Bart’s Nightmare!
Here’s a playthrough of The Simpsons: Bart’s Nightmare, for the Super Nintendo. I adored this game!
I have no idea what the consensus is, but this was one of my all-time favorite SNES carts. I found the game extremely challenging and couldn’t beat it, but the levels were so much fun that I never became too frustrated to stop trying.
Domino’s Pizza Commercials!
Here’s an assortment of ancient Domino’s Pizza commercials:
As I recall, we didn’t have any Domino’s Pizza joints within reasonable driving distance until fairly late. As a kid, I’d see those “Noid” commercials and be so frustrated that I couldn’t get the pizza he was covertly advertising.
I’m not sure what the deal was. My best guess is that the “chain” pizzerias were slow to take hold in my city, since we were already so stuffed with mom-and-pop restaurants. (Even Pizza Hut was a rare treat, necessitating a drive of over 20 minutes.)
I get that it’s considered “junk” pizza compared to the “real” stuff, but I grew up lusting over those slickly-designed pizza boxes. To tell you the truth, I think I was more interested in the boxes than the pizza.
These days, Domino’s is mostly important for being the only pizza I can order super late at night. Is there anything more regrettably perfect than pizza at 1AM?
1990s Cable TV Preview Channels!
Here’s a pair of snippets from ancient cable TV preview channels. They’re more interesting than they sound!
(1990)
(1992)
Way back when, this was how you found out what was currently on television. It was only slightly more convenient that flipping through the channels, and probably a wee bit slower, to boot.
Sad Closing Themes.
I’ve written a lot (and even recently) about my childhood obsession with staying up late, and how my old junky television was such a big part of that.
I didn’t have cable in my bedroom, so as the hours ticked by, the pickings only grew slimmer. I remember a number of sitcom repeats that ran last in their blocks, each signaling a switch to infomercials, boring news shows and other things that I only ever watched because there was no other choice.
Knowing that there’d be nothing good on after them, watching those “final” shows was always a little depressing. The worst was when they were finally over and all I had left were the closing credits. To this day, I still associate the ending theme music of certain shows with a low-key sense of pain. Here are some examples:
At one point or another, each of those shows ended a late weeknight block. After them, I had to fend for myself, so thank God for my Nintendo and the VCR.
It didn’t help that so many of these closing themes were already kind of depressing, however unintentionally. Like with Cheers — I love its ending music, but doesn’t it make you feel like you’re locked in a box or something?
Did you guys have shows like this? The ones that ended the night long before YOU were ready to end the night? Compare notes, in the comments!
