I had a P.C. clone in the mid 80's. It had 640K and two floppy drives. I was stylin'. Unfortunately, it frustrated me to the point that I swore I'd never get another computer. I did enjoy the word processing, however. But, it eventually died and I went back to pen And paper. Flash forward to today. I still don't have a computer. But, since I want to get back into writing I see the necessity of it. A legal pad and a typewriter just won't cut it any more. And there's no way I'm going to try to write a script on my phone. No tabs. M.B.
The commercials come and go on YouTube, but they're always so amusing to watch - mainly because of how excited they get over what we now take for granted, such as monitors that display 256 colors, or the ability to instant-message each other.
Over the years I have taken a few screen writing classes and realized I have no screen writing talent at all. I found that all of the classes emphasize elements of a good story and concise story telling. My possible Friday question is why do so many, I would say a majority, of movies that actually get made have such poor scripts? I think if a hundred theatrical relrases submitted their scripts to a screen writing class they would get C's or D's.
I would venture that at least some of the time, what reaches the screen is a fraction of what went into it on all fronts, including the screenplay. Now and again I'll see a mediocre movie that suddenly has a clever plot twist, a bit of exciting dialogue, or genuine comedy. I wonder if they just got lucky that day, or if I'm seeing a remnant of the movie somebody intended to make.
Filling in some details: This TV/print ad campaign started around late 1986 or early 1987 -- a few years after "M*A*S*H" had left the air (and more than a year after the last broadcast episode of "AfterMASH", for that matter). The setup was that these were all co-workers in an office (not "tech guys"), and IBM went with this idea because they wanted to convey a sense of "family"/"teamwork" in an office environment. Even though it since leaving the year, "M*A*S*H" was still hugely popular enough in America at that time to properly fulfill that concept. I -think- everybody from the cast eventually appeared in at least one TV ad; I recall seeing one ad (only once) that featured just McLean Stevenson in it, and Alan Alda finally appeared in one or so solo spots after his Atari contract ended.
I'd LOVE to see some arrangement made where the best existing original file copies of all these IBM ads could be included on a "M*A*S*H" Blu Ray set (maybe with the "Our Finest Hour" episode properly re-created this time...) ... or maybe more fittingly with a DVD set of "AfterMASH"/"Walter"/"Flying Nightingales."
This reminds me of Bill Watterson explaining why he never allowed Calvin and Hobbes to be used in advertisements, greeting cards, etc. He didn't want the characters to have an existence outside of the strip. He deliberately lost money to preserve the integrity of his artistic creation. Good for him.
There is something peculiar about using MASH actors to sell computers.
Neither here nor there: A BARNEY MILLER version of the IBM ad would have been hilarious. Man, talk about the outmoded office equipment they had to use everyday.
Random trivia that most of you probably know already:
Back in the day, IBM got upset with Stanley Kubrick because they claimed that the name of the unhinged computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL, was derived from transposing the letters in IBM by one letter back in the alphabet. Funny allegation but it could never stand up in court. Besides, it's not like IBM had computers with artificial intelligence anyway.
Some long distance service (or two different ones?) did comic "reunion" spots with actors appear on a subdivided screen.
One had the Monkees. Either Peter Tork or Michael Nesmith had left the group at that time, so Ringo Starr affably filled the fourth square. Another had stars of the original Star Trek, with Jonathan Frakes popping up to the slight annoyance of the others.
Speaking of reunions: The short-lived "George and Leo" did an episode where they squeezed in a bunch of actors from Bob Newhart's and Judd Hirsch's earlier series. Didn't help. My own take was that Newhart and Hirsch both were known as sensible, put-upon nice guys; "George and Leo" called on Hirsch to be an aggressive, shady character who stirred things up. I for one couldn't buy Hirsch dishing out what he usually received on "Taxi" and "Dear John".
Steve Boyko: "...The PS/2 was quite a machine...."
Yes it was. I still remember the blue screen with the helpful message "The processor has sto" Funnily enough it always stopped at that same point. Never did get that "pped" out.
