ABC-TV "Still the One" Promos: 1977 and 1979

The pop-rock song "Still the One" by Orleans was adapted for this memorable ABC promotional campaign of the late 1970s.
All rights are acknowledged.

[@themaddogkiller]

I was 11 when the first promo using "Still The One" aired. To this day, whenever I hear that song on the radio, I think of ABC and these promos. Powerful advertising to be remembered over 30 years later.

[@mgrella63]

loved these promos,sad to see how far we have sank as a human race since those magical days.

[@Nansbbgrand]

Loved the '79 version...takes me back to such a simpler time I remember well. : )

[@RoyKnable]

40 years ago this summer. Just had to watch this again. Those were the days when lazy summer days of daytime reruns combined with promos like this during prime time to tell us that the new, exciting fall season would soon be upon us. What a difference from today's TV, when nothing excites me anymore. So many of the faces in the 1977 spot felt like real people on the streets, not staged like the 1979 ones. I can just imagine the cameraman with somebody holding up a sign next to him, "Show us number 1 if you like ABC!" The 1979 version was so much worse, exemplified by "You're still the one when the Love Boat sails" but showing the Queen Mary instead of the Pacific Princess!

[@RoyKnable]

For anyone who likes the 77 promo, there's an explanation for why it's so good. A deleted comment claims credit for creating it. It was from Harry Marks. I can believe that. Marks is known for creating the famous intro for the ABC Movie of the Week, as well as sharing an Emmy for his involvement in the Entertainment Tonight intro during the early years.

[@RonAlbaneseEntertainment]

Amazing ... more went into that promo than many of today's shows!

[@ScoopNemeth]

That song from Orleans was very appropriate and fitting, seeing that ABC was HOT back in the late 70s. These shows made the network hot: Happy Days, Charlie's Angels, Laverne and Shirley, Starsky and Hutch, Donnie and Marie, Welcome Back Kotter, The Love Boat, etc.

[@RusstheTroubadour]

Part 1from 77-78. Still The One ABC . ABC blew the competition out of the water during 76-77 . With acclaimed programming such as the Roots mini- series. Happy Days was 1. Laverne & Shirley was 2, Monday Night Movie was 3, Charlie's Angels was 5 , $6M Man was 7, Baretta and The ABC Sunday Night Movie were tied at 8 th. ABC became the number one television network for the first time in it's history and would continue to do so through the 78-79 season.

[@gravemaster8747]

Great job Orleans! Such an amazing song

[@RageTVHTX]

I remember these promos. They would run sometimes after a Sunday Night Movie just before the local news. I' feel like I remember seeing this one. I loved seeing these, they were fun to watch. Got you excited about watching TV

[@teganbigone2366]

"Still the one - as the 80s arrive..." Gave me goosebumps. It's like they knew the world was leaving the living hell of the 70s for the total awesomeness of the 80s. Thanks for these killer videos!!!! And they're so clear!

[@RoyKnable]

Yeah, "total awesomeness." That's why nobody remembers the 80s promos like they remember these.

[@vp200]

Yea, the quality of this is superb, way better than the NBC Be There promo from 1982

[@prcsouthwest]

Promos that long now days cut into commercial time and the big boss' bonus. This is when the networks cared about promoing the network. I really dont think they know how much these promos touched our lives back then, and promos like this made you feel "good" about watching thier network. Seems to me, that with the 100's of networks today they would do everything possible to get viewers, can you imagine the veiwers if they would bring back this promo and update it to todays shows.

[@bradleyelsken1886]

Makes me wish I was born a decade or two earlier

[@TotoFrancey]

These were the last great days of America. Once the Iranian Hostage Crisis hit in November 1979 it was over. Some believe it was over with the deaths of JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King. Some say it was over with the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia. Others point to Watergate. All I know is how good life used to be when these promos were made and how life isn't as good today. I married late and I feel sad the my children have never experienced this world. I can only watch this video about once a year because it makes me feel sad knowing how much we've lost. For a little while we belonged in Heaven. At least I know what it will look like when I die.

[@CrystalClearNews]

That is a sad view, TotoFrancey but I agree with it, in a way. For me it was the onset of the 1990s that was the line. I lost the good life once my dad died and I suffered poverty ever since. Now I get it again, after my husband died.

[@davidwells4685]

Still the One,80's arrive,i had hell of year's in my early 80's,this song is awesome,love the moments,song is awesome & i remember old ABC moments.this is awesome & thanks for this rocking video.

[@softrockrules]

Magical moments.

[@timothylegg]

Let's see how many faces we can recognize in this...

[@timothylegg]

0:08 Burt Ward, Adam West 0:14 Alan Hale, Jr. 0.15 Sally Fields 0:19 Paul Lynde ??? 3:30 Pam Dawber 3:31 Robin Williams 3:47 Ron Harris 3:48 Danny DeVito 3:52 Suzanne Somers 4:11 Gavin MacLeod 4:11 Fred Grandy 4:14 Audra Lindley 4:14 Norman Fell 4:16 Cindy Williams 4:16 Penny Marshall 5:03 Tom Bosley 5:17 Hal Linden

[@dangerouslytalented]

The Nine Network here in Australia had exactly the same campaign for a very long time...

