Valerie's Family Fire Prevention (partially found McDonald's sponsored TV ads; 1987)

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https://lostmediawiki.com/Valerie%27...d_TV_ads;_1987)

In 1986, a sitcom starring Valerie Harper as a mother of three boys and wife of an airline pilot, entitled Valerie, debuted on NBC. Its 13-episode trial season was a success, and it was renewed for another season which was equally successful. A third season had been greenlit and was just starting production before Harper was involved in a salary dispute, resulting in her getting fired from the show. As a result, her character was killed off in a car accident, Sandy Duncan was brought in as the boys' aunt, and the show was renamed Valerie's Family.

Burned Out

Several episodes of season 3 deal with the Hogans overcoming Valerie's death, including the third episode, entitled "Burned Out", sponsored by McDonald's and aired during Fire Prevention Week on October 5, 1987. In the episode, as the boys and their father are helping Sandy move in, they come across a poorly-structured lamp in their attic. As they walk away from it, the lamp sparks and catches fire. The fire contains itself well enough that the Hogans don't even notice anything wrong until they're getting ready for bed. As fate would have it, the fire eventually engulfs the house and leaves the Hogans to stay with their next-door neighbors, the Pooles (one of whom was coincidentally portrayed by Willard Scott, the first person to play the role of Ronald McDonald), while their house is being repaired.

Fire Prevention Ads

As a condition for their sponsorship, McDonald's helped finance the set damage for the scene involving the Hogans exploring their charred house and aired public safety announcements related to fire safety during the episode's commercial breaks. These commercials were only shown during the episodes debut airing and were never repeated. While "Burned Out" is in regular circulation, the commercials that aired during this episode aren't for the most part. One is available, but due to only airing once, the others are unlikely to resurface given their rarity.