The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

It's a podcast tradition like any other.  We have found more ads from podcast favorites like Marc Norton, Rhett & Link, and Darryl Isaacs.  We have also discovered new favorites.  By the end of this episode, you'll know what we do.

1. Tim Misny - https://youtu.be/LLshVZ6mzqc
2. Pines Motor Lodge - https://youtu.be/6ExEKKShxrI
3. River Fair at River Mall - https://vimeo.com/340782677
4. 1982 Public Insurance San Diego Commercial - https://youtu.be/_p9mEFTaQwI
5. Apple Auto Sales - https://youtu.be/X1XilfKuYaQ
6. Gebco Commercial featuring Jonathan Ogden - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjmXkWJN1FM
7. Christopher Knight for Rockingham County School Board - https://youtu.be/nLi5B0Iefsk
8. Len’s Mill Stores (watch to the end) - https://youtu.be/AqqSCVT4Fkc
9. Darryl Issacs (Big Trucks) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp9nGolQI5k
10. Darryl Issacs (Hit the Bullseye) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9IGe9isYws
11. Image Auto Detailing (Fairbanks, AL) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ACG5MjOe5Q
12. Santa’s Village - https://youtu.be/Ok3ACI6kuDI
13. The Diamond Center - https://youtu.be/7O84dpaJu3c
14. “Paul from The Diamond Center is not my Uncle” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v5wmJzBvX8
15. Vern Fonk Insurance (2003) - https://youtu.be/tL0Z2dZCqys
16. Christmas at Old Tucson - https://youtu.be/z4U2gDgMHA0
17. Leader TV/VCR (Rochester, NY) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H8Brhl-ykM
18. Rocco Gaetano D’Angelo Fine Cigars Ltd - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgwjB8fpzCw
19. Benjamin Franklin: The Practical Plumber: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNKhsWGqNlo
20. Marc Norton “Devils” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtIHGHvvhqk
21. WKFT CounterForce 40 - https://youtu.be/3hHYEJolrAU
22. Sports Cards Unlimited - https://youtu.be/Saeh5res7Ik
23. Schuylkill Mall Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbo7UKb-Ckc
24. Michigan Power Rodding - Horror of Clogged Pipes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wQPExKw--U
25. Italian Oven - https://youtu.be/ENQ6GIhKy6o
26. Frankie & Johnny’s Furniture with Free Chicken (Closed forever) - https://youtu.be/gD-KZYy1UHM
27. Crazy Gideon Funny Farm (1986) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlUYmMLDgtk
28. Crazy Gideon TV Ad from BizBOX TV - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTxxV_BiKtE
29. Crazy Gideon 2008 Recession Ad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5x6CCDWs00
30. All-New Pelham Cafe (Frankie Flight) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPUp0oO_CLc
31. Gilliard Day (Frankie Flight) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iyjL1QYuS4
32. Rhett & Link - Grand Finale - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0LSkX46dS4
33. The Professionals - Insurance Comp. with Doug Llewelyn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ4H_O-qU4U

Art Fleming, legendary Jeopardy! emcee, made a very brief return to television in the early 90s with The Great American Telephone Trivia Game.  Is it an infomercial?  Is it a game show?  ¿Por qué no los dos?  Is it a bunch of hooey?  You bet it is, and it cost just $1.95 per minute!

Listener discretion is advised due to language.

In the past, we have paid respects to Hulk Hogan commercials, Ric Flair commercials, and our annual favorite of hometown commercials.  We add another legend to the commercial family with Shaq commercials.  Grab your Reeboks and a Pepsi, and prepare for almost 30 years of ads featuring Shaq Diesel.

Shaq Reebok Commercial (1993) - https://youtu.be/taKQHlEAeNE

Shaq Attack Toy Commercial - https://youtu.be/uBMi037Oh60

Shaq All-Sport Commercial “2044” (1994) - https://youtu.be/DEqp3tN7muE

Shaq Fu Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrwWXqlhEN8

Pepsi Big Slam - https://youtu.be/tPiMvRrISlc

Reebok Shaq vs. Shaq (1995) - https://youtu.be/-CYOjklUEBU

Taco Bell Double Decker Taco with Hakeem Olajuwon (1995) - https://youtu.be/FVmaYNtgu4g

Reebok Olympic Commercial with Emmitt Smith (1996) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ABstuWWHJE