[@DVSyoutube]

9 Network in Australia used this slogan from 1978 until 2006.

[@1Soniccool]

Also Win Television used the slogan as well

[@Andyrt35]

yep I remember that

[@DeAngeloStevens]

"You're Still Having Fun, 11 Alive's The One" WXIA-TV Atlanta, Georgia (now an NBC affiliate)

[@RoyKnable]

The 1977 promo was far better than the 1979 one on every level. The production values were higher. It felt like they had to try hard to find or think up all those different representations of "one." The 79 had too many stock aerial shots and dull shots of people sitting in their homes. All of the acting in the 79 felt hokey and forced, including by the stars that showed up in the last 75 seconds, while the everyday people on the streets of New York felt genuine and natural. The 77 music was more upbeat and energetic, like the video itself. Despite the "four on the floor" disco drumbeat, the 79 music felt more like a throwback to promos from the early 70s.

[@vintage31]

Thank you Roy - I did the 1977 version with no "stars" (and no permission) and it was very successful. ABC ruined the whole idea by insisting on including all of ABC's talent.

[@OTownNews]

You're magnificent. Bar none. Nice to see the '79 campaign begin the right way. I don't know where the 80s Supersite got their video copies from, but hell with that anyway!

[@Aaronhouston33]

This first promo in 1977 was a fix to the first version I like the beta version the best and I loved the region promos of 35 seconds.

[@haku8645]

+Aaron P I also really like the region promo as well. That swinging disco bass line is really catchy.

[@whattheheck1000]

The New York scene at around 1:12 is awesome. I see lots of stuff there: lights being turned on and off (looks like it was a time lapse over about 10 minutes), Wienerwald (a restaurant that closed in the US in the early 1980s), Flagg Bros, and various other '70s fonts. This was probably filmed in 1977, but could have been earlier (I'd put it at no earlier than 1975 though). I've seen Times Square in real life, in 2010 and 2011. A lot of change in 33 years! Interestingly, NYC had a blackout in 1977, on July 13-14. This promo is from probably around August 1977, so it's entirely plausible that they were filming scenes for it in the spring or summer of 1977. Who knows how much they missed the blackout by. September 10, 2015 2:24 am

[@ScoopNemeth]

@themaddogkiller glad to know you're not the only one. I think of ABC's promo campaign, the rewrite of the lyrics, and the music arrangement. Much, much better than that Orleans song.

[@danielsauers7783]

Walt Disney Pictures 65th Anniversary (1912-1977)

[@RikaharduzDavid]

Network marketing masters. That's my school of the day. Implanted in my brain. 101 Melting pot apple pie. That child. Those kids still played as the American broadcast corporation network artists were brought together. It was the seventies. Benson feeding. Herve V. Howard fit pitching. Brothers and sisters be OK. Food comfort. Everyday represents in a hustle the people just chill.happy. Roots. Been a while since I seen that. 35 years ago WORD.Lesson in.~~~

[@antoniod]

I remember I didn't like Boston ABC affiliate Ch. 5 using this same song for their own local promos. Ch 5-WCVB-had one been an alternative kind of station, and now they were just copying ABC's commercial hype! I needed to lighten up!

[@34airflow]

They went to all of that work to shoot the family shots and round up all of those stars. But when it came to the balloon, instead of having a balloon created specifically for ABC, they stuck an ABC logo banner on it. Weird.

[@avcat]

There were some great shows before Roots.

[@WolverinePete]

I always liked the 1979 ABC Promo but now have so many questions about it that it's troubling. These shows were on primetime. Why were these people watching them in the middle of the day? Why did the old man nearly fall out of his chair laughing at Suzanne Simmers? Why did it seem like every family fled from their homes to attend that picnic? Why did the black family basically dump their refrigerator into a cooler and a paper sack? Was the blonde kid with the Reds batting helmet Tanner from "The Bad News Bears"? Was Robert Urich afraid of heights because he did his balloon wave/thumbs up on the ground?

[@CrystalClearNews]

It might be true about Robert Urich afraid of heights. I know one guy really wanted to go up, but the"joke" was that he would miss the balloon -- it was one of the Gary Marshall spin-offs -- this was was about Random the angel, and how funny it is that an angel is left on the ground, while others are beckoning him to come, then wave their hands in resignation (Too bad, he's too late, he missed it), see the bit at 5 :40. Looks like Doris Roberts, and someone. Out of the Blue starred Jimmy Brogan and Dixie Carter. It lasted 9 episodes and had a crossover/pilot on Happy Days "Chachi sells his soul" ick

[@demetriusdillard2863]

That is indeed the late Doris Roberts at 5:40, CrystalClearNews...sadly, I have drawn a total blank to the identity of the actress to Doris's left; my guess is that it's Donna Pescow, her co-star from "Angie."

[@tomknoll5546]

The whole message is kind of wierd. People abandon their TV sets to go outside? How is this advertising th quality of your programming? This is like a reversed "Come Home to NBC" commerical.

[@RusstheTroubadour]

Demetrius Dillard You are correct

[@nathanbush6781]

Is that Agnetha Fältskog from ABBA singing the first set of lyrics of the 1979 promo???