"NBC: The Place To Be" is the slogan that NBC used in 1990, and the second of the campaigns to feature the current six-feathered peacock. During this period, several new series arrived to supplement shows such as The Cosby Show, Cheers and A Different World. Some of the most notable changes included the premiere of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the short-lived Ferris Bueller, and Blossom, which replaced Bueller in January 1991.
Campaign Synopsis
The promo begins with a brief shot of a music stand/lecturn which from behind, a blue spotlight comes on. After this, some NBC stars seat themselves as audience members as they are waiting to what appears to be a concert. Meanwhile an orchestra featuring The Cosby Show's Keshia Knight Pulliam with an electric guitar is seen rehearsing for the musical number. The rehearsing abruptly stops when Bill Cosby arrives at the music stand where he takes on the role of conductor.
The video then cuts to a stage in the same theatre where various stars from NBC shows such as The Golden Girls, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and even Johnny Carson from The Tonight Show dancing or engaging in different activities/motions in front of a giant wall of television sets stacked one on top of each other often showing clips of NBC shows as well as the letters N, B, and C and the peacock logo. Midway through the promo, a segment featuring returning shows such as LA Law, The Cosby Show, and Empty Nest is shown followed by one featuring freshman shows; among them the now long running and Emmy Award winning Law & Order.
Towards the end of the program, the music ceases abruptly and the lights go out. The culprit was shown to be of then host of the Late Nights David Letterman (shown on a TV) who apparently tripped on a pair of power cords. Letterman briefly laughs then re-plugs it resuming the promo. As the promo winds down we see the NBC logo above yellow lettering stating "The Place to Be" amidst brownish black background with CGI glass squares of different colors moving in different directions. Finally as the music stops, Keisha hollers and exits the stage, as the audience applauses.
The full length promo was 2:57 in length. The promo also was different than its predecessors its jingle utilized a modern rock soundtrack. It was also presented in such a manner that resembled MTV's music videos in order to appropriately fit the '90s and target a much younger audience.
For TV ident bumpers, the NBC ident with the slogan was shown with Don LaFontaine saying, "NBC...is the Place to Be!".
Localized Versions
As with many campaigns for all "Big 3" networks, localized versions of these campaigns have been adopted. The following are some examples:
*WMAR-TV Baltimore, Maryland "Channel 2, The Place to Be!"
*WDIV-TV Detroit, Michigan "WDIV, The Place to Be!"
*WCSH-TV Portland, Maine "6 Alive, Count on Us!" (it used the same tune as the national campaign)
*WILX-TV Lansing, Michigan "WILX-TV, The Place to Be!"
*WSFA-TV Montgomery, Alabama "Channel 12, The Place to Be!"
*WKJG-TV Fort Wayne, Indiana "WKJG, The Place To Be!"
*WLIO-TV Lima, Ohio "WLIO, The Place To Be!"
*WGAL-TV Lancaster, Pennsylvania "WGAL, The Place To Be!"
*WLBZ-TV Bangor, Maine "Channel 2, Count on Us!"
*WNNE-TV Hartford, Vermont "31, Close to Home, It's the Place to Be!"
*WJAC-TV Johnstown, PA "Channel 6, the Place to Be!"
*WPXI-TV Pittsburgh, PA "WPXI-TV 11, the Place to Be!"
Campaign Synopsis
The promo begins with a brief shot of a music stand/lecturn which from behind, a blue spotlight comes on. After this, some NBC stars seat themselves as audience members as they are waiting to what appears to be a concert. Meanwhile an orchestra featuring The Cosby Show's Keshia Knight Pulliam with an electric guitar is seen rehearsing for the musical number. The rehearsing abruptly stops when Bill Cosby arrives at the music stand where he takes on the role of conductor.
The video then cuts to a stage in the same theatre where various stars from NBC shows such as The Golden Girls, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and even Johnny Carson from The Tonight Show dancing or engaging in different activities/motions in front of a giant wall of television sets stacked one on top of each other often showing clips of NBC shows as well as the letters N, B, and C and the peacock logo. Midway through the promo, a segment featuring returning shows such as LA Law, The Cosby Show, and Empty Nest is shown followed by one featuring freshman shows; among them the now long running and Emmy Award winning Law & Order.
