Integrated commercials

[treky]

who else wishes that shows still had these?

[RetroGuy2000]

Not me. I DVR everything so I don't have to watch commercials, fast-forwarding through the commercials.

[opus]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Not me. I DVR everything so I don't have to watch commercials, fast-forwarding through the commercials.

You wouldn't watch one of the FOL girls break character, hold up a box of Life cereal and say "Life. It's the best and that's a fact!" ?

[LUNCH]

No way. Modern commercials and advertising is so obnoxious. Of course I do not watch modern or current TV shows so it would not affect me. I also DVR programs to skip through commercials. And I actually used to like commercials back in the days when they were clever and pleasant to watch, and there was much less of them.

[LUNCH]

Originally Posted by opus

You wouldn't watch one of the FOL girls break character, hold up a box of Life cereal and say "Life. It's the best and that's a fact!" ?

I think he means if a new show did that. And these days they would break character to advertise something like prescription drugs and so on.

[opus]

There’ll always be some form of integrated commercials in shows. Character jumps in a car, camera makes sure you know it’s a Ford. Person grabs a laptop, oh look, it’s a Dell. Someone drinks a can of soda, no happenstance it’s a Coke. Stuff like that.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by opus

You wouldn't watch one of the FOL girls break character, hold up a box of Life cereal and say "Life. It's the best and that's a fact!" ?

My God, no.

The Facts of Life was, like other Norman Lear shows, a series which was not only funny, it tackled some serious topics. The suicide episode alone is credited for saving viewers' lives; the episodes which featured disabled people brought attention to people with handicaps. The episodes tackling abortion, teenage lesbianism, hearing loss, eating disorders, etc., made people aware. The young actresses on the series won a number of industry awards.

In 1985, Coca-Cola bought Norman Lear's Emmy award-winning Embassy Television and Tandem Productions for what was then over $400,000,000, the equivalent to over a billion dollars today. Coke put a studio exec in charge who was later accused of stealing expensive office desks (he later denied the claim not by saying he hadn't paid for them, but by stating that two of them were relatively cheap knock-offs). In a corporate environment where studio execs held all the cards, a show about morals and values would lose those things.

The corporate sale affected The Facts of Life immediately. Edna's warm bakery burned and soon the girls were hocking cheap merch from a Spencer's knock-off shop, the punchlines being about how they could swindle people into purchasing their garbage products, much of it so low-quality they didn't even know what it was. Gone were the lessons, the morals, the discussion of quality in products. The Facts of Life rarely tackled serious topics after 1985; the show became humorous fluff: shows about musical guests, 1960s nostalgia, etc. The series stopped winning awards, except in the categories of hair and make-up. Charlotte Rae left at the end of that season, even after studio execs offered her "millions" (her words) to stay.

Charlotte was replaced by Cloris Leachman. Coke wanted her to wear Coca-Cola advertising, but Cloris, to her credit, refused. She's quoted in books of that era as stating that Coca-Cola will kill you.

Coke didn't know what to do with a film and television production company, and after just two and a half years, they sold it. As soon as Coca-Cola sold Embassy Television, the girls closed Over Our Heads, and an era of harmful, crass commercialism disguised as a sitcom came to an end. At the end of the series, Blair buys Eastland School, the show's writers at last realizing, and acknowledging, they had strayed too far from the original premise.

No, I wouldn't want integrated commercials on The Facts of Life: the show was so incredibly damaged by corporate takeovers and horrible, creepy commercialism as it was.

[treky]

I think you're mistaken; FOL wasn't a Norman Lear show

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by treky

I think you're mistaken; FOL wasn't a Norman Lear show

Norman Lear's production company, Tandem Productions, produced The Facts of Life. Lear was the one who spotted Geri Jewell in the comedy club in LA, and signed her to The Facts of Life. Mindy stated Norman kept sending her notes not to smile when reciting her jokes. Lear set up Embassy Television at Metromedia Square, where The Facts of Life was was taped for its first four seasons. Geri went to Norman Lear when her role was reduced.

[GentlemanJim]

I always thought it was kinda cool the way that a town as small as Mayberry could afford a brand new Ford every year for their Sheriff. And only years later discovered how rare it is to see anything but a Ford in any TAGS episode.

It does happen, but it's rare enough to be noteworthy. One of the things I enjoy about old shows is seeing the old cars in them.

As far as integrated commercials for today? I think the method is too subtle for sponsors tastes these days, They like a harder-sell approach, where the viewer is hit over the head with subjective boasts, 1-800 numbers, and/or the names of local retailers where the product can be obtained.

Relying upon the customer to find something they saw in passing is, IMO, leaving too much to chance for the expectations of many sponsors

[cnnbcbs]

Originally Posted by treky

who else wishes that shows still had these?

They kinda do wnow with product placement in more and more shows.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by cnnbcbs

They kinda do wnow with product placement in more and more shows.

If the product placement is subtle, I prefer that over "Shasa" brand soda and those other brands where they just remove one letter from the company's name.

[LUNCH]

Originally Posted by opus

There’ll always be some form of integrated commercials in shows. Character jumps in a car, camera makes sure you know it’s a Ford. Person grabs a laptop, oh look, it’s a Dell. Someone drinks a can of soda, no happenstance it’s a Coke. Stuff like that.

That is more like product placement I guess. For example 1970s Quinn Martin shows like Barnaby Jones and so on always featured a certain make of cars. For example Ford or Chevy etc. However it was not in your face like more modern advertising. Most of the time though they would use a generic name for a product. For example when Archie Bunker had a beer, it was a no name can or a made up name. I would imagine in todays shows all the product placement is in your face in a very obnoxious style, however I don't know for sure since I do not watch the modern stuff. Not to mention they show at least 4 times the amount of regular commercials these days. So I would imagine between the commercials and placement of products in modern shows, 21st century shows are also just 1 big commercial.