TV Guide Commercials (1967 to 1987)

FredFlix: Where you were 50 years ago.

[@MikeB071]

That weird music brings back lots of childhood memories!

[@nathancoleman8413]

I'm glad I saw your comment Mike.that music was just a tad scary to me back then.i also grew up in the '70's.as this compilation of TV Guide commercials show that weird music was used during the '70's but had apparently been replaced by new jingles in the early '80's more specifically by around 1981.

[@paradoxstudios6639]

It's very hypnotic to say the least, reminds me of "In The News" music segment from CBS used on Saturday mornings.@@nathancoleman8413

[@alexcordero6672]

That weird sound used to scare the shit out of me. I’m sitting here in my living room by myself and it still scares me.

[@nathancoleman7235]

​@@alexcordero6672You know Alex it did not scare me at first initially.but as time went on and well before the end of the '70s it became really scary to me too.

[@arielfilmsinc1926]

LORD It has been YEARS since I heard that music intro

[@AllRequired]

@@michaelpalmieri7335 Mongo like TV Guide. (Mongo open magazine. No explosion, only pages.)

[@spectrum10]

Is that music intro generated by a Moog synthesizer?

[@wmbrown6]

@@spectrum10 - Very likely. However, the composer was one Reynold Weidenaar, the title was "Solar Song #3," and it was from a production music library disc put out by the Sam Fox music library.

[@JENDALL714]

@@spectrum10 It sounds like the same music for "In the News" on Saturday mornings usually right after Fat Albert.

[@144wychwood]

WOW! talk about a BLAST from the past! Used to buy this every week and looked forward to Fall TV Preview every September.

[@petemclinc]

The cover of our TV Guides always had water rings because we used them as a coaster for glasses of Coca-Cola.

[@iVenge]

petemclinc my god yes!

[@douglasghiz1287]

When does TV go thristy?

[@douglasghiz1287]

Do they still have them now a days?

[@jadstudiosofficial]

no. But... it’s built into your tv now.

[@spectrum10]

Perhaps they should have laminated the cover of TV Guide to prevent water rings.

[@donnamariedemaio]

When TV Guide was worth reading! I couldn't wait for it to come in the mail!

[@panowa8319]

We would fight for the crosswords.

[@AllRequired]

The iconic TV Guide jingle and Scanimation.

[@jondstewart]

The scratchy commercials that lasted only 30 seconds at the most with the crazy music in the background in our heavily air-conditioned 1970’s suburban Austin, Texas home in the summertime bring back memories.

[@nathancoleman7235]

That Music was weird.eerie in fact.

[@sheriheffner2098]

That music used to creep me out. Along with the Screen Gems S from Hell and the Screen Gems dancing sticks music when I was watching The Flintstones as a small child. Plus the Universal logo with the sweaty hand that was holding a metal chisel in one hand and a mallet with the other. He hit the stone and the Universal logo music loudly played. Another one that scared me was the old PBS music, both the 1960s and the 1970s after my favorite show Zoom went off.

[@brmnyc]

I remember all of those! The mallet one was particularly ominous. But the TV Guide "music" had some weird, hypnotic quality.

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

The sweaty hand with the striking mallet is Jack Webb's production company, Mark VII.

[@luisreyes1963]

Television certainly was a joyous place, eh? 👻

[@lauradaly8110]

I always looked forward to the Fall Preview issue.

[@bryankolen4517]

I totally agree.

[@luisreyes1963]

It was the most anticipated issue of our TV Guide subscription back in the day.

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

In most of these spots for TV Guide, you'll hear its most memorable voice in longtime Philadelphia newscaster Taylor Grant.

[@louistenore2185]

Thank you Taylor Grant

[@wmbrown6]

And from 1968 to 1980, "Solar Song #3" by Reynold Weidenaar from the Sam Fox music library accompanied these ads.

[@brentmann2988]

@@wmbrown6 That is terrific information!

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

I wondered who it was. Thanks so much!

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

@@wmbrown6 Thanks for the 411 on the music!

[@garyborrero1999]

Great stuff Fred! TV Guide was always in my house as a kid. When they switched to a larger magazine format, I lost interest, as it was never the same ...

[@FredFlix]

Thanks, Gary. It was THE magazine in our house as well.

[@jehobden]

I wish my family had bought it too. I had to subscribe myself when I was 15 then subscribed for 25+ years until it went to the full magazine non-local format.

