Going back to the roots of commercials, TV Land is set to feature the return of “cast commercials�? in two of their upcoming broadcasts. TV show cast members are set to go live on TV Land commercials – once again.
Cast commercials, for those of you born after the Eisenhower administration, were a popular trend in the 50s/60s that featured advertisements between programs starring the actors from whatever you watching.
Often times the actors or actresses would continue playing their characters from said show and, before you knew it, you’d find yourself purchasing laundry detergent from Lucy Riccardo’s neighbor Ethel (In theory, anyway).
The format died out in the late 60s when the model of sponsorship for TV programs died out and networks took over selling air time, but TV Land, probably playing off their (ahem) older age demographic, is bringing the idea back.
Two of their original programs, Hot in Cleveland and The Soul Man, which this season will each feature a live episode, will also include nostalgia-inducing live commercials for the Toyota Highlander and Bush’s Grillin’ Beans.
While this means that Betty White & Co. will have their hands full, performing an entire live show complete with live commercials, TV Land hopes the results will be a challenging way to add even more energy to the live specials.
It’s a fun idea, one that seems well suited to TV Land’s style, but we’ll have to wait until June 19th to see it executed.
In the meantime we can settle for reruns of I Love Lucy, and wonder how Ethel ever got her whites so white.
This reminds me of some of the in-between commercial content I’ve seen on some shows. I don’t know if many shows still do this, but I’d gladly welcome a return to this, even for new shows.
I welcome this for sure. I never knew classic shows even did this, but I do believe it’s a great ways of advertising products and getting money in for the show, two good things to help. I know one of my favorite shows; Community, can do this method and it’d help them big time. They already do major product placement, so that’d be good.
Very nice article. Thanks
Tv programmes always rocked….
good humor in writing… finger crossed till june 19th
Marketing startegy was solid then……
Live commercials!! Sounds fun!!
vintage marketing ideas!!! Really great!!
Excellent post