"The Lost Art of TV Guide Advertising" Talkback

J. B. Warner

Increasing my wordiness
Joined
Nov 20, 2003
Messages
7,120
Location
Anywhere you're not
It was mainly people who were seemingly picked at random to do "comedy" routines, and comedy sketches sent in by home viewers. I kind of liked it as a kid, but i havent seen it since 1994, so i dont know if it holds up at all. It should also be known that Arleen Sorkin was later replaced with Tawny Kiaten.

Evidently, "America's Funnest Home Videos" producer Vin Di Bona created "America's Funniest People" too, and in the late '90s he put out a show on the Fox Family Channel called "Show Me The Funny", which included footage from both shows. And in 2006 or so, AFV did a special two-hour episode called "No Business In Show Business" that seemed to feature a lot of leftover Funniest People material - lots of clips of average joes telling stand-up comedy and the like, interspersed with classic AFV clips of school plays gone wrong and that sort of thing.
 

KE7JFF

Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
72
Location
Hillsboro, OR
The only thing I liked about "America's Funniest People" was the jackalope skits...
Other than that, it was just every idiot trying to be the next Jerry Seinfeld or Gallagher..
 

Mister Donut

Member
Joined
May 20, 2009
Messages
491
Location
Toledo, U.S.A.
Evidently, "America's Funnest Home Videos" producer Vin Di Bona created "America's Funniest People" too, and in the late '90s he put out a show on the Fox Family Channel called "Show Me The Funny", which included footage from both shows. And in 2006 or so, AFV did a special two-hour episode called "No Business In Show Business" that seemed to feature a lot of leftover Funniest People material - lots of clips of average joes telling stand-up comedy and the like, interspersed with classic AFV clips of school plays gone wrong and that sort of thing.
He certainly has a good 20 years of crap to dispense at his disposal these days!


The only thing I liked about "America's Funniest People" was the jackalope skits...
Other than that, it was just every idiot trying to be the next Jerry Seinfeld or Gallagher..
Certainly wasn't a show I was into either, though I do recall back in the day going to one of those taping events that occurred in a mall that no longer exists in town but couldn't muster up a good joke to tell the guys on camera.
 

MadMan400096

World War I Flying Ace
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
3,635
Location
Chicopee, Massachusetts,
On the subject of an older one, does anyone happen to have any videos for that Date Rape afterschool special, or at least have seen it? If so, please tell me more. It's mainly for me to just see the shock value. Of course, the live birth one is where I'd draw the line.
 

Erased Paper

Active Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2005
Messages
916
Location
The Refuge
Actually, "Free Spirit" was cancelled after four months, not four weeks. And the last episode (to air) was after an "America's Funniest Home Videos" episode.

Since AFHV was brought up, I wonder why you didn't mention ABC's failed attempt to compete with "The Simpsons" at the time.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.simpsons/msg/40511f53b5e45aec

Comment from 1990 said:
It seems that ABC puts its highest rated show: "America's Funniest Home Videos" on at 8pm until 8:30. From the numbers I've heard, 80% of ABC's audience at 8:30 promptly flips to Fox to watch the Simpsons. ABC has been trying desperately to find a show for 8:30 that will keep people there. It's actually quite amusing at times. In particular, if you flipped over late last week (like I did), you'd notice that the ABC show at 8:30 began with some random person talking into the phone, going "WHAT? The Simpsons aren`t on tonight???" :)
 

MadMan400096

World War I Flying Ace
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
3,635
Location
Chicopee, Massachusetts,
Nice little article. Oprah's only gotten richer, hasn't she? And to think, she was already filthy freakin' rich back in 1989.

Just one thing bothers me, though. What in the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks was the first page of the two-part ad about (sorry if it's supposed to be obvious and I didn't get it, I wasn't even born yet when that appeared:sweat:).
 

Peter Paltridge

RUN!
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
Messages
38,231
Location
Stars Hollow
Nice little article. Oprah's only gotten richer, hasn't she? And to think, she was already filthy freakin' rich back in 1989.

Just one thing bothers me, though. What in the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks was the first page of the two-part ad about (sorry if it's supposed to be obvious and I didn't get it, I wasn't even born yet when that appeared:sweat:).

It was a show called "Alien Nation" about the America of the future (1995) that was now co-inhabited by several alien species.
 

Dantheman

Gee, I never thought about that...
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Messages
2,528
Location
Michigan USA
About that "Roseanne wins the lottery" bit: I remember reading in the National Enquirer at the time that was a story idea they were going to go with for the second season of Rosanne, but I guess the creators thought "No, we're not going to do that", and it was addressed in TV Guide to disspell those rumors.

Too bad they weren't smart enough to not go with it during the last season......
 

Shawn Hopkins

TZ Member of the Year 2013
Joined
Mar 13, 2002
Messages
28,965
Location
Winner's Circle
I wish they would release it on DVD. Not because I think it's good, but because Alyson Hannigan and Corinne Bohrer are in it, and I've always liked both.
 

RandomMe

Walrus Toy Store owner
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
54,916
Location
Braga, Portugal
I like the ad for KATU's Town Hall about video games: we were at the beginning of the video game "epidemic", just before the crash.
 

Dsneybuf

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2011
Messages
1,903
If you care to learn more about that Miss Piggy show, the Muppet Wiki has an article about it. I saw a clip a few years ago, in which Miss Piggy hosted an aerobics class that tried to make gorging on junk food sound like a workout, and found it amusing.
 

Spotlight

Staff online

Who's on Discord?

Latest profile posts

How about Mike Pollock as the ideal voice of Bruce Wayne/Batman?
Remember back when people were saying that "Streaming is the (bright) future"?
"I can't wait to eat this baby" - Paramount, presumably looking for tax write-offs
Happy Baseball Opening Day

Featured Posts

Top