3CR's VCR Advent Calendar

[Stumpy Pepys]

Day 7 - short but sweet... unless you live in Baltimore, I suppose:

That did make me laugh. What's the backstory there?

[Viktor Boskovic]

I was just getting ready to watch that Australian film on the Granada video (Granada did like a late night Australian show, as seen with Bluey, as referenced on this board before), and Quick's for Ford must have been working subliminally on me at an impressionable age, I got my first car from them! Funnily enough I was also reminded of the advert for Tommy Ball's when that walking tall cat advert was on the telly the other day. I found myself saying 'with Tommy Ball' after the 'Walk Tall' line of the song.

[3 Colours Red]

That did make me laugh. What's the backstory there?

This highly over the top commercial was originally produced as a joke in 1990 for a faux award show put on be the Advertising Association of Baltimore called The Ad Follies. The AAB searched for agencies willing to produce ad spoofs mocking the top agencies in the city despite the impending threat that people working on these spoofs may place their jobs in jeopardy for doing so. The production was conducted at television studio WBFF and all of the footage originates from car manufacturer promotional videos and generic stock footage. The writer and narrator of the copy are still both unknown.

The video was never intended to be shown outside of The Ad Follies show because of the vulgarity and the possibilities of being viewed by the mocked. Copies were only distributed to people who worked on production and to WBFF employees following the screening.

Meanwhile... day 8 - I loved this when I was a kid:

[3 Colours Red]

Day 9 - why was this never picked up for a series?

[3 Colours Red]

Day 10 - I know which way my bread is buttered, here's some more ads. Concentrating on the 90s this time and food and drink:

[3 Colours Red]

Day 11 - early CGI has always been one of my "things":

[3 Colours Red]

Day 12 - Curiosity Show, what would now be called a STEM programme for children. I remember ITV showing this on summer holiday mornings in the early 90s - the days when Tommy Boyd was trying desperately to "get down wiv da kidz", although that had probably been the case since about 1975.

Wait until the bit where they show you how to make a tongue drum and remember THIS IS A CHILDREN'S SHOW. No "get an adult to do this for you" bollocks here.

Australians really are built different, I suppose:

[3 Colours Red]

Day 13 - a little Victor Lewis-Smith tribute:

[3 Colours Red]

Day 14 - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKLAHOMA!

[3 Colours Red]

Day 15 - it's sport Jim, but not as we know it:

[Stumpy Pepys]

Day 13 - a little Victor Lewis-Smith tribute:

I really enjoyed Buygones when it was aired.

Then again, looking back at it:

1. A refurbished VCS3 Synthesizer would now cost you about $20,000
2. Apparently you only need 100W to communicate with Mars
3. The Prisoner was ace.

[3 Colours Red]

Day 16 - A bit of Cuddly Ken:

[3 Colours Red]

Day 17 - a pilot for a Hagar The Horrible cartoon series? I'm amazed that something came up in my recommendations that wasn't far-right propaganda bullshit - the mysteries of the algorithm continue to confound:

[3 Colours Red]

Day 18 - more ads and back to the 80s, this time with an Argentinian flavour as seems appropriate today:

[3 Colours Red]

Day 19 - now this is the kind of chess I can get into:

[3 Colours Red]

Day 20 - Maaaaaarrrrstuuuuuurrrchef:

[3 Colours Red]

Day 21 - the very first Clive James On Television, with quite a different tone to what came later:

[3 Colours Red]

Day 22 - remember Stay Tooned?

[3 Colours Red]

Day 23 - here's a festive staple, the 1994 final of World's Strongest Man:

[Giggler]

Day 22 - remember Stay Tooned?

I do remember it. When I used to go in the mid-level hospitality at Gigg with my dad, the telly in the room would be on BBC One for Final Score, then switch to Granada for Granada Goals Extra, then back to BBC One for this so the kids could watch something while the adults had a drink.

[Simon G]

Day 23 - here's a festive staple, the 1994 final of World's Strongest Man:

I've got a call in 10 mins, but as soon as it's finished I shall be watching this one.

[3 Colours Red]

Day 24 - the biggie (so big I had to switch to Dailymotion to find it), the greatest Crimbo special of them all. It hits all the festive tropes - play telescopes, vodka margarine, severed fingers... it's got the lot:

I can't stop giving, here's Bostock's Cup:

And Carrott's Commercial Breakdown 4:

And the last ever GamesMaster (the reboot doesn't count, it was a bit shite):

And finally, hello, good evening and bollocks: