Classic Commercial Sunday - #85

Think about the fact that in 1988 everything wasn't generated on a computer. Which means every creepy thing you see in this commercial was built and constructed on a soundstage somewhere...

Classic Commercial Sunday - #80

I love the voices in this one...

Classic Commercial Sunday - #52

Classic Commercial Sunday - #44

McGood Times

The cast of McDonaldland characters is one of the great things that we all loved about the fast food chain when we were younger. The Burger King Kids Club crew, the Arby's oven mit or even Bob Evan's Bisquit n' Gravy - none come even close to the awesomeness of Ronald McDonald and his buddies. These toys are reproductions from a line of McDonaldland toys that came out in the 70's. What kid today wouldn't want to recreate the adventures of Capt. Crook trying to get his hands on a Filet o'Fish sandwhich?! I had the whole set of these when I was younger including the giant playset with a mat that took up the entire floor of our playroom. It's probably worth hundreds of dollars now and I bet we sold it at a garage sale for a dollar.

Posted via Blogaway

I Like My Smurfs in Mountains and on Glasses

I was so thrilled when I saw that Burger King was going to have Star Trek glasses as their promotion tied to the new film. It's not that I'm excited to get my hands on a Star Trek glass (although I did pick one up with my Angry Whopper the other day) but I was delighted to see one of the fast food chains bring back the glasses promotion. Back in the good ol' days, I found nothing more exciting than when McDonald's or one of the other guys would offer drinking glasses for a buck or two when you bought a sandwich or a meal or whatever they wanted you to buy. Growing up, our kitchen cupboard was filled with many of these cartoon character glasses. But the surprising thing is that these glasses have stuck around. I have glasses from fast food restaurants that have been in daily use for over 20 years! When I got married my wife thought the cartoon glasses would all go on a display on a shelf somewhere in the basement or something like that...but I had to put my foot down. Everything tastes better from a cartoon character fast food glass, so the Smurfs, Muppets, Flintstones and other childhood friends all moved into the same kitchen cupboard as her boring glasses that match the plates.


When I thought about doing a post on this topic, I figured I would take pictures of some of the glasses in my collection. But I found some great pictures from various sources on the internets to illustrate my article so we'll use those for this discussion...


To me, these are the pinnacle of fast food glass promotions: Smurf glasses from Hardee's circa 1982. There are a few reasons these glasses are so near and dear to my heart. First of all, 1982 was the height of the Smurf craze and I was a huge Smurf fan. I could simply not wait to get my hands on one of these bad boys. But, here's what made the passion for these glasses all the more intense. There was not a single Hardee's anywhere near where we lived. But, there was on right down the street from my grandmother's house. In fact, a trip to Gram and Poppy's house was usually accompanied by a visit to Hardee's. Luckily, my grandparents only lived about 25 minutes away and we visited often. Then, to make the deal sweeter...the collection was made up of 8 glasses! Usually promotions of this kind featured four different designs/characters, but eight just seemed like a ton! We managed to snag most of them at the time. Over the years all eight of the glasses have made appearances in my cupboards. A few years ago when I started going to flea markets and antique malls I discovered that these (and other glasses) are pretty common finds so I've replaced and added some to my collection. I still have the original 27 year old Brainy Smurf glass at work in our kitchen today. We also have Grouchy and Smurfette still serving us drinks. (Sadly, just this past week Papa Smurf was knocked off the table and shattered into a million pieces. So did my heart!) The great Smurf Glasses promotion of 1982 was such a hit for Hardee's...

...that in 1983 they came out with the Party Collection. Again, my 9 year old jaw dropped to the ground when I heard they were coming out with more Smurf glasses. This time around the glasses were more colorful and alive. I've had my hands on all six of these babies as well, although right now only Smurfette and Baker Smurf still party on! Well played Hardee's, well played! They also struck gold in my heart the following year with another of the all-time greatest fast food promotions: the Gremlins Book and Records. After that, Hardee's seemed to fade off the pop culture promotions landscape. Although, we'll give an honorable mention to their late 80's California Raisins figures.

My love of restaurant glasses actually starts here with McDonald's The Great Muppet Caper glasses from 1981. Before anyone knew what a Smurf was, the Muppets were just about my favorite thing in the world. A Muppet movie was an event and this promotion made more anxious to see the movie than I already was! The four glasses in this collection capture four great scenes from this fantastic movie. The picture here is actually a tray liner from McDonald's used to promote the promotion. We had the first three glasses but never snagged the Miss Piggy glass which was a shame because I always remember when we saw the movie in the theatre how hard my mom laughed at the scene where Piggy rides the motorcycle through the stained glass window. A few years ago at a flea market I found someone who had a whole case of the Piggy glasses - brand new. Now, the Miss Piggy glass and the Happiness Hotel glass (another flea market find) reside amongst our glasses.

Mickey D's struck gold again in 1983 with their Camp Snoopy Glasses. Camp Snoopy is the kiddie land section in a handful of theme parks across the country. When these glasses came out in `83, Knott's Berry Farm in California was the first park to welcome Snoopy and the gang as their mascot. These glasses don't mention the theme park as they were sold all over the country. The nice thing about McDonald's glasses promotions as stated in this tray liner is that each restaurant offered only one glass a week. So, it was actually easy to keep up with your collection and buy all 5. I've still got the Charlie Brown glass, Snoopy in the sleeping bag broke a few years ago and I've never had the other three. But Wait! I hear an antique mall calling my name!

This was the last truly great fast food restaurant glass promotion and it popped up (or all places) at Hardee's in 1990. The Flintstones glasses were super exciting. Even though I've watched the Flintstones all my life, I really became a huge fan and collector later in life. There's actually four glasses in this 30th Anniversary set but this was the only good picture I could find. Each of the glasses features a scene from a classic episode and a little write up on the other side of the glass with the plot and year of the episode. The episodes where Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm and Dino were all introduced are included as well as the classic opening theme song. I lost two of these glasses to "party fouls" but the Dino glass still rocks on at our family meals!

The Flintstones glasses were the last full sized drinking glasses. The `90's were filled with disappointing variations on the glasses idea. McDonald's offered glass mugs to promote The Flintstones movie in 1994 and Batman Forever in 1995, but neither of them had anything to do with the movie nor did they hold much liquid. (Although I did buy all the Flintstones ones because I'm a completest). Ronald also rolled out two sets of glasses celebrating Walt Disney World. While I appreciated the effort, the glasses are not full-sized drinking glasses and the second set of glasses were square making them hard to drink out of. Burger King put out two sets of Disney themed glasses, one set for Pocahontas and another promoting various Disney VHS titles. However, these aren't made of glass - they are plastic and I can't tell you how much I hate drinking out of a plastic cup!

As with the movie they promote, the new Burger King Star Trek glasses are a great throwback to the way things used to be and for all intents and purposes: the way things should be!

Classic Commercial Sunday - Roddenberry Rolls Over In His Grave Edition

My 15 Favorite Chain Restaurants

If you're visiting a friend in another city and he or she takes you out for a night on the town, of course you're going to want to sample a little bit of the local culture and flavor. If you find yourself in New Orleans for the weekend, you don't want to eat at an Applebees, you want to get some good ol' Creole cooking. And if you're vacationing in Maine, you'd probably rather have fresh lobster than a Filet-O-Fish! But you know what, sometimes some of the standbys are good. Sometimes you're in the mood for some eats that your familiar with. And hey...restaurants become chains because at some point in their history they were making some pretty good food that people wanted to eat! I love trying new foods and new places to eat, but I'm not snobby about a chain restaurant. In fact, there's a handful of them that I really like. The other day while I was chowing down at a Waffle House, I got to thinking about which chain was really my favorite. So, of course, I grabbed a pen and paper and jotted down my list of favorite multi-location eateries. I even threw in some fun facts into my list this time:

15) Cheeseburger In Paradise (founded in 2002, 38 locations in 17 states) is a partnership between Outback Steakhouse and Jimmy Buffet. We had one near us for a year and a half and then it just closed it's doors without any warning. We miss our Cheeseburger In Paradise! We loved the beachy atmosphere and the island inspired foods they serve. They have some of the best sliders in the biz, and they make a mean Cheeseburger in Paradise - served up just the way it's described in the classic song. After our local one closed, the next closest location is a little over an hour away but we're thinking about making a trip out there real soon!


14) Checker's (started in 1986, 815 locations in 28 states) I've gotten food poisoning from Checker's three times...you'd think I would have learned my lesson after the second time but you just can't separate me from Banana flavored milkshakes! They also make some really good greasy burgers and they have a few interesting odd items on their menu. You can't go wrong with a chain that has a sandwich called The Big Bufford. Plus, I'm a sucker for drive-in's.


13) Five Guys (also started in 1986, 300 East Coast locations and moving west) Fantastic burgers and well done french fries. I like this place's no-nonsense, straight forward approach. There's not alot of things on the menu, everything is fresh, and they've even added the nice touch of free peanuts while you wait. Well played Five Guys, well played!


12) Chick-fil-A (dates back to 1946, now has 700+ shops) I discovered Chick-fil-A late in life. There has been one in my hometown mall for at least 15, if not 20 years but I had never eaten there until maybe 8 or 9 years ago. Sometimes simple is better, as is the case here. Their chicken sandwich is a good piece of breaded chicken with nothing on it except a slice of pickle and a nice buttery bun. They have good waffle fries too. And they use chunk meat in their nuggets instead of the mystery meat in most other fast food places nuggets. Get some nuggets with Polynesian dipping sauce...that's tasty right there!


11) McDonald's (founded in 1940, worldwide they serve 58 million customers daily) For some of us, McDonald's is like crack. We know it's bad for us, but sometimes we just gotta have a fix. In my opinion, hands down the best fast food fries by a longshot! The Big Mac is an American classic for a reason...it's a perfect tasting sandwich. Plus, Mickey D's invented the Happy Meal - one of life's little pleasures.


10) Cheeburger, Cheeburger (started in 1986, 64 locations) First of all, how bad can you be if you name your place after a Saturday Night Live sketch!? The place is all about burgers, and they have some mighty big ones here. You can dress them up a hundred different ways, but I always like mine with just a dash of ketchup and mustard. They have a one-pound burger, if you eat they make a big deal, take your picture and put it on the Wall of Fame. I've never tried it because I've always found "big food items" to be kinda gross. They also have a huge milk shake menu which was totally awesome until they took the Peanut Butter and Jelly shake off. Like many other places on my list, Cheeburger recreates the feel of a 50's diner. Fun is important while you're slowly killing yourself.


9) Cracker Barrel (serving good people since 1969, they now have 581 kitchens in 41 states) Folks, Cracker Barrel is good eats. They've got a nice home cooked menu waiting for ya. I almost always get the Cracker Barrel Sampler which is a small slice of their fantastic meatloaf (only place I ever order meatloaf,) sugar cured ham, and chicken and dumplings. Mmmmm...that's good. You get three sides with your meal, and they have plenty of sides to choose from. Any place that serves up steak fries and baked apples is ok in my book. For dessert, they have a glass mug sundae topped with molasses that is out of this world. After your meal, you can shop in their country store. Some other chains try to incorporate retail into their experience, but the Cracker Barrel store is the best. I could easily spend $200 on their DVD racks, and picking up some pure cane sugar Candy Canes is a must!


8) Fuddruckers (started in 1980, 260 stores worldwide) Quite possibly my favorite of the chain burgers, I've always loved the way Fuddruckers does burgers. They have many different sizes and they have a really good topping bar. Even though I usually like my burgers with just ketchup and mustard, sometimes I'll top off my Fudd Burger with their fresh tasty toppings. They have really good fries, which you can get hot cheese sauce for at no additional charge, and I always throw in a order of baked beans too! Yummers!

7) Denny's (founded in 1953, now with 2,500 world wide locations) Denny's gets a bad rap from alot of people, but to me it's all good eats! Four words: Moons Over My Hammy! Good sandwiches, decent burgers, really good buffalo chicken strips and the best fountain soda in town! If it's late at night, and you've got an hour to kill waiting for your food - Denny's is always a good friend to have around.


6) Long John Silvers (been around since 1969, 1,200 shops across the globe) Mmmm...fish and chips! Ohhhh....hush puppies. Any fast food chain that serves up hush puppies can't be all that bad. Add in some chicken planks and clam strips...and you're good to go!


5) Steak n' Shake (dating back to 1934, only 502 U.S. locations) Yet another faux 50's dinner on my list. Good Eats! Chill Mac is one of life's great pleasures! Steak n' Shake serves up several different versions of this great dish. Their Steakburgers are fantastic and I'm always a fan of a joint with multiple side dishes. What meal isn't ten times better when paired with a baked bean crock?


4) Nathan's Famous (first opened in New York's Coney Island in 1916, there are now over 20,000 locations) You haven't had a hot dog until you've had a Nathan's hot dog. First, there's the snap when you bite into one. It's a sign that you're not just eating a regular ol' hot dog. Second, it's the taste inside. It tastes like real meat...not just a bland mixture of left over pig parts, it tastes like honest to goodness tasty meat. And Nathan's grills them just right! Oh, it's heaven I tell ya! Nathan's also serves up some good fries which are of the crinkle cut variety and they are served in a little container with a red fork. Usually, I'm a dip in the fry in the ketchup kind of guy, but at Nathan's I pour the ketchup all over the fries and use my trusty red fork to scoop up all the goodness.


3) Hooters (celebrating tacky since 1983, there are 435 Hooters restaurants in the United States) The people that say "Oh, you just go to Hooters to look at the girls" are the same idiots who give guys a hardtime about reading Playboy. "Sure you're reading it for the articles!" Well you know what, if you want to oogle woman there are much better places to do it than Hooters and Playboy! Hooters is all about the wings. In my opinion, the best darn wings money can buy. I love buffalo wings, I get them all the time and different places. But Hooters wings are on a whole different playing field. They are like candy! They are crunchy, sweet and ever so tasty. They come in a handful of different flavors but I like `em Hot. Their hot sauce is not too spicy that it burns out your taste buds, but it still gives you a little heat. Hooters also has some good fries that pair nice with their wings. They have curley fries and they are a must with an order of wings. I usually wash it all down with a big ol' glass of lemonade. Oh yeah...and the girls there are pretty hot too!


2) Waffle House (an American institution since 1955, 1,500 houses over 25 states) Good Eats! Just about everything here is cooked on a tiny little grill in an open kitchen. Everything I've ever had at Waffle House is incredible! They have fantastic quick burgers, great breakfast options, and they've got some hash browns that you can get covered with chili, ham, jalapenos and a handful of other options that are all just great! A nice cozy, friendly atmosphere - Waffle House may be scary on the outside but welcoming on the inside.


1) Sonic (founded in 1945, 3,400 drive-ins in 34 states) If we've learned one thing from this list it's that I have a thing for places that try to replicate the feel of the 1950's. Which is strange because I don't really have any connection to the 50's. But Sonic has always had a hold on me!

Sonic had always been a mysterious treat that I would see from the road on various trips, but never had the chance to stop there often. A few years ago they built one about an hour away from where I live, making it the closest location for about 400 miles. Then, last October, a new construction project in town began to take the shape of a Sonic. I was thrilled when my dreams were confirmed when a "Sonic Coming Soon" sign was hung on the new building.

#1 Favorite meal at Sonic: Foot-Long Chili Cheese Coney Dog with tater tots and a large Blue Ocean Water. Sonic's drink menu is crazy, offering tons of different drinks and drink combos. The Blue Ocean Water tastes like you're at the beach! It's good! Their menu also has some other great things like a Chili Cheese Frito Wrap, and patty melts that are easily the best burger fast food has to offer.

For those of you who have never been to a Sonic, it's a drive-in...not a typical restaurant. They do have a traditional drive-thru or you can pull your car up to one of many stalls and place your order through a speaker. A car hop (sometimes on roller skates) will bring your food out to your car and you can sit in your vehicle and eat. There are also a small number of tables and chairs, but they are outside. Our Sonic opened in late October, I was able to squeeze in two outdoor dining visits in chilly weather but I'm really looking forward to sitting out and enjoying the summer weather and chowing down on some good ol' Sonic.

What's some of your favorites?

Mermaid Memories

I was thrilled that somebody finally posted this commercial on YouTube. It's from December 1989:

When the Disney/MGM Studios Theme Park (now called Disney's Hollywood Studios) opened up in the Spring of 1989, one of the original attractions was a tour through an actual honest-to-goodness animation studio. Disney had opened up a Florida branch of their feature animation studio and after watching a brief film guests were able to walk through the studio and watch real people at work on real projects. Nowadays the attraction is a sad shell of it's former self as Disney closed up the actual studio years ago.

But, on my first visit that opening year I can very vividly remember standing there in the studio and watching a guy edit black and white pencil sketches of a rough draft of this Little Mermaid Happy Meal commercial. As a young film nerd, just getting to watch the actual process was a thrill and as a young Disney nerd I was already aware of how grand The Little Mermaid was to be to the animation world.

Everytime I visit the Animation attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios, I think about the time 15 year old me stood there for the better part of an hour and watched the 30 second piece of film come together. I've searched for it on YouTube several times and was glad to have found it just recently.

Five Villans Who Need To Make A Comeback

Times are tough for everybody. Not just us decent hardworking Americans, but the bad guys of the world are feeling the pinch too! I don't know what any of this means but here's another random list of mine...Five bad guys who I'd like to see get back to work:



1) Hordak Everyone remembers Skeletor, but ya never hear anyone evoke the name of Hordak. Hordak was so bad even Skeletor didn't like him. When Hordak wasn't being a pain in Skeletor's side, he was busy trying to enslave She-Ra and the citizens of Etheria. Well, who knows how that all turned out for him but he needs to get some new PR people! I mean, Frank Langella played Skeletor in the 1987 Masters of the Universe and now he's getting critical acclaim for his role in Frost/Nixon...and no one has yet to even play Hordak in a live action film! Let's get on the ball there, Hordak! Stop trying to find Loo-Kee and let's get back to doing that voodo that you do so well!





2) Oil Can Harry Where the heck has good ol' Oil Can Harry been? Well, a quick search on the internet might lead you to believe he opened up a male strip joint in Austin, TX...but I'm hoping that's another fella with the same name. Back in the day, Mighty Mouse was part of our steady diet of before and after school cartoons, and Oil Can Harry was always right there trying to get one over on little Mighty Mouse. Seriously, the kids today with their MTV, iPhones, and sneakers with wheels in them...they don't even know who Mighty Mouse is. Oil Can Harry's been slacking and needs to start making some more giant cat robots or giant pieces of cheese that he hides in and get back to giving Mighty Mouse a run for the ol' opera singing money!



3) Lt. Mauser While other kids my age were soaking in the Star Wars or Indiana Jones films, I was watching and rewatching all of the Police Academy films. There's a special place in my heart for all six of the original films (not the 7th, direct-to-video one). Lt. Mauser was the bad guy in films 2 and 3. All the other films had Lt. Harris as the meanie. I've got nothing against Harris, but how about a little love for Mauser! For crying out loud people, they switched his shampoo with Super Glue and his hands got stuck on his head! If they make another Police Academy film...and oh, for the love of all that is good and delicious in this world - they should, let's see if we can squeeze a little Lt. Mauser into the picture, eh?




