I know that this promo was from the late 1970s/early 1980s, as opposed to the early-mid 1970s, but I'm still impressed with the video quality, production values, and logo animation in it given the era. Other than the fact that a Disco music theme would have been anachronistic by then, this seems more like a promo from the mid-1980s.
The NBC Peacock was dropped by NBC in in the early or mid Seventies. But in 1979 the Peacock came back to NBC and this so far for good. The Peacock has been the logo for for 32 consecutives years.
WKYC in Cleveland had a local version of NBC's Proud as a Peacock version one (1979) and version two (1980). WFMJ in Youngstown had a local version of this promo as well.
Dismal time for the Peacock but still an classic promo. Another great version of this was up a long time ago but sadly dissapeared so thanks for posting.
Don't forget his Production company *After* he left NBC; That was responsible for shows like Matlock, In the Heat of the Night, and the Perry Mason TV movies.
I've been looking for this ad. Thanks for sharing. I was a 6th or 7th grader when it originally aired. I only remember one little instant from the commercial; those two women in bikinis rolling over on the peacock towel. :)
From about the mid-to-late 80's,NBC were solid where sitcoms were concerned,such as Cheers,Cosby Show Family Ties,Night Court,Silver Spoons,Punky Brewster,etc.
On June 20, 1980, Fred Silverman killed three game shows, the Heatter-Quigley produced show High Rollers and Hollywood Squares (which 15 years earlier CBS passed on Hollywood Squares when Silverman was vice president at that time) and the Bob Stewart-produced Chain Reaction and replaced with The David Letterman Show, because of struggling ratings (as well as a 90-minute Another World), before being replaced by Las Vegas Gambit and Blockbusters, shortened Another World to 60 minutes while developing Texas, while Wheel of Fortune was almost getting cancelled but he changed his mind due to Letterman's show shortened to 60 minutes and Charlie O'Donnell was being replaced by Jack Clark.
I believe that's Ashford and Simpson (Valerie Simpson and Nick Ashford) on lead vocals. Valerie did a ton of jingles including one of the greatest jingles ever, the classic 1960s "When you say Budweiser...you've said it all" jingle.
They only show that one little clip of Bill Cosby with the funny hat on from "I, Spy" Little did they know he'd become the man who would singlehanded save the network 5 years later in 1984.
NBC held the full rights to the 1980 Moscow Olympic games. The decision for the USOC boycott and NBC scaled back coverage was made early in 1980 after this promo was made. They were hyping the '80 games in this promo.
NBC started the 80's in Third Place while ABC and CBS were enjoying The Top Two Most Watched Networks in America, by the end of the Decade it was CBS that felled to Third and NBC and ABC were enjoying great Success.
NBC fell to 3rd place that era. ABC was #1, then CBS was #2. NBC rose to #1 in 1982 until 2004, and then fell to #3 again after 2004 until 2013, currently NBC is #2.
They would likely later have regretted putting the high jump portion in this promo. The network had paid big bucks for the broadcast rights for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. However, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, USA pulled out of the games, as well as a good number of other countries west of the Iron Curtain.
Channel 5 Proud as a Peacock WFRV-TV, Green Bay/Appleton, Wisconsin Channel 3 Proud as a Peacock WJMN-TV, Marquette/Escanaba, Michigan Both are sister stations of each other that later affiliated with ABC. Both are now CBS affiliates owned by Nexstar Broacasting.
I'm amused that the campaign started with 30 seconds of clips from long-gone NBC shows. That's like NBC today saying "Hey, we used to have Friends and Seinfeld! Watch us now!"
I thought they started coming around in '82 when Cheers and Family Ties premiered but they really didn't become big until '84 when Cosby started...oh I forgot in January '81 Hill Street Blues premiered and that became a hit right???....it had a cool theme song
Well Xanadu was riding on the fad of the time...though if you think about it, that was made by Universal who is now owned by GE, who owns NBC...so its basically full circle. And yeah, tons of subliminal messages for "the Olympics we boycotted".
Don't forget about Frasier, Cheers, Cosby Show, Family Ties, Fresh Prince and all the other great shows that are no longer on NBC anymore! They might as well bring back that campaign for today because they are headed in that direction again
You could tell that in a lot of ways, NBC was trying to emulate the "Still The One" image of ABC from two years prior. ABC was tops at the time this was made, you know.
