Back in December, we posted a mix of retro OKC television commercials from the early 1990s. It included classics some spots for now defunct business like Directions in Furniture, Budget Divorce and Soundtrack. In case you missed it, here's the video:
We broke down each commercial, and at the end of the post, included the following request:
If you have any old VHS tapes lying around in a closet, check and see if they have any cool commercials and then put them on YouTube. Specifically, we are looking for:
• Oklahoma Discount Furniture
• Wizard Electronics
• Jim & Mary’s T.V. & Appliance
• Trusthouse Jewelers (found)
• Epperson Photo Video (found)
• Del Rancho
• Anything with Lynn Hickey in a van being held by a crane
As it usually does, the Ogle Mole Network came through in the clutch. The YouTube user who published the original video has uploaded a new grab bag of local Oklahoma City TV spots, including the classically annoying Oklahoma Discount Furniture commercial, a wizardless Wizard, and the Abraham's commercial that terrified thousands of children who were staying up too late watching TV.
Check them out:
Thank you, dude who randomly uploads commercials to the internet. As Cliff Davis would say, those are some metro businesses we need to know about.
Here are some thoughts:
Abraham's Bail Bonds
As I mentioned above, this commercial always scared me as a kid. "What would I do if I were sent to jail? Would I be in a dark scary room with only my mother to call?" Yeah, I had issues.
In our last time commercial grab bag we asked for help in identifying this Reality Bites wannabe from the Directions in Furniture spot:
Guess what? The Ogle Mole Network found him. It's some actor from Dallas named Jason Layva. He did not appreciate being called a Gen X douche.
This time around, maybe we should totally identify the girl in the Abraham's commerical. She was kind of cute in an innocent 1987 type of way. If you know who the Abraham's girl is, let us know.
-
Oklahoma Discount Furniture
After watching these back-to-back 15 second spots for the first time in decades, a couple of things occurred to me:
1. Was Val Caster once the voice for Oklahoma Discount Furniture?
2. Things must have gone downhill after they launched "two great locations."
-
House of Kawasaki
Don't tell Bob Barry Jr. that House of Kawasaki is still open and still located on 10th and Council. We don't want him to die!
-
Wizards
The Wizards commercial that I remember featured some tall skinny dude dressed in a stereotypical Wizard costume dancing to rock music and making computers magically appear and disappear. Whenever my grandparents would take me to Shepherd Mall, I'd always go into Wizards thinking the Wizard may be there. Yeah, I have issues.
-
Bob Rogers / Carrol Fisher Campaign Spots
I don't remember the awful Bob Rogers jingle, but I do think Carroll Fisher's response ad was pretty funny. It was a good shot at a bad commercial, and who can't get a little laugh at Carroll questioning another man's character.
-
Plasma Alliance
This commercial was pretty boring. They should have leased Tall Paul and had him sing a clever jingle about it.
-
Oklahoma City 89ers
Yep, I was at that game. It was back when every kid between the ages of 10 - 14 collected baseball and football cards. I still have the 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck Rookie Card if anyone is interested.
Anyway, Bricktown Ballpark is nice and the Redhawks games can be fun to watch, but nothing beats the 89ers and old All Sports Stadium. There's just something fun about watching a baseball game on a hill and you and 50 other kids fighting like Lord of the Flies for a foul ball.
-
Well, that's it for this edition of "Get Nostalgic and Think About the Early 1990s." Go find some Lynn Hickey spots, Moles.
