Best/Worst Network Promo Campaigns

[DramatistDreamer]

Some of the CBS promos from the mid '90s and into the '00s were pretty inexcusable so I won't defend them but the early 90s still had some decent promos and out of those, CBS was never better than when they were doing passive-aggressive promos that grumbled about them having to cede time to sports programming, like this Guiding Light promo.

 

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[Vee]

Until today where there's a lot of fun promos, I just never got Clarence. But again, I didn't grow up with them. He's genius compared to the bizarre staccato-delivery voice guy they have doing the DAYS promos though.

 

 

I remember this and am now dying to see it again. I could swear it was actually the end tag of an episode? I thought @DRW50 linked it once. And I believe it was, of course, the Jill Farren Phelps era, where all male meat was hers to survey and judge.

Edited February 12, 2019 by Vee

[DramatistDreamer]

Thanks @Khan.  I remember that first one with Debbi Morgan saying "He just looked so vulnerable".  And the promo with her on the pool table, obviously about to be raped reminds me of that Jody Foster movie, The Accused.  It doesn't seem like mere coincidence.

Also, what was that Bollywood kiss between Adam and Sam?

 

 

Okay, I posted this one already in the ATWT thread almost two months ago but it is one of my favorites from the Rumor Has It campaign. As I said in the thread, my only quibble is that the images practically fly by.

 

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This one isn't bad either. I loved the use of the Robert Palmer song.

 

 

 

 

Y&R had their own version of the Rumor Has It Promo.  It gets points for having Stephanie E. Williams and Terry Lester but it doesn't grab me, maybe because the featured story wasn't exactly one for the ages.  Clearly, this was before the #1 era.

 

 

[DRW50]

 

I think it may have been the last year of the show as I think I remember guys like Mark Mortimer or the guy who played Sergei in it, but I'm not sure now.

[kalbir]

 

From what I remember, this was the first CBS promo that used a pop song.

 

CBS had the best promos back in the day.

[DRW50]

They were well-produced but I was never really into a lot of the CBS Daytime promos of the '90s - they often just seemed a bit too artificial. I tended to prefer the trashier Clarence ones. I have had one of the GL ones in my head - or part of the GL one, anyway - since it first aired. It's the "Mindy's a fast chick...better catch her if he can!" or something like that. 

 

One I haven't seen mentioned here that I have a soft spot for is ABC's "Can You Feel It?" campaign. The vocals are so ridiculously frenzied, yet this pretty much matches the somewhat unwieldy vibe of their lineup by this point.

 

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Edited February 12, 2019 by DRW50

[Vee]

 

We have to find it!!

[DRW50]

For "worst," I have to include the VO guy for early '80s CBS, who went through a number of promos clearly not giving a [!@#$%^&*], to the point of unintentional hilarity. And when he did try it would just get weird. The intonations in the ad about Wendy "becoming a woman...to everyone but her mother" literally made me laugh until my sides hurt.

 

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[YRfan23]

I'm glad this one is still around

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[BetterForgotten]

Those summer 1997 CBS promos are still vivid in my mind. Like the Carly and Molly ATWT one, or the GL/Annie one where Cynthia Watros looks like she was having a ball.

 

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These '96 Phyllis/Y&R ones were also pretty good. It's hard to remember that Michelle Stafford once had a certain charisma and femme fatale mystique about her...

 

 

 

[DRW50]

The Santa Barbara pre-premiere promos. This is the only one that would give a hint of what would shape the show long-term. 

 

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[Vee]

I actually really liked the "confession" promos ABC did in '99-'00 - I can't remember which year, and I also can't remember if they were exclusive to OLTL. They were black and white monologues from various characters. The stories on OLTL sucked, but I loved the little showcases for Erika Slezak, etc. I can't find any now sadly.

[DRW50]

Dying air horn aside, I like this promo, which is one of the earliest GL promos I've seen, and is a quick rundown of most of the characters of the day. 

 

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[beebs]

this just got uploaded yesterday. File this one under worst, but it's still cool to see flashes from old, lost episodes:
 

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[Khan]

I cannot understand NBC's intention with that promo.  Were they attempting to lull their viewers into watching?  How are any scenes at all compelling?