Towards the end of the program, the music ceases abruptly and the lights go out. The culprit was shown to be of then host of the Late Nights David Letterman (shown on a TV) who apparently tripped on a pair of power cords. Letterman briefly laughs then re-plugs it resuming the promo. As the promo winds down we see the NBC logo above yellow lettering stating "The Place to Be" amidst brownish black background with CGI glass squares of different colors moving in different directions. Finally as the music stops, Keisha hollers and exits the stage, as the audience applauses.
The full length promo was 2:57 in length. The promo also was different than its predecessors its jingle utilized a modern rock soundtrack. It was also presented in such a manner that resembled MTV's music videos in order to appropriately fit the '90s and target a much younger audience.
For TV ident bumpers, the NBC ident with the slogan was shown with Don LaFontaine saying, "NBC...is the Place to Be!".
Localized Versions
As with many campaigns for all "Big 3" networks, localized versions of these campaigns have been adopted. The following are some examples:
*WMAR-TV Baltimore, Maryland "Channel 2, The Place to Be!"
*WDIV-TV Detroit, Michigan "WDIV, The Place to Be!"
*WCSH-TV Portland, Maine "6 Alive, Count on Us!" (it used the same tune as the national campaign)
*WILX-TV Lansing, Michigan "WILX-TV, The Place to Be!"
*WSFA-TV Montgomery, Alabama "Channel 12, The Place to Be!"
*WKJG-TV Fort Wayne, Indiana "WKJG, The Place To Be!"
*WLIO-TV Lima, Ohio "WLIO, The Place To Be!"
*WGAL-TV Lancaster, Pennsylvania "WGAL, The Place To Be!"
*WLBZ-TV Bangor, Maine "Channel 2, Count on Us!"
*WNNE-TV Hartford, Vermont "31, Close to Home, It's the Place to Be!"
*WJAC-TV Johnstown, PA "Channel 6, the Place to Be!"
*WPXI-TV Pittsburgh, PA "WPXI-TV 11, the Place to Be!"
Television You Can Feel was a slogan used on the CBS television network for the 1988-89 season. This campaign immediately replaced the Spirit-themed image campaigns of the previous two seasons. At this time, CBS began its ratings free fall, the deepest in the network's history; the slump wouldn't end entirely until 1995. In the meantime, the Television You Can Feel campaign introduced a more sensual, new-age image to the network through distinguished, advanced-looking computer graphics and soothing music.
The campaign was alternately known as TV You Can Feel and You Can Feel It On CBS. The lyrics in the jingle only reference the alternate title of the campaign,You Can Feel It On CBS. However, the network officially marketed it as Television You Can Feel.
Campaign
The full length promo for Television You Can Feel was 1:30 minutes long, only slightly shorter than the ones produced by the major networks up to that time. However, another commonly circulated one was just under a minute long, with a special concept designed for network affiliate use. The official full length promo sets the tone, with a statement at the beginning over the top of a blue CGI sphere: "A Show of Emotion". This proceeds with a stunning clip montage of CBS programs, both returning and brand new (for the fall 1988 schedule), with characters performing actions that illustrated these different emotions: sadness, joy, anger, victory, defeat, love, revenge, etc. As a transition from one series of scenes to the next, lavish 3D CGI effects appear in-between. Some of these display various shapes and objects traveling or bouncing around, while others show a different angled view of a blue and red sphere, with various animated objects travelling around it. This is meant to symbolize the "feeling" of the network's image as implied by the slogan, show scenes, and theme lyrics. At the end of this promo, the final scene is enveloped by the sphere, which reveals itself as the official logo/symbol of the campaign. The sphere turns to the middle of a shiny blue backdrop, in which it then blossoms into the shape of the CBS eye. Under this view, the slogan Television You Can Feel appears in a white, bold capital font.
The campaign theme/jingle features a main male vocalist and a female vocalist who switches from background vocals to duets and back with the main singer. The theme begins with a gentle acoustic guitar sound, to enhance the most touching and sentimental scenes of the promo. The song then builds up with a heavier beat until it reaches a cresendo of full orchestration, where very dramatic action scenes come in (such as Ken Wahl in the middle of a drive-by mafia shootout on Wiseguy). The theme continues this way until the end, and culminates with an iconic, 7-note jingle just as the CBS eye/sphere logo comes into play.