[@vividwatch47]

Also they don't have those behind the scenes stories.

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

Yep. I remember when they had local versions, and the listings ran from Saturday morning of a given week till late Friday night of the next.

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

With apologies to Archie and Edith Bunker, THOSE were the days. I used to save old TV guides. I loved the local listings, but anymore, when one can find them online, the local editions are pretty well obsolete. I don't like the new format worth a damn, pardon my French.

[@erikpridemore3174]

We sure miss TV Guide, as it was a digest sized magazine for over 50 years in its "log" format which had TV listings.

[@612Tiberius]

Back when TV Guide was a publication worth buying and subscribing to.

[@mkiel705]

Amen To That

[@jons.6216]

Well, I'd somehow forgotten about those bubbling intros on the 70s commercials and now I don't think I'll get it out of my head for a while! Haha!

[@TimelordR]

How I miss the old TV Guide magazine. I always looked forward to their Fall Preview issues. Nowadays, it's just another celebrity rag. Thanks for the memories.

[@FredFlix]

You'e welcome. This is very geeky but I went on Ebay and bought every Fall Preview issue from 1958 to 1973. They're still great.

[@arielfilmsinc1926]

I HAD the Lindsey Wagner issue sold it to a Bionic Woman Fan

[@harveyabel1354]

It's interesting to note what lasted and what didn't!

[@peterdarker1]

@@FredFlix That rules

[@TampaFanatic1]

Awesome collection. George Kennedy was featured in a 1976 edition. Man that guy was in a ton of disaster movies back then: all 4 Airplane movies, Earthquake with Chuck Heston and Lorne Greene and also some action thrillers too like the Eiger Sanction. A highly underrated actor.

[@m.oriley8260]

Loved that trippy music. More like a siren, I guess.

[@kevinnelson66]

The music used was composed on a Moog synthesizer in the mid 1960's.

[@ThisGuyFrritz]

I can sure remember that strange sci-fi sound from the 1970s. As far back as I can recall, there was a commercial of some cleaning product for women that used that familiar sound effect.

[@stendec-dd3he]

Always looked forward to the Fall Preview Issue to see what shows geared for our demographic age group; even kept some favorites all these years. Even wrote the organization about back issues from decades past; received a very nice reply letter, saying they were sorry but all the back issues were put on microfilm to be stored. I don't know about the validity of that, but the reply was nice of them, instead of just ignoring it. Different time and different people, better time. A nice skate backwards, Fred. Thanks pal.

[@Frank-ki4nx]

We used to fold the pages to make little Christmas trees out of them.

[@caj1119]

Truly amazing... a very successful business totally built on something nobody ever really needed (before the Internet, the newspaper tv listings were just fine for me and most people I know), still doesn't need and it is STILL around with a circulation over 1 million. Unbelievable. Even people who worked at TV Guide readily admitted that the key to their massive circulation was being located right by the cash registers at eye level in supermarkets. How they still survive and thrive today is mind-blowing. Thanks for putting together all these commercials.

[@Ricksonkimura]

I remember that creepy music as a kid

[@wmbrown6]

What, Reynold Weidenaar's "Solar Song #3"?

[@mikethebike2456]

I am totally mesmerized by these.Quite sure none of these escaped me when I was young,but rewatching after so many decades stuns me into a young care-free consciousness.IN THE NEWS also has that affect.

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

At 10:45 former "Webster" star and Detroit Lions great Alex Karras (1958-62,1964-70) explains how you can subscribe to TV Guide. Sadly, after Rupert Murdoch bought the once popular magazine from Triangle Publications (its original publisher) in 1988 and dropped local listings and hired writers who knew little about television and its history, it became just an elongated celebrity news rag thereafter.

[@wmbrown6]

Even before Triangle sold out to Murdoch, TV Guide was beginning its decline - signified by getting rid of their longtime ad announcer Taylor Grant.

[@andrewehunt68]

Thank you for the great post! I loved watching these commercials. I was a little kid when these commercials were on TV, but I vividly remember them. This makes me very nostalgic. Although I always found the little background jingle in the '70s TV Guide commercials a little bizarre! ;)

[@FredFlix]

But it got your attention.

