+
upworthy
Pop Culture

This 1980 promotional video for ABC is creating waves of fun nostalgia

It's a fun little game of spot the TV star.

abc, 1980, promo video, nostalgia

Can you name these ABC stars from the 1980s?

Ah, the '80s. It was a totally tubular time for television—the sitcom still reigned supreme, dominating the time slots. In 1980, watching TV was an event—there was no DVR, no streaming. Heck, everything went off the air in the middle of the night and there weren't even infomercials for life insurance or compilation CDs (there weren't even really CDs yet!). As fall approached and the new TV season started, networks would go all out in their promotion. ABC wasn't yet the network behemoth it is now, but it was pretty close. It had some incredibly popular shows in 1980, including the whole "Happy Days" universe.



Ahead of the fall season, the station created a series of promotional videos that were used to entice people to come back and watch TV after the summer hiatus. They were so extra and over the top, but it makes sense if you remember the fact that they're promotional tools. This one from the 1980 "You and me and ABC" campaign features the network's top stars in a very of-the-moment-style dance party setting. See how many stars you can recognize.

1980 ABC PROMO You and Me!

The video has been making the rounds on Twitter, and everyone is playing the game "spot the network star." It's actually quite fun. In this one, I spotted Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams from "Laverne & Shirley," Joyce DeWitt from "Three's Company," Hal Linden from "Barney Miller," Tom Bosley and Al Molinaro from "Happy Days," Roscoe Lee Browne from "Soap" and Robert Guillaume from "Benson," among others. People on Twitter are absolutely losing their minds over how attractive Henry Winkler (still in his Fonzie days) looks with a beard. It actually took me a minute to recognize him!

There's another, longer promo video from the same season that's even more hilarious than the first one. In it, a series of ABC stars show up in a random town to paint a mural on a building to tell everyone to watch ABC that fall. Again, see which stars you can spot.

You & Me and ABC promo 1980

"STUNNING ABC promo that will never be equaled...The emotion, the tight editing, and all those ABC stars...One of a kind!" one comment on the video reads.

In a LinkedIn post from 2018, John Knox, a brand manager, tried to give some insight into why the network would put so much money into promos like these. "I strongly believe that these worked on the same premise that jingles do," he explained. "Ear-worms are damn good marketing - always. These ear-worms happened to combine visuals of fleeting glances of celebrities you know."

They don't make promos like this anymore, and it's kind of a shame. But thanks to the internet, these will live forever.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

Keep ReadingShow less

A woman looking at her phone while sitting on the toilet.


One of the most popular health trends over the last few years has been staying as hydrated as possible, evidenced by the massive popularity of 40-oz Stanely Quencher cups. The theory among those who obsess over hydration is that, when you pee clear, you’ve removed all the waste in your body and are enjoying the incredible benefits of being 100% hydrated. Congratulations.

However, according to Dr. Sermed Mezher, an NHS doctor in the UK, peeing clear isn’t always a sign of being healthy.

Keep ReadingShow less

An English doctor named Edward Jenner took incredible risks to try to rid his world of smallpox. Because of his efforts and the efforts of scientists like him, the only thing between deadly diseases like the ones below and extinction are people who refuse to vaccinate their kids. Don't be that parent.

Unfortunately, because of the misinformation from the anti-vaccination movement, some of these diseases have trended up in a really bad way over the past several years.

Keep ReadingShow less
Innovation

A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

Keep ReadingShow less
via PamTina_/Twitter

Pam's little brother is so sweet.

Pam has a little brother, who recently learned that he is actually her half-brother.

Of course, half-siblings are still very much siblings, but Pam's brother doesn't quite grasp the concept yet and seems upset about having to part with 50% of his sister.

Keep ReadingShow less