The shorter variant begins with a cityscape skyline at sunrise, which segues into clips of characters from the current CBS shows surrounded by blue, red, or purple CGI outlines; most form a circle and move around each clip. A number of clips in the first portion show the leads from the primetime soaps (Dallas, Knots Landing, etc.) making love. In the middle of the promo, a nearly-full view of the sphere is seen while three video insets of show clips are seen in front of it (for the record, they are Edward Woodward of The Equalizer, a scene from Beauty and the Beast, and an explosion scene from Tour of Duty). At the very end, the sphere turns to the middle of a shiny blue backdrop, in which it then blossoms into the shape of the CBS eye. The name of this "eye" was "The Frog's Eye," as coined by CBS executives. In the dead center of the eye, behind the "CBS" lettering, a remnance of the sphere can still be seen.
Other elements of the Television You Can Feel campaign included special show promos which featured filmed pieces with the creators of current CBS shows. The creators would be seen in an office or home study talking directly to the camera about their show, its meaning, and some inside perspective on their main characters. Among the creators to show up was veteran producer Stephen J. Cannell, in a promo for Wiseguy. Another aspect of the campaign was a special tagline used to promote the fall premieres for all primetime shows: amid multi-colored overlapping rectangles, which tied in with that year's color scheme, appeared the line Are You Ready? (with the accompanying lyrics "Are you ready..for CBS"). This was a precursor to the slogan of next year's campaign, Get Ready for CBS.
For the network bumpers, a short, instrumental musical backing of the last few notes of the jingle, played while the affiliate displayed their ID below the CBS eye. (In previous seasons, the musical backing would usually have the slogan lyrics sung for ID bumpers.)
The shorter promo variant was produced in a manner so that the affiliates could insert station talent and program clips seamlessly in between network shots. A generic copy of this Television You Can Feel promo, as seen online at such sites as 80sTVThemes.com and also available on YouTube, has black spots in between network clips, where the affiliates would place their footage.
Localized versions:
*WBAL-TV Baltimore: "You Can Feel It On 11"
*KDKA-TV Pittsburgh: "You can Feel It On TV-2"
The campaign was alternately known as TV You Can Feel and You Can Feel It On CBS. The lyrics in the jingle only reference the alternate title of the campaign,You Can Feel It On CBS. However, the network officially marketed it as Television You Can Feel.
Campaign
The full length promo for Television You Can Feel was 1:30 minutes long, only slightly shorter than the ones produced by the major networks up to that time. However, another commonly circulated one was just under a minute long, with a special concept designed for network affiliate use. The official full length promo sets the tone, with a statement at the beginning over the top of a blue CGI sphere: "A Show of Emotion". This proceeds with a stunning clip montage of CBS programs, both returning and brand new (for the fall 1988 schedule), with characters performing actions that illustrated these different emotions: sadness, joy, anger, victory, defeat, love, revenge, etc. As a transition from one series of scenes to the next, lavish 3D CGI effects appear in-between. Some of these display various shapes and objects traveling or bouncing around, while others show a different angled view of a blue and red sphere, with various animated objects travelling around it. This is meant to symbolize the "feeling" of the network's image as implied by the slogan, show scenes, and theme lyrics. At the end of this promo, the final scene is enveloped by the sphere, which reveals itself as the official logo/symbol of the campaign. The sphere turns to the middle of a shiny blue backdrop, in which it then blossoms into the shape of the CBS eye. Under this view, the slogan Television You Can Feel appears in a white, bold capital font.
The campaign theme/jingle features a main male vocalist and a female vocalist who switches from background vocals to duets and back with the main singer. The theme begins with a gentle acoustic guitar sound, to enhance the most touching and sentimental scenes of the promo. The song then builds up with a heavier beat until it reaches a cresendo of full orchestration, where very dramatic action scenes come in (such as Ken Wahl in the middle of a drive-by mafia shootout on Wiseguy). The theme continues this way until the end, and culminates with an iconic, 7-note jingle just as the CBS eye/sphere logo comes into play.
