The Bob Barker-hosted New Price is Right is celebrating 40 years on television this week. Below you can watch the first episode, which aired the first week in September, 1972, in all of its early-70s glory. Marvel at the clothes and merchandise and enjoy this seminal game show in its infancy.
The Brady Bunch teach us a valuable lesson – Never save anyone’s life!
Welcome to another mind-expanding installment of Brady Bunch Moments. What’s all the hubbub? A line of masking tape down the middle of the boy’s bedroom keeps brother separated from brother. How have things come to this? Life-saving and advantage-taking, that’s how!
Let’s peek in on Bobby and Peter and enjoy the antagonism between them as the boy’s feud gets out of hand. The “My Brother’s Keeper” episode of The Brady Bunch originally aired on November 2, 1973 as part of the show’s final season.
One of the best films of 1979, ‘The Muppet Movie.’ ‘Can you picture that?’
The Muppet Movie hit theaters in June of 1979. This musical comedy starring everyone’s felt favorites did extremely well at the box office and ended up the 7th highest-grossing film of the year. With a ton of laughs, a heart-warming story and excellent tunes such as “Moving Right Along” and “The Rainbow Connection,” The Muppet Movie deserves to be right up there with The Jerk and Kramer vs. Kramer.
I saw the movie at least two or three times in the theater in the summer and fall of 1979 and am pleased to report that it holds up well to this day. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll rush out and buy the DVD. Unfortunately, The Muppet Movie is not yet available on Blu-ray. Enjoy the original theatrical trailer and Steve Martin’s cameo as a snotty waiter below.
(*Note: The original trailer was removed from YouTube and now seems impossible to find. Here’s a TV spot replacement.) The Muppet Movie Theatrical Trailer
“Won’t’cha turn your head my way?” Van Halen, “Dance the Night Away,” 1979
Happy Labor Day to those of you in the US! And to everyone, Happy Monday! What do we do when we have the day off? We “Dance the Night Away” of course.
Van Halen released “Dance the Night Away” in 1979 and it became their first US top 20 hit – rising to #15 on the Billboard “Hot 100”. Enjoy this concert-footage video of the band in their classic late-70s period. It’s hairy good.
“From the Heart”…comes Japanese chocolate. The Carpenters for Hi-Crown Chocolate (1974)
I hope you are enjoying a lazy September Sunday. To help keep you relaxed – here’s a pair of rarely-seen spots The Carpenters made for Japanese television in the early to mid-1970s.
First up, Karen and Richard sing a tune which seems to be entitled “From the Heart” for Hi-Crown Chocolates. In the second spot, the brother and sister duo ride the waves and help sell a Suntory-brand soda called “Pop”. Pop & sweets. A perfect pairing.
“The Queen of Pop” (See what I did there?) Karen Carpenter for Suntory Pop (1977)
That’s one heck of a controller! Odyssey TV commercial circa late 1972/early ’73.
Home video games are officially 40 years old this week. The first home system, the Magnavox Odyssey, shipped to retailers in August of 1972. The first known instance of the system being on sale to the public dates to an ad from August 28th, ’72. Video Game site Gamasutra has the full skinny on the ancient machine. Happy Birthday!
Gamasutra Quote:
“…the Odyssey — based on Baer’s prototype ‘brown box’ console (now living in The Smithsonian), but with some flourishes added by Magnavox — is as primitive as can be. Using overlays that stuck onto a user’s television set, players would move simple white objects around on a screen and play simulations of roulette, a simple skiing game, and even a quasi-educational game involving U.S. geography.”
