Here we have two blog posts in one. I do this because I’m not sure I have enough to say about either topic to fill a decent post. So here we go.
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It’s been a while since I posted some of my commercial work. A major part of my job at Radio City in Alliance® is the writing and production of commercials. Here are four recent efforts:
Kloch’s Liquor “Holiday Ad”
There are some jokes that only work in radio. The “I think you’re saying that wrong” is one such joke. I have been recording with Gles lately and I tend to take the Gracie Allen role when we do a two-voicer,
Redman’s Shoes “Family Shoe Poem”
A cast spanning three states! And they all say the same thing at the end. That’s almost too close to math for me…
385 Meat Market “Grills On Strike”
I will say up front that this is, at the core, an RAB script. I prefer to write my own but the salesfolks sometimes use RAB scripts as a starting-off point.
Trinidad Benham “Better Know A Bean: Navy”
Three years ago our local bean elevator did a series of “fun facts” spots. We’re repeating the factoids but I’m reinventing the series with a different, looser delivery style.
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Per multiple sources:
In 1965, CBS aired “A Charlie Brown Christmas” for the first time. (Did you know it was originally sponsored by Coca-Cola? I did! I am a Coca-Cola scholar.)
The Christmas half-hour was the first of dozens and dozens of Charlie Brown specials. Over the years new production slowed down and the three most frequently reaired specials were “Christmas”, “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.” CBS was the home of the Peanuts specials for 35 years…they were paired most frequently with a Bugs Bunny or later Garfield special. Watch this video…it will take you back to the excitement of something special being on TV…
The only thing keeping this video from perfection is that the sponsor that year was McDonald’s…typically Peanuts specials were sponsored by Dolly Madison Cakes, thus cementing my crippling Zinger addiction which lasts to this day. (Seriously…buy me a box of Zingers and I will follow you to the ends of the earth. Chocolate. Or raspberry coconut. Or vanilla. I’m not picky.)
In 2001 ABC plucked the rights away from CBS (the eye network had not been kind to the specials in the end, generally only airing the Christmas special in a brutally-edited version). And ABC, instead of editing the specials, usually aired them in an hour timeslot–backing up the classics with edited versions of forgotten specials like “You’re Not Elected Charlie Brown”.
And now, Apple TV has given us all a rock.
Yes, they will be streaming the specials for free on select dates. Yes, there are DVDs. (I just ordered mine.) But the Charlie Brown specials deserve to be aired on network television. Honestly, what’s left for network television if not big-tent, everybody-watches-at-once fare? The Super Bowl, awards shows, “Saturday Night Live”, and yes, holiday specials. Consider that the Charlie Brown specials have been on home video for nearly four decades. And streaming. And iTunes. But every year, the ratings are solid if not spectacular for the ABC broadcasts.
For those who grew up with three channels, the idea of the Peanuts gang being a streaming-only affair is just plain depressing. And honestly, I’m shocked that the rights-holders (it’s a complicated mess of the Schulz estate and other companies) didn’t see the value of keeping those annual broadcasts going. ABC may not have been paying them wheelbarrows of money, but there’s something to be said for having your characters in prime-time three times a year. That’s exposure! That’s tradition!
Now, it is entirely possible that ABC or some other network could gallop to the rescue and right this wrong. But most of the articles I’ve read indicate that Apple TV’s deal is complete exclusivity.