"Peter said... Random trivia that most of you probably know already:
Back in the day, IBM got upset with Stanley Kubrick because they claimed that the name of the unhinged computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL, was derived from transposing the letters in IBM by one letter back in the alphabet. Funny allegation but it could never stand up in court. Besides, it's not like IBM had computers with artificial intelligence anyway."
Michael Benson, in his new and excellent book Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke and the Making of a Masterpiece, definitely refutes IBM's old claim, quoting denials from both Kubrick and Clarke. The derivation of "HAL" came from "Heuristically Programmed ALgorithmic Computer," and was come up with by Marvin Minsky, the co-founder of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. (There's something ironic in having to prove I am not a robot in order to post this.)
"Unknown said... Not really, the show was in the 1950's:"
Ah, "Unknown," that was what we like to call a "joke."
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Someone put all of the IBM M.A.S.H. commercials together, along with a few other non IBM commercials featuring cast members.
ReplyDeleteThe PS/2 was quite a machine.
I had a P.C. clone in the mid 80's. It had 640K and two floppy drives. I was stylin'. Unfortunately, it frustrated me to the point that I swore I'd never get another computer. I did enjoy the word processing, however. But, it eventually died and I went back to pen And paper. Flash forward to today. I still don't have a computer. But, since I want to get back into writing I see the necessity of it. A legal pad and a typewriter just won't cut it any more. And there's no way I'm going to try to write a script on my phone. No tabs.
ReplyDeleteM.B.
Ha!
ReplyDeleteIs that the only instance of Wayne Rogers and Harry Morgan appearing together, other than the early episode where Harry played a crazy general?
ReplyDeleteYes that is the only time they appeared together on mash
DeleteThe commercials come and go on YouTube, but they're always so amusing to watch - mainly because of how excited they get over what we now take for granted, such as monitors that display 256 colors, or the ability to instant-message each other.
ReplyDeleteAntiquated equipment indeed. Those oversized rectal thermometers were taken off the market within months.
ReplyDeleteOver the years I have taken a few screen writing classes and realized I have no screen writing talent at all. I found that all of the classes emphasize elements of a good story and concise story telling. My possible Friday question is why do so many, I would say a majority, of movies that actually get made have such poor scripts? I think if a hundred theatrical relrases submitted their scripts to a screen writing class they would get C's or D's.
ReplyDeleteI would venture that at least some of the time, what reaches the screen is a fraction of what went into it on all fronts, including the screenplay. Now and again I'll see a mediocre movie that suddenly has a clever plot twist, a bit of exciting dialogue, or genuine comedy. I wonder if they just got lucky that day, or if I'm seeing a remnant of the movie somebody intended to make.
DeleteIIRC Alan Alda only appeared in these ads later on because he was already doing Atari commercials.
ReplyDeleteAm I a bad person to have noticed that the above pic has just white 'tech guys' and no African Americans or other ethnic people?
ReplyDeleteYes, its an old ad but still no other 'tech guys' existed back then?
Am I a bad person to have noticed that the above pic has just white 'tech guys' and no African Americans or other ethnic people?
ReplyDeleteSpearchucker (Timothy Brown) was off the show by that point.
Ginger (Odessa Cleveland), too. She was one my favorite nurses.
DeleteBecause it was determined there was no black medics in the Korean conflict
DeleteKellye Nakahara (Nurse Kellye)was in at least one IBM commercial with the rest of the cast.
DeleteAlda must have been holding out for a MAC.
ReplyDeleteAnd what's really sad is that only 3 people in that photo are still alive today.
Filling in some details: This TV/print ad campaign started around late 1986 or early 1987 -- a few years after "M*A*S*H" had left the air (and more than a year after the last broadcast episode of "AfterMASH", for that matter). The setup was that these were all co-workers in an office (not "tech guys"), and IBM went with this idea because they wanted to convey a sense of "family"/"teamwork" in an office environment. Even though it since leaving the year, "M*A*S*H" was still hugely popular enough in America at that time to properly fulfill that concept. I -think- everybody from the cast eventually appeared in at least one TV ad; I recall seeing one ad (only once) that featured just McLean Stevenson in it, and Alan Alda finally appeared in one or so solo spots after his Atari contract ended.
