1. Scheduler- I remember these. I don't know if Comedy Central still does these, but they would often find creative ways to promote that night's schedules. This one is a little less creative, merely listing that night's shows, which included Reno 911, Stella (Seriously, they were promoting the shit out of this show), and The Daily Show.
2. Mind of Mencia- Ugh. This was about a month after the third season of Chappelle's Show was aborted, so Comedy Central scrambled to find a suitable replacement, so they found Carlos Mencia standing by the water cooler and offered him a show out of desperation. At least that's how I assume it happened because I have no idea why anybody would give him his own show. Like Dave Chappelle, Mencia dealt with a lot of racial stereotypes, but unlike Dave he forgot to make them witty or funny, instead coming off as an immature frat boy. The show hadn't premiered by this point, but it went on to last four seasons, despite not being funny. Comedy Central has since had many shows centered around a popular standup comedian, and for every Inside Amy Schumer, there's a Mind of Mencia.
3. Heineken- Oh, this ad reeks of 2005. Despite featuring a song by that hot new band The Alarm, it's also advertising two free downloads from Rhapsody. This was a subscription-based music service that was like a precursor to Spotify or Tidal. When I first discovered it, I thought it was the greatest thing: I could listen to a large library of music, create playlists, and even burn songs to CDs if I wanted. Of course, several years later, I learned I could do all that without having to pay, so Rhapsody became left in the dust. Somebody tell Jay-Z that.
4. Toyota- I guess the time-lapse from outside the car is neat, but the only notable thing about this ad is that they referenced the gas crisis, which despite some dropping prices still appears to have no end in sight. And this is 10 years later.
5. Absolut- This is an ad for fucking peach vodka. If that's your thing, well, it's still available. The ad uses a trick similar to The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" video and features an electropunk song that must have been written for this ad or never rose above obscurity because Shazam doesn't recognize it either way.
6. Subway- I guess people weren't sick of Jared yet in 2005 because here he is hawking their chicken sandwich and how it's better than other fast food restaurants' chicken sandwiches. There's not much to this one.
7. Comedy Central summer promo- And here we come full circle with another Comedy Central promo. This is an advertisement for their summer line-up that features a wasp flying around until it gets smashed, forming the CC logo. I remember seeing this one a lot that season, and it was pretty fun. A few things stand out when watching it today:
-I never knew what that song was back then, but I figured it was The Killers or The Bravery. Turns out, it was The Bravery doing one of their more lively songs.
-Weekends at the DL was an attempt to do something like The Daily Show on weekends, this time hosted by D.L. Hughley. It only lasted six months.
-Seeing that picture of The Daily Show cast at that time is bittersweet. Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry, and Ed Helms have all moved on to bigger things, and Samantha Bee just left to launch her own show. Even Jon Stewart is leaving, but this photo reminds me of when their correspondent crop was at its prime.
-They also mention a new series starring Adam Carolla. This became Too Late with Adam Carolla, which aired in the spot after The Daily Show for a short period. It was then moved back half an hour to make room for The Colbert Report that fall. Carolla''s show only lasted a month afterwards.
No comments:
Post a Comment