Retro Friday: 1980s TV Guide Magazine Edition

For decades TV Guide magazine commercials could be seen all over TV -- mostly because of tradeouts. Stations would get ads in the magazine, and TV Guide would get spots on the air. Above is a curious one from 1983: A slang-talking newspaper stand vendor boasts that TV Guide sells "like hotcakes."

Below, another strange one. "Why do runners read TV Guide?" How about, "Why are you asking runners why they read TV Guide?"





Above, wow, I totally remember seeing this commercial ALOT in the late 1980s. A spot from circa 1988.



I remember this campaign as well -- from 1985, the TV Guide jingle "That's Entertainment!"



And finally... the best of them all. Mr. Belvedere (Christopher Hewett), Mrs. Poole (Edie McClurg) and Luke Duke (Tom Wopat) pimp TV Guide in the mid-80s!