70's Commercials Vol. 54

[@elc1960]

The voiceover for the John Denver & the Muppets Christmas special was the eternally ubiquitous Dick Tufeld. From the '50s into the '80s he did voiceovers for damn near everything, even movie trailers, plus he was the voice of the Lost in Space robot.

[@idziak4ever]

Thanks for the Christmas edition! It helps bring back happy memories. I have that Dr. pepper Jingle in my head now!!!

[@hrtvfan2870]

As often as I'm on KZbin, this is the first time I've seen the Dr Pepper ads where Ron Guidry and Charlie Rich join David Naughton.

[@DanZero77]

WABC! Just as an aside, I miss those old *available at* voiceovers that were so pervasive in TV of this era. This one sounded like Barbara Korsen who would do fill-in V/O work not only for WABC but other New York stations like WOR.

[@zachhoran]

David Naughton did get a co-star role on My Sister Sam, which ran two years 1986-1988 but got a shadow cast on it when co-star Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered in SUmmer 1989. Naughton did some appearances on Pyramid around this time.

[@gogglespisano24]

"We hope you enjoyed the Muppets, now, watch Charlie's Angels get stalked by a mad man"

[@timothysprengeler4071]

0:50, 4:26, 6:47, and 7:38--What an iconic Dr. Pepper jingle, and--wow! We get 4 versions of it. (Maybe they should just string all these together into a 4-verse song.) 3:20--The jingle for the "sugar-free" version of Dr. Pepper is great too, although it doesn't have the same staying power. 3:50--Great classic TV comedies! All of them have been rerun on-and-off on either Me TV or Antenna TV in recent years. 7:17--I miss "Frosty's Winter Wonderland." I wish they'd show it again on a channel that I can get with my rooftop antenna.

[@95keat]

"the diet soft drink that taste fattening, but it's not." What a slogan, the 70s where a simpler time.

[@tadool5352]

Never realized David Naughton was in that many different Dr. Pepper commercials😃

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

He had a hit with "Makin' It" earlier in 1979. It was the theme tune to the TV series of the same name that only lasted 8 weeks; the series was intended as a TV adaptation of the popular 1977 hit dance film, _Saturday Night Fever._

[@Panzer83]

I feel like this volume of 70's Commercials (along with John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together) is sponsored by Dr Pepper & DuPont. The "Be A Pepper" jingles are really catchy, & who doesn't love Dr Pepper.

[@typorter-pp6lh]

osc83 That’s because most TV specials back then were sponsored and indeed CREATED for the purpose of promoting a large brand or corporation.

[@yusakug]

1:41 - "I don't see any methanol"...Fool! Do not question the invisible man who suddenly appears while you are walking through your future home, and starts talking about methanol for no reason whatsoever!

[@Custom09]

I seriously want a Dr Pepper right now lol

[@elc1960]

Interesting that Charlie Rich would have done that Dr. Pepper ad, being that it aired during a John Denver special (although he would have had no way of knowing that at the time). A few years before this, Rich was presenting the CMA award for Entertainer of the Year, and when he opened the envelope and saw John Denver had won, he whipped out his Zippo lighter and set the envelope on fire. I guess he didn't think Denver was quite "country" enough, which was odd because Denver's music was way more country than ol' Charlie's was earlier in his career, with pop flavored rock songs like "Lonely Weekends" and "Mohair Sam."

[@rsdaddy141]

David Naughton ain't no " Little Sweet."😁😂

[@landyachtfan79]

MY FIRST CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

[@Sabrina79]

Mine too! I was 9 months old. 🎅❄⛄

[@landyachtfan79]

Yep, I was 6 months old!!!!!!!!

[@Starscreamlive]

This is one of my favorite Christmas specials. I wonder why they never show it anymore or sell it on dvd.

[@80sCommercialVault]

It was produced by John Denver and is now owned and controlled by his family/estate and that seems to have been the primary reason why there's been no official release on home video. Apparently Columbia/Tri-Star tried to release it on DVD in 2003 with the other Muppets/John Denver special "Rocky Mountain Holiday" (which was produced and owned by Henson) but realized that they didn't own the rights or permission to release it.

[@JohnnyUtah15]

Never realized Louisiana Lightning appeared in a Dr. Pepper commercial.

[@TTrigg]

John Denver & The Muppets-aww looking at that guest list he shouldve invited Big Bird,Grover and Bert & Ernie DuPont-that Silverstone omelette didnt look edible lol Sugar Free Dr Pepper-shouldve been a mashup with the female singer/dancer vs David Benson-haunted by..three candles!! Soap-i guess that was clam chowder Valentine-@5:07:"Ahhh you got snow in my eyes!!" Frosty's Winter Wonderland-"..they will NOT piss on hospitality!!" Nestor the LECD-thankfully he never met Chef Gordon Ramsay

[@01FozzyS]

Methanol!

[@JonathanLeon]

John Denver!!

[@ThisGuyFrritz]

...and The Muppets!

[@ThisGuyFrritz]

Kinda surprising this special is not on DVD. At least we can see it on KZbin: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqaoq5SDr8aGfrc 3:50 How many people are gonna say "R.I.P. Penny Marshall"?

[@80sCommercialVault]

My guess is that it hasn't been released on home video because the royalties for some of the songs are too expensive to justify such a release. The later special "A Muppet Family Christmas" has been released, but only in an edited fashion with many of the songs cut out for that reason. EDIT: Apparently John Denver's estate owns the rights to the special (it was produced by him) so at least some of the rights issues are due to that.

[@MichaelMangi]

Yeah it's kind of a pain to find the unedited version of A Muppet Family Christmas.

[@ThisGuyFrritz]

@@MichaelMangi As you would search for that, you would notice how many KZbinrs uploaded that!

[@80sCommercialVault]

The 2003 UK DVD release is more or less unedited (I believe it uses the 1989 NBC edit, which did excise one short scene, but all of the songs are intact). There is a fan edit floating around that restores the original 1987 version by combining that DVD with a HQ VHS capture. Not perfect but it does the job.

[@davidwages9176]

I’m not sure I even understand the purpose of those DuPont commercials. Were they just trying to make people feel good about chemicals?

[@80sCommercialVault]

The mid-late 70's was full of highly publicized industrial disasters, including Three Mile Island (which happened earlier in 1979). I'm guessing that some of these ads were designed to restore some of the eroding consumer confidence that had been lost in the wake of those.

[@iangraham9988]

80sCommercialVault also it was just 5 years after Vietnam and Napalm