I loved watching these old clips. I thought they were hilarious. I especially loved seeing all my favorite actors from all those great old shows I used to watch; back when networks had something to sing about and had shows to be proud of. Boy how times have changed. Oh and by the way, I wasn't confused.

Please give Nell Carter a break; she's been dead for 5 years.

YHC

I can't imagine any network today using 2-3 minutes of airtime for a pretty pointless promo like these.

While cheesy by todays standards, it does show that in the past television shows were built around actors that actually had talent rather than the vapid people one sees today who can wear post-it noted as a wardrobe and kill lines because they can't deliver a punchline to save their lives. Bea Arthur, Nell Carter and Marla Gibbs can say more with a raised eyebrow than just about anyone one TV now (and I exclude The Offce and 3o Rock casts).

Was 1990 the year of the network show tune? WTF?

Where this got really insane was on the local affiliate level. I was working at a CBS affil in 1990 when we localized one of those Get Ready spots. It was set in a diner with people dancing with CBS stars. While that was going on, your local news anchors would pop up inside TV monitors in the diner, encouraging people to join in the fun, boogie-ing, and getting down and funky. Later I worked at an NBC station where the news director refused to allow the anchors to participate in a similar network promo.

I so have trouble thinking of a time when this might have been cool.