Disproving the idea that television is worse than it used to be
Two slices of RTÉ’s promos, and the ads it ran, from 1986.
In the first, gasp at the flecky RTÉ logo, marvel at the way that mime was considered an effective sales technique, be astonished at how the Lucozade ad makes the drink look better than crack cocaine, and weep with nostalgia at how the ad break ends with those cardboard ads that used to be accompanied by a voiceover. Such a shame they’re gone. How else can men’s clothes stores in Birr get a slot on RTÉ TV now? One of these is even crooked. Nice touch.
In the second, check out the Bank Holiday Monday viewing on RTÉ2. These days, they’d just give you a some sort of Gerry Ryan Hitlist. Gerry Ryan’s Haircut Hitlist or Gerry Ryan’s Property Show Hitlist or Gerry Ryan’s Bad Television Shows Presented By Gerry Ryan Hitlist. Maybe 1986 wasn’t so bad after all.
You may also have noticed that getting up at 8.05am was perfectly reasonable.
Comment by Dan Sullivan | April 25, 2008 at 8:02 pmAlan Stanford’s being doing voice-overs since the foundation of the State, hasn’t he?
Comment by Green Ink | April 26, 2008 at 9:32 amI’m ahem, crying as I write this.
Comment by 73man | April 27, 2008 at 7:56 pmTwo Ron Jeremy’s on a plane. That will be my mental image of American Express for ever forth.
Comment by Kid | April 28, 2008 at 7:59 amI’ll trump that with the intro and first few minutes of ‘Anything Goes’ from 1985. This’ll have you crying with nostalgia until you’re dehydrated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQeyUVZQ108
Comment by aidan | April 28, 2008 at 10:25 amAlan Stanford is clearly a robot. A sexy robot.
Comment by emordino | April 28, 2008 at 10:44 amDoes anyone remember the weirdness that was when new ads would be shown in a batch - it was on a tuesday around 11 ish I think (well before daytime telly so it had to switch from the ‘test card’ onto the ads and then back to the test card again)
Comment by Suzy | April 28, 2008 at 11:49 pm