The shorter variant begins with a cityscape skyline at sunrise, which segues into clips of characters from the current CBS shows surrounded by blue, red, or purple CGI outlines; most form a circle and move around each clip. A number of clips in the first portion show the leads from the primetime soaps (Dallas, Knots Landing, etc.) making love. In the middle of the promo, a nearly-full view of the sphere is seen while three video insets of show clips are seen in front of it (for the record, they are Edward Woodward of The Equalizer, a scene from Beauty and the Beast, and an explosion scene from Tour of Duty). At the very end, the sphere turns to the middle of a shiny blue backdrop, in which it then blossoms into the shape of the CBS eye. The name of this "eye" was "The Frog's Eye," as coined by CBS executives. In the dead center of the eye, behind the "CBS" lettering, a remnance of the sphere can still be seen.
Other elements of the Television You Can Feel campaign included special show promos which featured filmed pieces with the creators of current CBS shows. The creators would be seen in an office or home study talking directly to the camera about their show, its meaning, and some inside perspective on their main characters. Among the creators to show up was veteran producer Stephen J. Cannell, in a promo for Wiseguy. Another aspect of the campaign was a special tagline used to promote the fall premieres for all primetime shows: amid multi-colored overlapping rectangles, which tied in with that year's color scheme, appeared the line Are You Ready? (with the accompanying lyrics "Are you ready..for CBS"). This was a precursor to the slogan of next year's campaign, Get Ready for CBS.
For the network bumpers, a short, instrumental musical backing of the last few notes of the jingle, played while the affiliate displayed their ID below the CBS eye. (In previous seasons, the musical backing would usually have the slogan lyrics sung for ID bumpers.)
The shorter promo variant was produced in a manner so that the affiliates could insert station talent and program clips seamlessly in between network shots. A generic copy of this Television You Can Feel promo, as seen online at such sites as 80sTVThemes.com and also available on YouTube, has black spots in between network clips, where the affiliates would place their footage.
Localized versions:
*WBAL-TV Baltimore: "You Can Feel It On 11"
*KDKA-TV Pittsburgh: "You can Feel It On TV-2"
Great Moments is the name of a CBS campaign from 1982. Shows being launched that year on the network include Square Pegs and Newhart. As with every season from 1979 until 1983, CBS still remained at the second spot in the ratings race behind ABC. However, the gap between CBS and ABC was slowly narrowing as CBS would eventually regain its top spot at the end of the 1983-1984 season.
Campaign Synopsis
The promo begins with a still of the 1951 introduction of the CBS "eye" logo. Then still of previous CBS shows such as I Love Lucy, The Ed Sullivan Show, Lassie, and Gunsmoke appears with them in a box that appears to be shrinking into the distance until a tiny version of the 1951 CBS eye logo appears again. Immediately the CBS logo then "morphs" and "enlarges" into other newer versions of the CBS logo until the current rendition of the logo is shown in a deep purple hue and violet outline.
Next the Great Moments appears in a golden metallic font encompassed in a rhombus shape all among an black-orange gradient background. Five beams of light from behind zoom in front of the logo to begin the clip montage of upcoming and returning shows. The promo ends with the same Great Moments logo and five beams of light (expect rather than zooming into the screen, the beams crash intro the logo). A final montage of previous renditions of CBS logos appears until the current one stands out.
Among the many shows featured in the promo, freshman show Mama Malone would not debut until 1984. Also the clip show ended with a painting of the cast members of ', which appropriately enough would end its run with its highly-acclaimed and most-watched season finale.
As with the previous season, a shorter karaoke version was aired to complement the promo. It featured everyday people singing along to the tune with the lyrics at the bottom of the screen and a bouncing ball in the shape of the CBS eye moving in sync to the lyrics.
