With Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, let's serve up some Tijuana Toads.
In "Go For Croak", Pancho & Toro run afoul of Crazylegs Crane (voiced by Larry D. Mann---Bob Holt would take over the role when Crazylegs got his own series of shorts a few years later).
After sponsoring the syndicated Festival of Family Classics, Burger Chef's ad agency expanded their reach into radio with a series of spots, like this one from 1976.
The voices are the same as the TV ads, with Paul Winchell and Lionel Wilson.
Koratron was a brand of clothing introduced in 1961. During the Batman fan-mania of the late 60's, this animated ad featuring Captain Lightning & Wonder Lad appeared. Looks like they may have hired the producers of the Marvel Super Heroes Show to design this spot.
Canada's The Guess Who made one of their last appearances before their initial split on The Midnight Special, as they marked the 5 year anniversary of the release of their "American Woman" album. "No Time" was the last single off the album.
Guitarist Randy Bachman had long since left the band, former Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but the live performance here more than makes up for his absence.
From season 2 of Fillmore!:
Jr. Commissioner Vallejo (Horatio Sanz, Saturday Night Live) is up against it when he has to recruit a former Safety Patrol officer to help solve a series of incidents where students' pet projects are being shredded.
Tenacious D's Kyle Gass guest stars in "The Shreds Fell Like Snowflakes":
Sticking with the music on the day before Easter, let's move the clock back to 1977, and another 1-hit wonder, this one from the Sanford-Townsend Band. "Smoke From a Distant Fire" brought them to The Midnight Special, and, as you can see, they're a band in the mold of Southside Johnny & The Asbury Dukes and Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band.
Nik Kershaw made use of some early CGI to craft a video for his 1984 1-hit wonder, "Wouldn't It Be Good". As soon as he drops a rock, his clothes change to a bizarre video screen. Creepy.
Barney Bear joins Droopy in hunting for "treasure", which leads them to a seemingly abandoned shack where Slick Wolf has plans to keep the money he found for himself.
Here's "Scared Bear".
Nickelodeon broke new ground with a special primetime edition of Rugrats dedicated to Passover.
Grandpa Boris (Michael Bell) tells the tale of the Exodus while he and the children are trapped in the cellar. In this context, Tommy Pickles is Moses. Angelica is the Pharoah. You get the idea. Nick executives initially wanted a story about Hanukkah, but that would come later, the result of this critically acclaimed, well received special.
In this clip, Moses parts the Red Sea. If you've ever read the story or seen "The Ten Commandments", you know what happens.
Taped in May 1977, after the parent Hollywood Squares had recorded multiple "costume party" episodes for syndication at night, the Storybook Squares returned as a vacation treat for the kiddo's and their families.
We've previously screened this episode in an overview of Storybook a ways ago, so it's time to give it another shot. Our panel this time includes:
Anson Williams (Happy Days) as Simple Simon.
Rich Little as Noah.
Vincent Price as Captain Hook.
Arte Johnson as Beethoven.
Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time) as Little Miss Muffet.
Milton Berle as a cigar chomping Mother Hubbard.
Paul Lynde as Attila The Hun.
Elke Sommer as Guenievere.
Karen Valentine (ex-Room 222) as Mona Lisa.
From Schoolhouse Rock comes a Lynn Ahrens composition, "The Great American Melting Pot", sung by Lori Lieberman.
The title of this The Osmonds cartoon pretty much says it all, as Jimmy meets a lookalike while the band is in London in a mock of Mark Twain's The Prince & The Pauper.
Heckle & Jeckle (both voiced by Frank Welker) are running an air mail service, which piques the envy of a jealous vulture (Welker).
Keep in mind that this was the 10th anniversary of Dick Dastardly's Vulture Squadron.....! Here's "Mail Birds":
The Grump (Rip Taylor) chases Princess Dawn & Terry "Under The Pea Green Sea" in this episode.
Don't know the exact year for this spot for Glade air freshener, with husband & wife elves, but it makes you long for more of these to be revived in this era.
To kick off season 2 of Sigmund & The Sea Monsters, the producers decided to add a genie to the mix.
No, they didn't bring Weenie (Billie Hayes) over from Lidsville. Instead Sigmund (Billy Barty in the suit, voice by Walker Edmiston) finds a sea shell with a genie named Sheldon (Rip Taylor).......
Barney & Junior (Chuck McCann & Bob Denver) help some wayfarers, but of course you know this could've helped their quest to return home, too. Here's "The Three Spaceketeers":
After the Police called it a day, bassist-vocalist Sting embarked on a solo career, and the hits just kept on rolling.
"Love is The Seventh Wave" takes Sting back to his roots as a school teacher, only in this case working with grade schoolers. Students from the Latchmere Jr. School in Kingston-upon-Thames designed the artwork.