Taco Bell Taco Neck (1997) - https://youtu.be/CsGwPyrSNVE

Pepsi Commercial (1997) - https://youtu.be/N4M_OcgP2ko

Pepsi Commercial with Michael J. Fox (1997) - https://youtu.be/dTyyGgiMCAU

NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC for Midway (1999)  - https://youtu.be/88SePMME0r4

Burger King Shaq Pack - https://youtu.be/EXweq5wKOd

RadioShack Commercial with Carmelo Anthony (2004) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Xh_-Olq7I

NBA on TNT “Spanish Class” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzJbTuidtZo

Vitamin Water “Horsin’ Around With Shaq” Super Bowl XLII Commercial - https://youtu.be/ti4aCoikJBE

This is SportsCenter “Hero” - https://youtu.be/FZdplRRmCQ0

Icy Hot Dance Moves - https://youtu.be/IOTsV-ydJ_0

The General Commercial (Truck) - https://youtu.be/Fwc1bGbcerI

The General “Best Friends” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNUxsqvl3dg

The General Trampoline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEb3UG-EuII

The General with Michael Buffer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j8L0BQZd2k

Harbin Beer (China) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH2146LMdkE

Nestle Crunch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQEDwrpwJ6M

Alkaline 88 Water - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqnf-2-1PuE

Age of Beard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwr73cCo3KA

Frosted Flakes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGmvlaKFyCc

Papa John’s Stuffed Crust - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYOwqAtaNvg

Oreo Acrobat Commercial (2017) - https://youtu.be/u6CKP47CIQ 

Epson EcoTank for Epson Canada - https://youtu.be/rMtEGc7u71g

Gold Bond Compilation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGERvTGQvwc

In 1984, the San Francisco Giants needed something to get fans' attention away from their poor play on the field. Enter the first ever anti-mascot a crustacean mascot which drew heat from not only the fans, but the Giants and the opposing teams as well. It's all immortalized in one of the best baseball commercials ever.

Love that Crazy Crab!

In honor of the upcoming release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in theaters next week, we present this episode dedicated to commercials to our favorite 8-bit and 16-bit systems.

NES Commercials

NES “Will You Be the One” with Rob and the Zapper (1985) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-CwI14vaL0

NES “You Are About to Come Face to Face” (1986) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gP1XYki8Ew

NES “Will You Be the One” Commercial with Super Mario (1986) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uSOESHNhHY

NES “What Will the Future Bring?” (1986) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMroWPYQD9A

The Legend of Zelda Rap Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c17DYpe1APU

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Z6PW9HhFY

Konami NES Commercial (1987) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_dNjJKsBOI

RBI Baseball from Tengen (1988) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXkv2Y_d_yA

NES Power Set with Power Pad (1988) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdXW5i1cjXY

Top Gun from Konami - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNtnyivyK-M

Anticipation Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KXTqPKXi2o

Super Mario Bros. 2 Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-oxEaddsUY

Acclaim Remote Controller - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cyZZIcdQCQ

Double Player System from Acclaim - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWMwfJ5hEO4

Tetris from Nintendo (1989) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUeQttn23Rk

Back to the Future from LJN (1989) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEtdLs85J4k

Power Glove from Mattel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po1IfM6nA6s

DuckTales from Capcom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zroYGD7iGV4

WWF WrestleMania from Acclaim - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BOmloRumKI

WWF WrestleMania Challenge UK Commercial (Nintendo World News) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLEypfdVMT4

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSaHaIAYBgU

Supersonic The Joystick from Camerica - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxPoD2V6B7U

Fester’s Quest - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEOPztGblf4

Little Nemo the Dream Master from Capcom (1990) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNoAujWCIPM

Bases Loaded II Second Season from Jaleco - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqRR7eJSWxA

Super Mario Bros. 3 Commercial (1990) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZex2enPtNs

StarTropics from Nintendo (1991) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CE-pOTbrrA

Star Wars from JVC (1991) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zetkiWhvi8c

Game Genie from Galoob - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4wwXyKFeFA

Super NES Commercials

Toys R Us Super NES Commercial with Alan Kalter Voiceover - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUpKdkZ6QZo

Super NES Commercial with Paul Rudd (1992) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSBFw93V3Rg

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Commercial (JPN) - https://youtu.be/cjpHzLYHkwA

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Commercial (US) - https://youtu.be/7yjfTQ009ms