[@Tomovox_PAMS_Radio_JIngles]

Another fantastic post! Question regarding the iconic music that backs these commercials. Does anyone remember that there was one time (that I can recall) where they played a different theme? It was an upbeat pop sort of tune with a jazzy horn arrangement. I remember as a kid thinking it was nice, but it wasn't what you expected to hear with a TV Guide commercial...

[@robertnycguyraisedonrecord7587]

I faithfully bought and collected the original TVGuide from 1976-2005. Before this dad bought and collected TV Guide in the 50's thru 70's. I haveall our original collection. After school every Monday afternoon I couldn't wait for these TV Guide commercials to see the cover a day before they sold the new issue at my local newsstand in Queens NY. I miss the TV Guide of the 80's and before. It brought warmth and familiarity.

[@FredFlix]

I'm impressed by your collection. I have just a few dozen, but the warmth and familiarity are there when I look through them.

[@robertnycguyraisedonrecord7587]

FredFlix By the late 90's collecting TV Guide became like a chore. Especially when they had like 20, 30 covers in one week or different covers for one issue I don't own every sports cover that had like 30 covers for football for example. When TV Guide went magazine size I collected here and there but got rid of the new magazine size copies with a few exceptions..

[@jenniehakim7076]

When TV Guide had journalism in it...

[@jenniehakim7076]

P.S. That 70s theme was hypnotic 🙃

[@samuelgriffin4167]

The TV Guide commercials from the 1970s that I remember well as a child were so haunting

[@vividwatch47]

I remember when they had that low brass over bass music for "T.V. Guide's commercials in '68.

[@Bubb1964]

My favorite mag! I used to go to the local news seller each Tuesday to be there when he put them out. I would consume EVERYTHING in each issue. The was the Baltimore/DC edition. Because of my location, I was then able to go one town over and get the Pittsbugh, PA edition! Fred I love your vids and thank you for posting them!

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

I've lived in Fairmont, West Virginia, all my life. The Pittsburgh edition used to serve us, and in later years, the Wheeling-Steubenville edition.

[@impalaman9707]

The music on the TV guide commercials used to scare me when I was a little kid!

[@joychris154]

thank you so much fred....loved tv guide.

[@brianoneill7186]

I remember all of these ads, but especially that electronic 'sounder' used throughout the '70s('WA-wa-WAwawaaa..). When they replaced it with 'Nothing gets you into it...', it felt like they'd lost something 'unique' and traded it in for just another commercial jingle. I'd almost forgotten about that Richie Havens hack job of 'That's Entertainment, from '84, and the Alex Karras '85 sales pitch. Mal Sharpe's 'interviews' were pretty old by '87.

[@pegbars]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3fThJ6Kg72Ggs0

[@royrowland5763]

Just bought a September 1971 issue with Sandy Duncan on the cover. I’ve long wanted a Tv Guide on my coffee table again, going well with the rotary phone on my end table.

[@lopezcameron123]

I love your video. Im 20 and It shows a great timeline of TV guide as I've collected them as a kid since 2004 and had a big collection. I don't have those exact issues anymore... But I've started collecting them all over again by purchasing older TV guide magazines beginning at 1990-1997 and I got those today. I love them. Hopefully I'll get every issue from every decade by my elder years

[@enricosanchez894]

I bought one from 1953 and was like wtf, it's taller than the other ones.

[@Cambria399]

I liked to read Cleveland Amory's reviews

[@fromthesidelines]

Former newscaster Taylor Grant was the announcer in their advertisements through 1981.

[@wmbrown6]

And after his run ended, that symbolized the start of the magazine's long decline.

[@arielfilmsinc1926]

No it was the ninties that did it

[@fromthesidelines]

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation bought TV GUIDE from Triangle Publications in 1988........THAT was the beginning of the end for the magazine, as he eventually staffed it with people who had little sense of TV history or cared about anything else other than promoting Murdoch's Fox network.

[@wmbrown6]

What you noted about the sale of TV Guide in 1988 was the actual start of the decline, as you said. But the ads weren't the same after Grant's long run as TVG announcer ended, for sure.

[@gidzmobug2323]

wmbrown6 What about when cabel/satellite TV started?

[@KennethHuang-ig8hy]

BACK WHEN TV GUIDE WAS A SMALL BOOK THAT HAD 100 PAGES, INCLUDING TV LISTINGS FOR THE BOSTON AREA AND THE TV GUIDE CROSSWORD PUZZLES. Kenneth Huang. 10/02/24.

[@gallery7596]

The 2 part Fall Preview editions were always the highlight of the publication for me.

[@ADAMSIXTIES]

50 years ago today, March 4th, 1967: Star Trek on TV Guide cover!

[@jalaneperry7643]

Love these ole tv guide commercials awesome thanks for uploading this

[@drk9011]

Something about the (almost eerie) music used always got my attention as a kid in the 70s.

[@pedrogonzalez5075]

I wish I can go back in time to see all those TV Guide books and relive every TV show and celebrity that made the cover. Go to visit the grocery stores in the 70s that display them by the check outs. But I need a Delorean to go "Back To The Future!"

[@Lethgar_Smith]

Amazing how many of those covers I remember

[@wigwagstudios2474]

I really love the Computer Animation Industries work on the TV Guide logo...

[@lauradaly8110]

I liked TV Guide in those days.

[@superluminal89]

That creepy theme music is what made me keep the night light on during the 70s.

[@bernieudo4399]

Loved the artwork & insider stories.

[@jsngallery]

you don't need a tv guide these days. everything is on. (i still look at the ones i have for nostalgic reasons)

[@OceanPatriot777]

I used to read those...until they put Roseanne on the cover and made her out to be the next Lucy. Lucy had something Roseanne will never have....CLASS !!!!

[@FredFlix]

Well said.

[@vividwatch47]

Not to mention three long series that ran for six seasons each, something that Roseanne will NEVER approach!

[@mkiel705]

And Could Sing The National Anthem Better, WAY Better

[@davidbrandel1311]

I miss hearing that voice.

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

Taylor Grant was Mr. TV Gahhhhd!

[@mkiel705]

I Still Have Several Fall Preview Issues Tucked Away

[@brianforbes8325]

That somewhat eerie background theme music stuck in my head for years. It reminds me a little of the theme music for The Twilight Zone.

[@spectrum10]

My father told me that when he was growing up TV broadcasting had not been invented yet. He listened to programs on the radio.

[@brentmann2988]

12:12 the great Mal Sharpe. He worked out of San Francisco and Los Angeles, but he always retained a distinct Boston accent, having grown up in Newton, Massachusetts. He was known for his "man on the street" interviews. He played gigs around the Bay Area in a band called Big Money in Jazz.

[@louistenore2185]

love the early 80s ads

[@jehobden]

Issues depicted in order: 1/7/67 11/27/71 12/30/72 3/31/73 12/21/74 12/14/74 5/1/76 4/24/76 5/15/76 5/8/76 12/10/77 Anne Murray TV Guide not found (probably Canadian issue) 4/8/78 1971 generic ad w/ covers going from 1967 to 1971 2/11/78 6/9/79 12/30/78 9/8/79 9/22/79 10/13/79 12/22/79 3/15/80 9/6/80 3/14/81 5/16/81 (I liked the tune that TV Guide used for its 1981 ads.) 1981 generic ad w/ TV Guide tune 12/8/79 on scale 9/12/81 6/20/81 1/1/83 9/17/83 1984 ad w/ last issue 9/22/84 (Stacy Keach had also been on the cover just 4 weeks earlier on 8/25/84.) 5/11/85 issue held by Alex Karras; other issues from 1984 & 1985 shown 2/14/87

[@RickG151]

Wow!

[@wmbrown6]

@Konga 5000 - Says something that Mr. Grant's involvement with the ads even extended to their Canadian edition. However, that year she had her big U.S. comeback with "You Needed Me." Was Marshall McLuhan ever interviewed for U.S. TV Guides? That may also be as much a clue as Ms. Murray here . . .

[@laaa9429]

God that background sound is so unnerving

[@KOSMICKEN09]

The music still freaks me out 😂

[@samuelgriffin4167]

TV Guide commercials were classics

[@jchow5966]

This os gp;den!!!! Thank you!!! ☮️💟☮️💟☮️💟

[@michaelfisher7170]

Whats interesting is that the articles advertised, on subjects as making tv work as an educational tool, as a medium to bring people together, as a force for tge social good, were almost...alomost i say, entirely ignored by an industry only concerned with viewership and advertising. Television with a few exceptions has done little more than promote controversy and divided us. And here we are?still watching.

[@suralos]

Does anyone know anything about that unique music riff TV Guide used in these commercials?

[@pegbars]

It wasn't music, it was a synth loop. Probably made by Identitones.