Local versions of the campaign include:
*KFSM in Ft. Smith, Arkansas - "Great Moments on TV-5"
*KSL in Salt Lake City, Utah - "Great Moments on Channel 5"
*KAUZ in Wichita Falls, Texas - "Great Moments on Channel 6"
*KCCI in Des Moines, Iowa - no title, it just used the music from the national campaign tying in with local station footage
*WJKW in Cleveland (now a Fox affiliate) - "Great Moments on TV-8"
*WJBK in Detroit (now a Fox O&O station) - "Great Moments on TV-2"
[Of note, WJKW (now WJW) and WJBK both switched to Fox in late 1994].
Links
* on YouTube
*Great Moments custom for KSL on YouTube
*Audio-only Great Moments custom for KAUZ at the 80s TV Themes site
*Great Moments custom for KCCI on YouTube
*TV promos featuring Great Moments custom for WJKW, also contains Come on Along custom for WAKR in Akron on Dailymotion
Campaign Synopsis
The promo begins with a still of the 1951 introduction of the CBS "eye" logo. Then still of previous CBS shows such as I Love Lucy, The Ed Sullivan Show, Lassie, and Gunsmoke appears with them in a box that appears to be shrinking into the distance until a tiny version of the 1951 CBS eye logo appears again. Immediately the CBS logo then "morphs" and "enlarges" into other newer versions of the CBS logo until the current rendition of the logo is shown in a deep purple hue and violet outline.
Next the Great Moments appears in a golden metallic font encompassed in a rhombus shape all among an black-orange gradient background. Five beams of light from behind zoom in front of the logo to begin the clip montage of upcoming and returning shows. The promo ends with the same Great Moments logo and five beams of light (expect rather than zooming into the screen, the beams crash intro the logo). A final montage of previous renditions of CBS logos appears until the current one stands out.
Among the many shows featured in the promo, freshman show Mama Malone would not debut until 1984. Also the clip show ended with a painting of the cast members of ', which appropriately enough would end its run with its highly-acclaimed and most-watched season finale.
As with the previous season, a shorter karaoke version was aired to complement the promo. It featured everyday people singing along to the tune with the lyrics at the bottom of the screen and a bouncing ball in the shape of the CBS eye moving in sync to the lyrics.
Local versions of the campaign include:
*KFSM in Ft. Smith, Arkansas - "Great Moments on TV-5"
*KSL in Salt Lake City, Utah - "Great Moments on Channel 5"
*KAUZ in Wichita Falls, Texas - "Great Moments on Channel 6"
*KCCI in Des Moines, Iowa - no title, it just used the music from the national campaign tying in with local station footage
*WJKW in Cleveland (now a Fox affiliate) - "Great Moments on TV-8"
*WJBK in Detroit (now a Fox O&O station) - "Great Moments on TV-2"
[Of note, WJKW (now WJW) and WJBK both switched to Fox in late 1994].
Links
* on YouTube
*Great Moments custom for KSL on YouTube
*Audio-only Great Moments custom for KAUZ at the 80s TV Themes site
*Great Moments custom for KCCI on YouTube
*TV promos featuring Great Moments custom for WJKW, also contains Come on Along custom for WAKR in Akron on Dailymotion
The Look of America was a CBS television network campaign used during the 1991-1992 season.
Local versions:
*WCBS-TV in New York City - "The Look of New York City is Channel 2"
*KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, CA - "The Look of Los Angeles is Channel 2"
*KTSP (now FOX) in Phoenix - "The Look of Arizona is Channel 10"
*WLFI in Lafayette, IN - "The Look of Lafayette is TV-18"
*KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA - "The Look of Pittsburgh is KDKA-TV 2"
*WJW in Cleveland, OH (now FOX) - "The Look of Cleveland is TV-8"
*WBAL-TV in Baltimore, MD (now NBC)- "The Look of Baltimore is BAL"
Local versions:
*WCBS-TV in New York City - "The Look of New York City is Channel 2"
*KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, CA - "The Look of Los Angeles is Channel 2"
*KTSP (now FOX) in Phoenix - "The Look of Arizona is Channel 10"
*WLFI in Lafayette, IN - "The Look of Lafayette is TV-18"
*KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA - "The Look of Pittsburgh is KDKA-TV 2"
*WJW in Cleveland, OH (now FOX) - "The Look of Cleveland is TV-8"
*WBAL-TV in Baltimore, MD (now NBC)- "The Look of Baltimore is BAL"