New York -- Instead of being clustered into commercial
breaks, vintage commercials played an unaccustomed starring role in a TV Land primetime
special last week.
TV Land celebrated The Greatest Commercials ofAll
Time in its first original primetime special, which bowed June 30 at 8 p.m. and which
was due to repeat July 3.
The hour was inspired by TV Guide's July 3 cover
story, "The 50 Greatest TV Commercials of All Time."
"We're thrilled that our very first original program
reflects our classic commercials, which we call 'retromercials,'" TV Land general
manager Larry Jones said last week in a prepared statement.
The special was produced by Gay Rosenthal Productions,
which also produces VH1's Behind the Music.
The top commercial was Apple Computer Inc.'s
"1984," which ran just once (during Super Bowl XVIII).
Rounding out the top five were: "Spicy
Meatballs," for Bayer Inc.'s Alka-Seltzer; "Funeral" and
"Snowplow," both for Volkswagen of America Inc.; and "Fast-Paced
World," featuring fast-talker John Moschitta, for Federal Express Corp.
One commercial for a cable network cracked the top 50:
ESPN's "This Is SportsCenter," ranked No. 22.
TV Guide reported that a panel of 37 advertising and
commercial-production executives and journalists chose the finalists.
