In the early 90's, Pizza Hut sought to attract younger customers, particularly tweens and teens. The gimmick they hit on turned out to be a radical revamp of an old Saturday Night Live skit.
The Pizza Head Show was a series of ads for Pizza Hut that ran from 1993-7, from Mr. Bill creator Walter Williams. Shoot, Pizza Head even sounds like Mr. Bill. Sixteen commercials, mostly for promotional giveaways, were produced over the course of four years. It so happens that an enterprising YouTube poster collected them all.
I think now you know where the creators of Uncle Grandpa got the idea for that sentient slice of pizza.......
Rating: B-.
Sunday, July 9, 2017
From Comics to Toons: Spider-Man in The Vulture Has Landed (1981)
From Spider-Man's 1981 solo series:
The Vulture (Don Messick) begins kidnapping scientists. When Peter Parker inexplicably loses his clothes, he borrows an outfit from his friend, Harry Osborn, the son, of course, of Norman Osborn (Green Goblin). However, Vulture mistakes Peter for Harry and kidnaps Peter, which may turn out to be a big mistake.......
The original Vulture, Adrian Toomes, didn't appear in the 1967-70 series, so this would be his TV debut. Oh, there was a Vulture in 1967, but it was the 2nd one, Blackie Drago.
Rating: B.
The Vulture (Don Messick) begins kidnapping scientists. When Peter Parker inexplicably loses his clothes, he borrows an outfit from his friend, Harry Osborn, the son, of course, of Norman Osborn (Green Goblin). However, Vulture mistakes Peter for Harry and kidnaps Peter, which may turn out to be a big mistake.......
The original Vulture, Adrian Toomes, didn't appear in the 1967-70 series, so this would be his TV debut. Oh, there was a Vulture in 1967, but it was the 2nd one, Blackie Drago.
Rating: B.
Friday, July 7, 2017
Toonfomercial: Kellogg's tries reinventing Milton the Toaster (1996)
Nearly 30 years after creating Milton the Toaster as a mascot for Pop-Tarts, Kellogg's came up with a new model, whose eyes are inside the toaster, and whose mouth is one of the slots. Gilbert Gottfried (Aladdin) voices the new, nameless toaster.
El flopp-o, as this toaster's attitude was the pits.
El flopp-o, as this toaster's attitude was the pits.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Toon Legends: Doctor Pink (1978-9)
The Pink Panther takes a job at a hospital as a humble, but of course bumbling, janitor, yet he dreams of being "Doctor Pink". The copyright says 1978, but it didn't come out until a year later, and likely aired on ABC.
The Walter Mitty-esque daydreams have been a common ream for the Panther over the years. If you've seen one variant, you've seen them all.
Rating: B.
Rein-Toon-Ation: Pac-Man & the Ghostly Adventures (2013)
Pac-Man returned to action in 2013's Pac-Man & the Ghostly Adventures, currently airing as part of Sinclair Broadcasting's Kids Click package.
The series initially aired on DisneyXD here in the US, and concurrently in Japan, which got one extra season out of the series, in addition to some holiday themed episodes that didn't air here, although they could, since the series is also streaming on Netflix.
The biggest difference between this series and the game on which it's based is the premise that the ghosts are secretly pals with ol' Pac, including Pinky, a female ghost with a crush on Pac-Man. Instead of being on what seemed to be Earth in the 1982 ABC series, Pac-Man and pals are on their own world, far more surreal and bizarre thanks to CGI tech.
Let's just give you a tease with "All You Can Eat":
Ghostly Adventures was seemingly dropped by DisneyXD in 2015, but no formal announcement of cancellation was ever made. As noted, it's now on Kids Click, which is experiencing some growing pains in its first few days on the air.
Rating: B+.
The series initially aired on DisneyXD here in the US, and concurrently in Japan, which got one extra season out of the series, in addition to some holiday themed episodes that didn't air here, although they could, since the series is also streaming on Netflix.
The biggest difference between this series and the game on which it's based is the premise that the ghosts are secretly pals with ol' Pac, including Pinky, a female ghost with a crush on Pac-Man. Instead of being on what seemed to be Earth in the 1982 ABC series, Pac-Man and pals are on their own world, far more surreal and bizarre thanks to CGI tech.
Let's just give you a tease with "All You Can Eat":
Ghostly Adventures was seemingly dropped by DisneyXD in 2015, but no formal announcement of cancellation was ever made. As noted, it's now on Kids Click, which is experiencing some growing pains in its first few days on the air.
Rating: B+.
Sunday, July 2, 2017
It Should've Been on a Saturday: Gettin' To Know Me (1979-80)
Back in the day, PBS affiliates filled the hours when the kiddo's were at school with an assortment of educational programs aimed at pre-schoolers. The lengths of these programs varied, but the vast majority of these shows have, unfortunately, been lost to the mists of time.
To be totally honest, I didn't even know about this next item, Gettin' To Know Me, which, while it was developed with African-American audiences in mind, is actually meant for everyone. That said, I cannot fairly rate this show, so we will forego the rating, and jump right into a sample episode:
To be totally honest, I didn't even know about this next item, Gettin' To Know Me, which, while it was developed with African-American audiences in mind, is actually meant for everyone. That said, I cannot fairly rate this show, so we will forego the rating, and jump right into a sample episode:
Saturday, July 1, 2017
War of the Aardvarks (Odd Ant Out, 1970)
Here's a rare Ant & the Aardvark in which the ant isn't being chased. Well, technically.
You see, Charlie Ant (John Byner) doesn't show up until the very end, while the Blue Aardvark (Byner) duels with a green one over a can of---wait for it---chocolate covered ants. Some of the gags were boosted from the Road Runner playbook, for obvious reasons.
Here's "Odd Ant Out":
Don't know who Byner was impersonating as the Green Aardvark, in case anyone asks.
Rating: A.
You see, Charlie Ant (John Byner) doesn't show up until the very end, while the Blue Aardvark (Byner) duels with a green one over a can of---wait for it---chocolate covered ants. Some of the gags were boosted from the Road Runner playbook, for obvious reasons.
Here's "Odd Ant Out":
Don't know who Byner was impersonating as the Green Aardvark, in case anyone asks.
Rating: A.
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