk.

Classic M&Ms Christmas Commercial – 1980s

NOTE: Before I get to the new article, I wanted to post my new schedule. I will still be posting an article Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but Monday and Wednesdays will be articles on Retro Commercials, but on Fridays, I will be reviewing ANYTHING Retro! Might be a TV Show, it might toys; who knows. Let’s see how it goes!

Also, thank you to This Constitutes a Sell-Out for the Link! Love that you found the original song for the Colgate Commercial. Didn’t even know that the commercial was based off of that!

The clock barely reaches 12:00 Midnight on the day after Thanksgiving that stores are opening up, and a mad frenzy of people swarm stores all over the country to start their Christmas Shopping. And in the past, that was the mark of something else special…Christmas Commercials. Today, commercials for Christmas start about a week before Thanksgiving even arrives, totally obliterating the few that use to be made for it. Ok, gotta let go of Thanksgiving, it’s done. Need to leave that until next year.

The following commercial is an 80s classic! This M&M’s treat is a commercial that always use to bring out the Holiday spirit for me. It’s a wonderful commercial with a family celebrating the holidays. Family and Friends, wonderful conversation and laughs, and a bowl full of M&M Candies. There are kids waiting by the fire, dressed warmly in holiday attire as it snows outside. I dare you to watch this commercial and tell me you didn’t get swept up into the Holiday mood.

Well, through the Christmas season, I’ll be spending Mondays and Wednesday reviewing Christmas theme commercials. If you have a favorite that you want me to review, point me towards it on Youtube or wherever and I’ll do my best to review it.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!

My search for Thanksgiving Commercials has failed. I even threw out the whole “It has to be retro” idea, and found nothing. I’m bummed. Maybe next year I’ll pick up the torch for Thanksgiving Commercials, but this, my first year doing this, I feel beat. Bad for me, but good for you! Why? I’ve decided to take a day off from commercials to review, if not the greatest Thanksgiving special, one of the greatest Thanksgiving specials EVER! A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!!!

Airing for the first time in 1973, this has been a storied part of America’s Thanksgivings traditions since. It just doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving without seeing this episode. It isn’t Thanksgiving until we see Charlie Brown fall flat on his ass from attempting to kick the football that Lucy is holding. You’d think Charlie Brown would have given up by now…but thankfully for us, he never learns.

The story revolves around Charlie Brown and the gang having a Thanksgiving feast. Well, Charlie doesn’t really want to have one since they are going to his grandmothers, but Patty invites herself, Marcie, Franklin and others. Thankfully Linus and Snoopy are there to help. We get the wonderful scenes of Snoopy trying to set everything up, but the table and chairs are never corporative. Great stuff!

Once everything is set up, they make the food. Toast, popcorn, pretzels and jelly beans. Many ask, why toast, popcorn and the such? Because, do you actually think Charlie Brown can make anything besides those? Also, do you think his friends will actually accept that? Hell no! But who saves the day? Charlie Brown’s Grandmother! They pack up the station wagon (anyone remember those?), and away they go!

But after all that, Snoopy and Woodstock sit down for a nice turkey dinner with pumpkin pie. So why didn’t Snoopy whip that up for everyone else?

Well, I hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’ll be posting on Friday or not. If not, see you on Monday!

Carvel Thanksgiving Cake!

Turkey day is almost upon us and in my search for some Thanksgiving themed commercials, I found almost none. It’s very depressing. When I was younger, you would always see a few, and usually they were for grocery stores going on about their wonderful sales. I remember one in my area, Central Pennsylvania, for a super market. It had a lady showing the different foods she cooked and then went on to show that their store had those items and that they were on sale and what not. Nothing fancy, but damn it, it put me in the mood! Today what do we have? We have commercials for Christmas that actually started a week or so ago. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Alright, sorry about my little rant. Found a commercial for Carvel’s Thanksgiving Turkey Ice Cream cake on Retrojunk.com. Not seeing it on Youtube, I loaded it up there for this entry.

Back in the 80’s, you’d always see commercials for Carvel, especially around different holidays. They have Turkey cakes for Thanksgiving, and their old stand by, Puss-n-Boots decorated for different other holidays. They had Santa’s and Egg’s for Easter. This commercial isn’t really anything special about it. It’s the only one I found for Thanksgiving that had a Retro Feel to it. If you have a special Thanksgiving commercial, leave me a comment on where it is, and I’ll write about it for Wednesday. If not, I’ll try and find something. Might not be retro, but god damn it, it will be about Thanksgiving!!!