ABC had Funshine Saturday (1973-8) and All-Star Saturday (1978-9). CBS had various umbrella titles for their Saturday blocks in the 60's & 70's, but not on a consistent basis. In 1978, NBC contracted with the folks behind Schoolhouse Rock and the short-lived Metric Marvels to produce a series of quick bits, used to segue into each of their programs for that season's Saturday Morning Fever block. Unfortunately, the disco theme went over like a pair of cement jeans. That's how bad things were at NBC back then.....
It didn't help that all the characters used the same generic disco moves. Not much thought was put into this at all. Nearly 40 years later, it still looks bad.
6 comments:
Back then we though disco was going to be now and forever...no, actually I didn't. I knew that was just a fad that execs didn't need to hitch their wagons to even back then.
This was no Fun Machine, that's for sure.
To be fair, this was 1978. Disco's popularity was already beginning to wain at this point. Perhaps if NBC had launched this campaign about three or four years earlier.
This was also the last time NBC tried a gimmick like this. I kind of liked Fun Machine myself, as it was less annoying.
Of course, NBC would finally hit a home run with simple bumpers and healthy doses of Casey Kasem for a few years......
Unfortunately, the disco theme went over like a pair of cement jeans. That's how bad things were at NBC back then.....
Then Fred Silverman discovered Pink Lady and the rest was history!
It didn't help that all the characters used the same generic disco moves. Not much thought was put into this at all. Nearly 40 years later, it still looks bad.
These were obviously done by very old animators who probably never been to a disco in their lives.
Goldstar said...
To be fair, this was 1978. Disco's popularity was already beginning to wain at this point. Perhaps if NBC had launched this campaign about three or four years earlier.
And thanks to Star Wars, we were knee deep into sci-fi/space-related stuff for the next couple years.
hobbyfan said...
Of course, NBC would finally hit a home run with simple bumpers and healthy doses of Casey Kasem for a few years......
They certainly got plenty of mileage out of Casey, that's for sure.
Chris:
As I wrote in the initial post, the bumpers were produced by team that did Schoolhouse Rock & the Metric Marvels. They probably did spend some time in discos (I never did), but used the same generic poses to save time & money.
I'm sure that's all it was. Still I did like the quick spin one or two of these guys did when they animated the ones with 2 or more groups. A slight variety if anything.
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