4) The Hamburglar Seriously folks, there's nothing more scary than a dude who steals hamburgers!

5) Brain Gremlins is one of my favorite movies. (Have I ever mentioned that before!?) When the sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, came out six years after the original who would have thought it would be just as awesome as the original. While cute little Gizmo stole the show in the first film, it was the mega-smart mutated gremlin Brain that stole the second show. Voiced by the late Tony Randal, Brain led the troupe of mutant gremlins on a New York City rampage that resulted in the death of Leonard Maltin and a giant all-Gremlin musical number. As Mr. Futterman as my witness, if any film franchise deserves another go-round....you can keep Star Trek, Ghostbusters, and all the Superheroes in the world....What the world needs now is Gremlins 3. `Nuf said!

Two Iron Mans Are Better Than One

As you may know, we are big fans of Movie Tie-Ins. Well, at least I am and the rest of the family has to go along for the ride. Yesterday we had to go out and run a few errands (including picking up our Disney World tickets) so I gave the kids a choice: McDonald's for Speed Racer toys or Burger King for Iron Man toys. It turns out Iron Man crushed Speed Racer in enthusiasm so we included a stop at our local BK for lunch. Expecting to get psyched for the Iron Man movie with some crappy little toys we were also met with an image of Indiana Jones as we pulled into the parking lot. It turns out BK didn't only whore itself out to Iron Man, but they are also in bed with good ol' Indy too. I'm a sucker for any menu item that is somehow tied into a movie, so while the kids ate their chicken tenders and apple sauce Joey and I were chowing down on Indiana Jones' Adventure Whopper...or something to that effect. Yes, it's just a Whopper with the addition of Pepper Jack Cheese, Bacon and some dark red tangy sauce but it comes wrapped in an Indiana Jones wrapper too! How can you resist! And I'm not really even into the whole Indiana Jones thang!


As you can see from the picture, the boys got Iron Man glasses that I guess are somehow supposed to make them look like Iron Man. Elias and Tanner really wanted action figures but they also aren't ones to pass up wearing superhero costume items. Most of the toys available in the Burger King Kid's Meal are figures but there is also a 3-D puzzle that looks kind of neat. It appears that Burger King is going to have Indiana Jones toys sometime in the next week or so.


Over at Mickey D's they are plugging the new Speed Racer movie with their Happy Meal. They of course have several different cars as prizes but they've also decided to make Speed Racer one of their boy/girl prizes. I assume boys are awarded one of the cars and girls receive "fashion items" like Speed Racer purses and vanity mirrors. An odd decision on Ronald's part, I guess they felt the movie just didn't have enough "Girl Power" to keep the little girls happy. Lame!

Sit On Some Fries!

A couple of weeks ago while traveling in parts previously uncharted by myself, I spotted a McDonalds playground that still had outdoor seating featuring the old McDonaldland characters. Today I loaded the kids up in the car for a tasty McDonald's lunch at that very same McDonalds some thirty minutes away from my home just so I could snap some pictures of these classic table and chairs. As with everything else this age, I'm sure they will be ripped out soon and replaced with something shiny and modern and boring. I'd love to find a Mickey D's that still had the Mayor McCheese and Big Mac climbing structures.

French Fry Happy Meal Guy

Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers

Grimace (sans pupils)

Female Fry Guy

American Idol Toys at McDonald's

Ronald's latest Happy Meal prizes are toys inspired by AMERICAN IDOL. Kind of an odd property to base a Happy Meal on, but I guess now that Disney doesn't want to be associated with the Golden Arches they have to come up with some creative ways to keep filling those Happy Meal boxes. Anywho...the first toy we got is a microphone with the American Idol logo on it. It's supposed to make your voice echo, but that feature doesn't work to well. After you sing a song in the mic there is a button to push to get the judges feedback...