F-Zero commercial - https://youtu.be/c_i2caefzJ0

Street Fighter 2 Turbo commercials (JPN) - https://youtu.be/zmc1p3e0hc8

The same (Edited for the US market) - https://youtu.be/Eg-VGKEPNMw

Super Mario Kart commercial - https://youtu.be/5Wxklxi1lGs

Super Mario All-Stars commercial - https://youtu.be/XSiciyc20Sc

Super NES/Pepsi commercial with Bo Jackson - https://youtu.be/DBwbQU_3My0

StarFox Commercial - https://youtu.be/8FTZD-lljaU

Super Scope 6 commercial - https://youtu.be/CtvFZhwoGCE

SNES Super Set Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw8g9I3fHD8

Turbo Touch 360 Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOYmnTTwp8g

TMNT Tournament Fighters - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMVyN6qQA7Y

Final Fantasy III commercial (or Final Fantasy VI if you want to get super official about it) - https://youtu.be/hk5RLCIhtMo

Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball Commercial with Cito Gaston - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnFEBLSwHt8

Super Punch-Out!! Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4lkRbAyhMo

Troy Aikman NFL Football - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_eTdrhTSdM

Super Mario RPG Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOzVQUOgSnk

Yoshi’s Island Commercial -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFHUyqDBmZQ

SNES 1996 “Now $99” Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNPtCVzBNyQ

In honor of Presidents' Day we at It Was a Thing on TV present another example of someone trying to make fetch happen.

When the US Treasury Department launched the new golden dollar coin in the year 2000, they commissioned the father of our country to help promote the new coin along with getting Batman himself Michael Keaton to voice him.

Greg saw this commercial one day and felt it was deserving of a minisode. Did you ever feel the Metaverse deserved it's own law firm? We didn't either.

You can view the commercial at this link. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmDaT1hnDlw

We have brought you shows on Hulk Hogan commercials, Ric Flair commercials, and three separate installments of Hometown Commercials.  Our early Christmas present to you is a look at ads for something everybody wanted under the tree from 1979 to 1982--the Atari 2600 VCS, and games for the system.

Atari 2600 Commercial (December, 1977) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJNbhekKShI

Atari VCS Commercial with Pete Rose, Pele and Don Knotts - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs34_7_kC64

Atari VCS Commercial with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Carol Channing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lexverCcFFk

1978 Atari Commercial with Billie Jean King, Bobby Riggs and Jack Palance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ary-G-GYO60

Space Invaders (1980) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct_I2C_9Kf8

Kaboom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkNztWEVxD4

Activision Ice Hockey with Phil Hartman - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=celKZ-vwsCc

RealSports Baseball with Billy Martin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SI7zqsVoas

Atari Test Facility commercial with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mario Andretti and Pele - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0cSWi1V_wI

Laser Blast (1981) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SWzv

9Ses2U

Atari Toys R Us Asteroids Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFciGLGHiY4

Sears 1981 Christmas Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqBlPdz0G-M

Atari we don’t need a babysitter commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krGlnXY4HaY

Atari UK Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMLhvlAxsPw

Beany Bopper (1982) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OK5COuF6xg

Spider-Man (1982) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-usbQDfTIqE

Pac-Man Commercial with Mr. Hooper!!! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxsUCRSoUrE

Solar Fox with Jane Krakowski - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgUTq5pL3gE

Pole Position - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhRIneQFmHA

Ms. Pac-Man with Don Pardo voiceover - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKM5-k8uD7Q

Ms. Pac-Man Australian Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp1CKap2v28

Donkey Kong (1982) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzFCXfjuNjI

Donkey Kong Jr. (1983) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNTpXX43QxY

Dig Dug (1983) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VFjbPlq_nw

Pitfall! with Jack Black - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfLgSdAAHMA

Moon Patrol - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1fp8g3yimU

Sega Star Trek with Ernie Anderson voiceover - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28r4iGf7M98

Atari Sesame Street Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnQrQE4Y6Ow

Atari Christmas 1983 Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z2nyvfJDwk

1984 Atari 2600 Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1ZLov8Xne0

Urban General Atari 2600 Commercial (1984) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLryP7IrM1A

1986 Atari 2600 Commercial (The Fun is Back) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp1CbPpaWKw

They're a staple on TV today, specifically in the overnight hours.  Half-hour infomercials came on the scene in the early 90s, filling holes in television schedules at all hours of the day.  In this installment, we look back at 9 such infomercials from the 1990s and talk about how cheesy they were and memories we had watching them.

Since the new fall TV season has gotten underway, we thought it was time to release the Director's Cut version of our Fall TV Campaigns episode from last year.

We have about 45 minutes of new material added from the original version that we released over on the Place to Be Nation last year.

So let's all be there for this look back at one of our best episodes as we give you the touch.