Commercials from WABC-New York City during their afternoon soap operas. I was a pioneer in archiving old commercials from my family's tapes, this being copied in 1998/9. The tracking issues are courtesy of the Video Cassette Player (not a recorder, a standalone player) that I used as the source recording which had the feature of advancing... one... frame.. while pausing for a few seconds. A lot of that has been trimmed from the digital file.
This was copied long before the availability of digital editing suites, so turn up the volume.
Note: New York Hot Tracks aired on Friday nights and the cover date of the TV Guide commercial were used to place the date of this recording.
Timeline:
00:04 General Hospital bumper
00:10 Super Maxi Thins
00:40 K Mart (Brand names we can trust. Like "M"!)
01:40 General Hospital bumper (local stations: start your commercials)
01:46 Good Morning America promo
01:51 Channel 7 Crime Stoppers
02:02 Pepsi ("The Pepsi Challenge")
02:31 MCI (Funny commercial)
03:02 New York Hot Tracks / General Hospital bumper
03:14 Some character is reading a book while a scorpion disappears under her pillows. Yes, this is really, truly the plot of today's episode.
03:18 Glade
03:48 Promo for Risky Business (A really young Tom Cruise)
04:18 Extra Strength Datril
04:49 Ban (This commercial was so ubiquitous in the 80's)
05:23 Betty Crocker
05:54 Nature Valley (It's him! GET HIM!!!)
06:25 Bell Telephone
06:54 ABC Promo for "Loving "and "The Edge of Night"
07:28 Chic jeans
08:00 V-8
08:30 Chef Boyardee (The New York Cosmos was dissolved as a team in 1985, which also ended the first iteration of the NASL)
09:00 General Hospital credits (Demi Moore's name appears at 9:30)
09:55 FYI (with Hal Linden)
10:40 Promo for T.J. Hooker (once I'd love to hear Kirk yell at Bones "THERZAGURLPLAYNDEDOVERDEHHRRRRR!!!"), The "Looooooove" Boat and the ABC News Close-up
10:59 TV Guide (Source of the date for this recording: The August 20-26, 1983 Issue)
11:09 New York Hot Tracks
11:39 Tropicana (with (then) Bruce Jenner)
12:08 WABC News promo
12:13 The Edge of Night promotional considerations
12:28 Secret (45-second commercials)
13:13 Pampers
14:02 Suave
14:32 Formby furniture finisher
15:04 Dan did something and they're really excited about it
15:12 Era Plus (go protein!)
15:42 Crisco oil
16:12 Lilt home perms
16:47 BVD
17:17 Arm & Hammer Baking Soda for the bathtub
17:47 ABC promo for "Loving"
18:09 Garanimals
18:39 Elmer's Glue (18:45 that cat is either a) just a stuffed toy, or b) asleep, because no cat would look ashamed for clawing at the wallpaper. Ever.)
19:10 The Edge of Night credits (Gov. John Y. Brown, Jr. (D-KY), had quadruple bypass surgery in '83 and died in 2022 at the age of 88)
20:19 ABC World News Tonight (Inside Armenia)
20:38 Orajel
20:48 7-Up (with Geoffrey Holder)
21:18 5:00 Eyewitness News promo (with Ernie Anastos)
21:48 Entertainment Tonight promo (cut-off) into a clip from a Superman behind the scenes special with Richard Pryor