April 2017 – saleintothe90s

303. Michigan J. Frog and the dubba-dubba-dubba UB.

“While you’re watching this showww, and howling at the jokes, remember that its been brought to you by those Saturn folks…” – intro to the first WB commercial break, January 11, 1995.

I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy listening to the How Did This Get Made? podcast. One time, host Paul Scheer was telling a story about how he knew someone that worked for the WB network in the beginning, and how reception had to answer the phones with:

dubba-dubba-dubba UB!

(does anybody remember what episode that was? I forgot!)

This Spin article from 1996 confirms it:

They’re quoting the network’s spokesfrog, Michigan J. Frog.

There’s an okay book about the WB and its rival network UPN, Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of The WB and UPN by Suzanne Daniels (who was the Executive Producer for Entertainment for the WB) and Cynthia Littleton. There’s a couple of little stories about the frog in the book:

The decision to make Michigan the spokesamphibian for the network:

[…]

(Bob & Lew are Bob Bibb and Lew Goldstein, who worked in the marketing department.)

That darn frog, indeed. Michigan was lampooned on The Simpsons (”Lisa’s Sax”):

“I need a drink….”

…and he didn’t have a great time on top of the WB water tower:

I wish I could find a picture of this! Maybe because the weather was so bad that day none of the pictures really turned out?

The night of the WB’s launch wasn’t as successful as one would hope. Was it Michigan J’s fault? Maaybe?

I didn’t remember this, but Michigan would sing about the show’s sponsors, like something out of the 1950s. He sang ‘bout Red Dog Beer in a commercial promo shortly after the network launched:

(I forgot I wrote about Red Dog!)

He also had a little ditty about Benadryl:

If this show gives you a thrill,

this show is brought to you by Benadryl!

When I was growing up, I thought the frog was so annoying. Especially those long promo commercials with the singing and the dancing on the “backlot”. I’ve softened on him now. He’s such a weird little icon of the mid 90s, representative of a doomed network. A time we no longer have.

Later on, around 2002, The WB began this bizarre ad campaign titled “watch the frog” where stars from the network would almost run into Michigan around the backlots. Their co-star would say “watch the frog”. hahaha, get it? Don’t run into the frog, but also watch our frog spokes amphibian network. Please? We’re losing millions of dollars.

(source)

In September of 2005, word came down that WB was retiring the frog. Killing him off!

“Is the frog dead?” asked one critic after noticing that Michigan was missing from all the WB signage in the Beverly Hilton ballroom where the network’s day at the press tour was taking place.

“The frog is dead and buried,” WB Chairman Garth Ancier said defiantly.

“And buried, yeah,” chimed in programming chief David Janollari.

Gasps could be heard in the room.

“And that gets a really negative reaction – okay!” said Ancier.

“Wait, wait – we should talk about that,” Janollari said. “That was a symbol that was – especially in extensive testing that we did – that perpetuated the young teen feel of the network, and that is not the image we want to put out to our audience.”

“Do you know what day the frog died?”

“Services will be held,” Janollari said apologetically.

“The frog was on life support for a long time, and then we got permission from a federal court to disconnect the feeding tube,” Ancier said. He has been with the network since its launch in ‘95 and has always had it in for Mr. Frog, according to well-placed sources who wished to remain anonymous because it’s a short hop from killing a frog to knocking off a snitch. 3

As we all know, by 2006 the WB and it’s rival, UPN were dead in the ground.

1. Berenstein, Jonathan, “Black in Black”, Spin, 154. https://books.google.com/books?id=X1aghtVf0GEC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=dubba+dubba+wb&source=bl&ots=t657vXTNe-&sig=MgDdQPro4QxgQ3p3Lrxa4ryeWho&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_qMey2srTAhVE7yYKHXPbDlE4ChDoAQg4MAU#v=onepage&q=dubba%20dubba%20wb&f=false

2. Daniels, Suzanne, and Cynthia Littleton, Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of The WB and UPN (New York: HarperCollinsPublishers). https://books.google.com/books?id=YXjv0LSL1GQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+W.B.&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpq_ebuszTAhWLLyYKHSAkCdsQ6AEIIjAA#v=onepage&q=the%20W.B.&f=false

3. de Morales, Lisa, “Frog Croaks; WB Suits Squeal”, Washington Post, July 23, 2005. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/22/AR2005072201999.html

//edit//

I forgot to mention that Michigan is now a Funko Pop figure .