If you notice most of the images are from NBC of the past, to mostly to convey nostalgia. There was very little new or worthwhile to come for the 78-79 season, and the fact that they do not display any upcoming shows demonstrates that they do not feel very proud of the new season.
We're Proud!, We're Proud! Uh Huh Say It Again!, We're Proud! Uh Huh Say It Again!, NB See Us, NB See Us, NB See Us, NB See Us, NB See Us, NBC Proud As A Peacock!
@NowhereMan1966 That he did. But he left the Peacock in the capable hands of Warren Littlefield and NBC was number one once again throughout the 90s with hits like Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier and ER. NBC has none of those now and has no one capable of NBC great again and no one will come this time.
yes it was hilarioph even before Just watch us Now which was 82-83 and in 81-82 it was Our Pride is Showing..I remember this well...lot of my favorite stars are in that video Dean Martin Perry Como Arte Johnson Peter Falk Jerry Lewis (sometimes)...I have a feeling if the new shows this fall are good NBC can be good again..the male vocalist was the late great Luther Vandross right, Boulton26?????
Rebmetpes4 it was ABC still he one 1976 then 1979 that NBC over budgeted for the most expensive campaign promo in history of Americans TV. Then wasn’t till 1987 did ABC spent more money In television network history for Something’s happening
@@Aaronhouston33 Wrong...that 1979 campaign budget for NBC was $90,000. Trust me. I came up with all the ideas for the shoot. The campaign was created at NBC NY. The late great Ruben Shapiro shot it all. Will you're wrong on a bunch. NBC didn't spend the money like ABC did. Still the One Part 2 was up in budget of 7 figures. The original Still The One was 1976 shot by Roger Flint and produced by Sullivan And Marks....and in my opinion was the best campaign ever.
@SuperAV21 I wish it were 1979 again-a much better year and time to have lived in and far less complicated with only four major tv networks and only three or four local tv networks in each family's area.
We’re loud! We’re loud! Uh-huh, say it again! We’re loud! Uh-huh, say it again! NBCBS, NBCBS, NBCBS, NBCBS, NBCBS, NBCBS... We're loud! We're in last place Loud! We're gonna fall right on our face Loud! Since Freddy came, Our ratings always stayed the same An 18 rating, A 14 share Bet you wonder if we care No! We're just proud to be N-B-C We're loud! We're living in the past Loud! The bottom's dropping out real fast Loud! Of our boring shows Just watch us jam 'em up your nose We don't care, It's all fair NBC is always there We're not just proud We're also loud We're loud! We're louder than the rest So loud! It's doesn't matter we're not the best Loud! We're gonna screw around And run this network in the ground The Peacock's dead, So thank you, Fred Yeah, thanks a whole lot! N-B-C Proud as a Peacock
and Joey E. Levine is the composer of the 1979-80 television season campaign for NBC, He would return (with Patti Austin, and Luther Vandross) to do a new version of Proud as a Peacock for NBC in 1980-81.
@landrykkb The 1970s were not a good decade for NBC, it was being by eclipsed by CBS who ran in first place with such shows as ALL IN THE FAMILY, M * A * S * H *, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, BOB NEWHART, THE JEFFERSONS etc. While ABC was in a close second with such shows as HAPPY DAYS, LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, LOVE AMERICAN STYLE, THE BRADY BUNCH, THE LOVE BOAT, ABC's WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS etc.
I like this ...I think NBC is making a comeback..Revolution debuted with strong ratings and is a big hit..has anyone watched it???....I don't since it on Monday and that for me is football...keep forgetting about Animal Practice..but wish NBC would cancel Guys with Kids that follows it it stupid also I read when the babies want something they want it now and that shuts down production not very good huh????..like I said before love this I remember when it was on in '79 I was 10
True. But NBC got their groove back thanks to Brandon Tartikoff and by 1985, NBC was number one again and would stay there until 2004 and then fell to last AGAIN after losing Friends and Fraiser. At least they don't have to worry about a boycott of the Olympics this year. But history repeats itself at NBC...
I remember the late 70s and early 80s were bad times for NBC...most of their shows sucked then and they really didn't start becoming popular again until the mid 80s or so when Cosby Show and Golden Girls, among other shows, started airing.