[@ApartmentKing66]

"pegbars" is correct. Identitones, and the synthesizer of Eric Siday. He was also responsible for American Express, Westinghouse, Time Magazine, ABC News, Maxwell House, etc.

[@wmbrown6]

That was actually a production music track, "Solar Song #3" by Reynold Weidenaar, from the Sam Fox library. But it was definitely Siday-influenced, for sure.

[@brentmann2988]

@@wmbrown6 Great knowledge!

[@terencedove5047]

Newsday actually had (or tried) to compete with TV Guide by offering a weekly TV supplement magazine. Although it offered each week’s TV programming and a human interest story or two, it could NEVER measure up to TV Guide. It really was worth buying TV Guide all by itself rather than supposedly saving money by just relying on the supplement…

[@nathancoleman8413]

I do remember a great many of these! who was the man who did the voiceover,announcing who or what would be in the paticular editions of the magazine then? does anybody know?

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

The voice over for TV Guide was Taylor Grant a prominent PhiladelphIa newscaster from 1962-81.

[@judyjones5089]

I was hoping to encounter the earlier syncopated instrumental from the early sixties as well.

[@RJS1974]

The peak of civilization was the 70s.

[@nathancoleman8413]

I though that music or jingle was a little bit scary to me in the late '70's when I was a kid.

[@TheRecordSaver]

The last commercial, the store interviewer, is one of my favorites.. Anyone know the name of the interviewer?

[@brianoneill7186]

Mal Sharpe. He got started in San Francisco, and made those 'person on the street interview' comedy bits his trademark. He had a lot of Bay Area local ads, and a few national ones

[@brentmann2988]

@@brianoneill7186 Great posting! The first time I saw/heard Mal Sharpe do a "man on the street interview" in San Francisco back in the 70s, I thought, This guy has a distinct Boston accent. And sure enough, he was originally from Beantown. He lived for many years in Berkeley and played in a band called Big Money in Jazz. :)

[@bloodlegion4874]

Aliens have taken over. 👽🛸

[@timdub70]

And you can use TV Guide to help you decide, with a capsulized review-Weird Al Yankovic, The Brady Bunch 1984

[@thrashpondopons2776]

& all these years I thought he said 'capitalized review'! ;)

[@harveyabel1354]

You Were And Are Mistaken! ;)

[@gli7utubeo]

Good one! Thx!

[@uncletony6210]

Intro music sounds hypnotizing, which is appropriate, I suppose, because that is the tell-lie-vision's objective.

[@rafaelramirez3180]

✨Classic✨

[@JENDALL714]

Do they still sell TV Guide, I don't see it by the check stand anymore?

[@blacquesjacques7239]

Tee Vee Gaaaaad

[@blacquesjacques7239]

Donna Pescow was supposed to be the next Mary Tyler Moore . Didn't work out .

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

The "Angie" theme was sung by Maureen McGovern, the same singer who sang "The Morning After" from "The Posideon Adventure".

[@louistenore2185]

They should see what network news is now

[@JJJBRICE]

The segment at 7:08 concerned Suzanne Somers asking for more money at Threes Company's and the producers decided to get her off out of the show ASAP . That period she made three minute tack on appearances at the end of the show from an empty studio that had nothing to do with plot usually on the phone talking with either John Ritter or Joyce De Witt , with hostility ringing between the long time castmates . I am glad in syndication they have edited this material out of the shows, it was uncomfortable . They say that Ritter and De Witt eventually made peace with Somers but I still have my doubts .

[@mikefargus]

Great montage! Strangely intellectual as compared to today's ill-informed populace.

[@markr1461]

Dabrye - Bloop

[@moviebuff1975]

Do you have one for Roots?

[@moisesgonzalez8450]

2000

[@surferbri5346]

Smells kinda magaziney, an old Italian phrase

[@josielpontocom]

This turn I am not the first to like, but. ..You have my like anyhow!

[@FredFlix]

Thanks.

[@mikefargus]

GAWD we've degenerated in the last 20 years. TV was the internet of the 20th century. Critical thinking falls off. Notice how the ads gets "stupider" as time goes on.

[@pegbars]

I can understand the early 80s change in their approach to the commercials (mass-appeal), but I think they lost a great deal of credibility in the process.

[@dagwort]

Utter idiocy at 2:06.

[@enricosanchez894]

I learned more from TV than I did in school.