It’s Interstitial/Public Service Announcement/Public Awareness Message Week (for the final time!), and I’ve culled two more interstitial programs from the archives, both of which are currently airing to this day!
First up, we’re back on CBS, who told us about who the most important person in the whole wide world is, told us to “read more about it,” and then to “stop the madness.” The current series of Public Awareness Messages CBS network airs is the one that supplanted Stop the Madness’s successor in the mid 1990s.
This segment, starting in 2000, has CBS programming stars addressing numerous causes – healthcare, health issues, campaigns to celebrate heritage and history, marking milestones, covered disaster relief following Hurricane Katrina, pet adoption, bullying, holiday reminders, suicide prevention, press freedomIt treads upon the ground covered in segments CBS has aired over the years, with a simpler title: CBS Cares.
It even goes to a strange place, talking about giving the gift of a prostate exam to the man in your life!
I’m serious!
Good for Hanukkah or Christmas, and ranked #17 on TV Guide Channel’s 25 Most Hilarious Holiday TV Moments in 2010!
And speaking of bodily functions…would you believe there was a Colonoscopy Sweepstakes?!
Again, totally serious! Wake up and see the sun rise over New York City, and then kick back for a free camera up the butt!
Another segment to receive praise was part of CBS Cares’ partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation to produce the first-ever tolerance Public Service Announcement, featuring Mandela addressing an American audience. The message has been seen in 82 countries around the world, and has been re-done with actors from CBS programming since then.
CBS Cares has focused on issues that have also been translated, including a segment on postpartum depression, as presented by Cold Case stars Kathryn Morris (in English) and Danny Pino (en Espanol).
The segment has been parodied by late night sketch comedy and talk shows, but has also received high praise and awards – four consecutive CINE Golden Eagle Awards, three Communicator Awards and a Gracie’s Award, three consecutive Prism Awards, as well as the Paul Rogers Leadership Award, and an award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. And it doesn’t stop there – various CBS Cares has earned a Voice Award in Los Angeles from a coalition of the U.S. government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and various Hollywood unions for its campaigns against substance abuse and the stigma surrounding depression and bipolar disorder.
Not bad for a segment that has followed in the footsteps of other tried-and-true Public Service Announcement-type programs on both its own and other networks, and effectively covering the same topics.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at our final series of Public Service Announcements, the one people know, love, and one that has seen so many parodies over the years. Like today’s Public Service Announcement, it is still going strong, and has been for quite some time.
You probably know which one I’m referring to, because, well, this one needs to be included.
Have a great Throwback Thursday!