12/14/2007
Okay, big news for fans of the Svengoolie version of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”- the powers that be have decreed that it WILL air, once again, as a special Christmas treat, on Saturday night, December 22, at 1 am on our sister station Me-TV (broadcast channel 23, cable digital channel 223 in many areas!) I’m always surprised by how many requests we get for that movie! Granted, you will see it show up all over the place, since it’s a public domain film- but you will ONLY see the “Svensurround” version on our station! If you’ve never experienced it- please watch, or set a tape or TiVo…and see why this is a holiday tradition for Sven fans!
One tradition I have is looking for commercials that are repeated every year at this time- for example, some of the holiday-type Empire Carpets commercials (I’m still waiting for the one with the dancing chorus boy elves!) Now that the Empire Carpet Man usually only appears as his computer generated doppelganger, it’s fun to watch the commercials carefully, when they show a family gathering- and see him, in normal clothes (sans uniform) among the celebrating family- my favorite being the one where, at the end, he’s playing the benign grandfather handing a gift to a little girl. If they do run the dancing chorus elves one, he is Santa- but I think that’s him from a few years ago, and they just re-dub some of his lines, if necessary.
The other one I enjoy seeing is the Lottery spot, for giving scratch-off tickets as gifts, where they run the action backwards. The main reason is –that cute smiley gal who plays the girlfriend! I do have a bone to pick with the spot though- when they have the young lady, and her boyfriend, saying things- how come they are speaking normally, instead of the sound being backwards, like the action is? (Read that line again, in the voice of the Simpsons’ “Comic Book Guy,” to get the full effect.) Oh, I know- because nobody would understand them if the sound was run backwards as well. I’m just being the usual Scrooge- or Svooge (that’s a combination of Scrooge and Sven – or, would that be Scren?!)
I AM happy to see that the “Radio City Christmas Show” ads no longer include the patented shot of a child sitting on a parent’s lap, pointing at something going on. The company that puts on the show used to include that shot in every year’s commercial, as well as in every year’s circus commercial, which they also produced. It used to be a perfect cliché in either of those ads- but maybe somebody caught on that there are knuckleheads like me who watch for, and make fun of, such things…
Got a favorite recurrent Christmas ad that surfaces from year to year? Let me know- svengoolie@wciu.com
One tradition I have is looking for commercials that are repeated every year at this time- for example, some of the holiday-type Empire Carpets commercials (I’m still waiting for the one with the dancing chorus boy elves!) Now that the Empire Carpet Man usually only appears as his computer generated doppelganger, it’s fun to watch the commercials carefully, when they show a family gathering- and see him, in normal clothes (sans uniform) among the celebrating family- my favorite being the one where, at the end, he’s playing the benign grandfather handing a gift to a little girl. If they do run the dancing chorus elves one, he is Santa- but I think that’s him from a few years ago, and they just re-dub some of his lines, if necessary.
The other one I enjoy seeing is the Lottery spot, for giving scratch-off tickets as gifts, where they run the action backwards. The main reason is –that cute smiley gal who plays the girlfriend! I do have a bone to pick with the spot though- when they have the young lady, and her boyfriend, saying things- how come they are speaking normally, instead of the sound being backwards, like the action is? (Read that line again, in the voice of the Simpsons’ “Comic Book Guy,” to get the full effect.) Oh, I know- because nobody would understand them if the sound was run backwards as well. I’m just being the usual Scrooge- or Svooge (that’s a combination of Scrooge and Sven – or, would that be Scren?!)
I AM happy to see that the “Radio City Christmas Show” ads no longer include the patented shot of a child sitting on a parent’s lap, pointing at something going on. The company that puts on the show used to include that shot in every year’s commercial, as well as in every year’s circus commercial, which they also produced. It used to be a perfect cliché in either of those ads- but maybe somebody caught on that there are knuckleheads like me who watch for, and make fun of, such things…
Got a favorite recurrent Christmas ad that surfaces from year to year? Let me know- svengoolie@wciu.com
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