Throwback Thursday is happy to be here!
I’ve decided to do away with the usual theme week, in favor of two commercials that are unrelated, but ones I’ve been wanting to cover on here for awhile. Just my way of mixing it up.
Today’s commercial, from 1988, is all about the excitement of a video game, combined with normal life purchases and decisions. And it features Don Pardo!
That, of course, is exciting on its own!
That said…
Meet Mary Hady from Cincinnati, Ohio!
She’s competing to have a more fabulous life by…subscribing to TV Guide?
Trust me, it is just as bizarre as it sounds!
Click play to find out!
The commercial boasts of the offer of 30 weeks for 3 payments of $7.17 each…and all the amazing benefits being a subscriber nets you.
Back off American Express, being a subscriber to TV Guide has PERKS! And those PERKS! come with listings for local, national, cable, and pay cable networks!
Who didn’t eat this stuff up in its prime?
TV Guide has been giving us information for the things we want since its first publication in January 1953. Its combination of magazine-style stories, program listings, and movie summaries made this magazine a pretty valuable item in the pre-digital guide world. My family received a subscription for many years, and I always looked forward to reading the articles…and the listings.
I never said I was normal! Don’t judge!
In 1998, Prevue Channel (Prevue Guide)’s parent company United Video Satellite Group acquired the TV Guide brand and name, and rebranded the revolutionary digital guide service as TV Guide Channel. That service launched on February 1, 1999. In 2007, that service was re-branded to TV Guide Network, and in 2013 to TVGN to de-emphasize the network’s connection to the magazine. On January 14, 2015, TV Guide Channel/Network/TVGN became Pop, which airs programming about pop culture and fandom.
The magazine itself continues on as a bi-weekly publication, and in more recent years, looks more like a magazine than the small book that sat on end tables next to the remote control. The cover still looks as amazing as it always did, featuring a new subject each week. Today, it seems a bit outmoded, but there was a time where having a TV Guide on hand was a necessity.
And that, in itself, constitutes winning.
Tomorrow, another commercial from the archives as we move ahead to Flashback Friday! Will it change your life, or the subject of the commercial? Perhaps!
Until then, have a great Throwback Thursday!
Allison's Written Words 
I remember this commercial from when I was a kid, mainly b/c of the VO by Don Pardo, as well as how the stock music bed was previously used in a USA Network promo a year or so earlier for two of their game shows (Jackpot and Chain Reaction).
Oh, and much like you, always loved TVG and eagerly looked forward to getting our copy in the mail each week, after which I’d carefully read the listings and make mental notes of any noteworthy programs airing over the next seven days. Great read, as usual!
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