ReplyDeleteI'd LOVE to see some arrangement made where the best existing original file copies of all these IBM ads could be included on a "M*A*S*H" Blu Ray set (maybe with the "Our Finest Hour" episode properly re-created this time...) ... or maybe more fittingly with a DVD set of "AfterMASH"/"Walter"/"Flying Nightingales."
Radar: "Why this handy monitor can be lifted by only two people!"
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of Bill Watterson explaining why he never allowed Calvin and Hobbes to be used in advertisements, greeting cards, etc. He didn't want the characters to have an existence outside of the strip. He deliberately lost money to preserve the integrity of his artistic creation. Good for him.
ReplyDeleteThere is something peculiar about using MASH actors to sell computers.
It looks to me as if Jamie Farr were Photoshopped in. (I know, I know.)
ReplyDeleteNeither here nor there: A BARNEY MILLER version of the IBM ad would have been hilarious. Man, talk about the outmoded office equipment they had to use everyday.
ReplyDeleteRandom trivia that most of you probably know already:
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, IBM got upset with Stanley Kubrick because they claimed that the name of the unhinged computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL, was derived from transposing the letters in IBM by one letter back in the alphabet. Funny allegation but it could never stand up in court. Besides, it's not like IBM had computers with artificial intelligence anyway.
This is twice in a 24 hour period I have heard/read this "rumor". Hmmmmm.....could possibly be true.
DeleteSome long distance service (or two different ones?) did comic "reunion" spots with actors appear on a subdivided screen.
ReplyDeleteOne had the Monkees. Either Peter Tork or Michael Nesmith had left the group at that time, so Ringo Starr affably filled the fourth square. Another had stars of the original Star Trek, with Jonathan Frakes popping up to the slight annoyance of the others.
Speaking of reunions: The short-lived "George and Leo" did an episode where they squeezed in a bunch of actors from Bob Newhart's and Judd Hirsch's earlier series. Didn't help. My own take was that Newhart and Hirsch both were known as sensible, put-upon nice guys; "George and Leo" called on Hirsch to be an aggressive, shady character who stirred things up. I for one couldn't buy Hirsch dishing out what he usually received on "Taxi" and "Dear John".
Steve Boyko: "...The PS/2 was quite a machine...."
ReplyDeleteYes it was. I still remember the blue screen with the helpful message "The processor has sto"
Funnily enough it always stopped at that same point. Never did get that "pped" out.
The Monkees/Ringo spot was for Pizza Hut.
ReplyDeleteAs a commercial venture, however, the the PS/2 bombed, right up there with the Apple ///, the Apple Lisa and Next computers.
ReplyDeleteNot really, the show was in the 1950's.
ReplyDelete"Peter said...
ReplyDeleteRandom trivia that most of you probably know already:
Back in the day, IBM got upset with Stanley Kubrick because they claimed that the name of the unhinged computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL, was derived from transposing the letters in IBM by one letter back in the alphabet. Funny allegation but it could never stand up in court. Besides, it's not like IBM had computers with artificial intelligence anyway."
Michael Benson, in his new and excellent book Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke and the Making of a Masterpiece, definitely refutes IBM's old claim, quoting denials from both Kubrick and Clarke. The derivation of "HAL" came from "Heuristically Programmed ALgorithmic Computer," and was come up with by Marvin Minsky, the co-founder of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. (There's something ironic in having to prove I am not a robot in order to post this.)
"Unknown said...
Not really, the show was in the 1950's:"
Ah, "Unknown," that was what we like to call a "joke."
Mike Bloodworth wrote:
ReplyDelete> Flash forward to today. I still don't have a computer.
There is a fax-line to send in comments to this blog? Cool!