Tag: television

James Garner and Mariette Hartley Vintage Polaroid Christmas Commercials

When James Garner passed away, obituaries mentioned not only his movies (The Great Escape, Grand Prix) and TV Shows (Maverick, The Rockford Files), but also commercials he made for Polaroid cameras. Polaroid partnered him with actress Mariette Hartley, who had done mainly guest star appearances on TV shows (Gunsmoke, Star Trek, Mannix) up until then.

The ads were so successful that Garner reportedly made over 300 of them between about 1977 and 1983. He and Hartley had such a winning chemistry in the spots that viewers presumed that the two were actually married to each other. They were not.

Here’s a bunch of the Christmas-themed ads that Garner and Hartley did for Polaroid.

Continue reading James Garner and Mariette Hartley Vintage Polaroid Christmas Commercials

TV Party: Black Flag

No, really, we’ve got nothing better to do. Another one of those songs I had forgotten about (until hearing it on the Friday Night Freakout). Fine, it was supposed to be ironic, but is it really?

Originally released on Black Flag’s 1981 album Damaged, then re-released on their EP TV Party with the actual tv show “Fridays” switched out for “Wednesdays,” for some reason, then included on the Repo Man soundtrack (yeah, I forgot it was on there, too).

That’s Incredible!

Vega$!

What’s the Funniest Number?

Mel Brooks keeps trying to ruin Carl Reiner’s story.

It’s hard to argue with that number.

Carl Reiner included an entire, albeit short, chapter (16 – not a very funny number) on the story, including some of the runner-up numbers, in his book I Remember Me. And here’s a fascinating portrait of Sid Caesar originally published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1953.