302.“Worker drowns in vat of salsa” (November 26, 1997)

301. Some stuff my dad found in storage from 1996.

I think I’ve mentioned the storage unit before in previous entries. My whole childhood, teenage years, and early 20s until the Summer of 2005 is in there. We put everything in storage when we moved out of this huge house that was too expensive that Summer. Most of my things from the 80s and 90s were put in there and I thought I’d just see them a few months later. It’s been 12 years.

(there were some toys from when I was real little in the bags too. I gave them a bath.)

I guess mom got a decorating bug this weekend because dad took some furniture out and brought me home three garbage bags full of things. If memory serves me correct, I shoved this stuff in those bags when we moved out of my childhood home in 2000, and into the house that was too expensive.

First off, I found this backpack in one of those garbage bags:

This wasn’t my backpack in middle school. Uh, JanSport all the way, Eastpak was simply a knockoff to me. I found it in the trash during locker clean out day the last week of 7th grade and bought it home, and spent the Summer sewing clothing scraps to it. I hid all my notebooks and scribbles in the backpack that Summer from the previous school year. To me, my scribbles were kind of controversial, they were doodles about my crush, so I was afraid to throw them in the trash in my bedroom. So I kept all my crumpled up scribbles in this. It’s 2017, I think its safe for me to throw them all out.

I was ob-sessed with my social studies teacher that year. In retrospect I should’ve gotten help. Guidance should’ve shipped me off to the loony bin. I used to think my teacher hated me though, so to get his attention? I wrote that he hated me on my binder? Uh. That’s not how you get his attention, dumbass.

These notebooks never lasted a month. The cover always tore off of them. You’re probably wondering why “Kristen was here” is all over that. I wanted that to be my nickname SO BAD in middle school. I think wanted to be my American Girl doll, Kirsten Larson that badly.

Back then, at Coliseum Mall, there was this Sanrio kiosk. I had to go there every time we went to the mall that year. Always got pens and stickers. I suspect I drew this Hello Kitty on a Saturday when we didn’t go anywhere.

For some reason, this was a project we had to do in … Science class in November of 1995. Where are my glasses. I was fat. Not a good job drawing me, me from 1995. I named the hamster after my social studies teacher and I think my science teacher said “that’s enough!” when I tried to read it out aloud in class.

Anybody remember these? I don’t think schools make them anymore! I made honor roll only three times in school, 2 times in seventh grade, and final semester my senior year of high school in 2001. My mom didn’t like these bumper stickers because she thought they were braggy. I think she was just sad she didn’t have one. I tore up the first one I got because I thought they were braggy too. I think I was just secretly jealous because I never had the attention span and I had too much anxiety to do well in school.

This is what I got for Christmas in 1995. The Vans were too big, and I don’t know what I did with the nail files.

Computer is way down at the bottom, which is upsetting. That was the year we got an IBM PS/2 from some guy at dad’s work. It was good for playing Wolfenstein on. It ran Windows 3.0.

Mom gave me the Norman Rockwell album when I was in elementary school. I didn’t take pictures back then though. So years later in 7th grade I put my stickers on the cover. I should’ve made it a boss sticker album. There’s more sanrio stickers from that kiosk at the mall.

I had a massive Garfield collection back then. By 1996, kids of the 1980s were dumping their Garfield stuff left and right at the thrift store, and on military discount day mom would come by and scoop it all up. This is homemade. It may or may not make an appearance on my etsy someday.

There was a big hologram boom around this time too. It didn’t all start with simplynailogical. Here is a sad lil holo pen I found in the backpack. Check out that sweet barely used Nike planner too. Got that at Woolworth’s in Anchorage, Alaska on my first trip up there. I had been searching ebay for one but now I don’t have to!

I have NO clue where this Hello my name is Box of ~~Cholate~~ Chocolates label came from. I think a friend put it on my teddy bear backpack purse?

This was on the last page of my sixth grade planner from 1995. pretty sure that Wakko sticker came from Sun Maid Raisins. School was so-so-so boring that year. We had a horrible verbally abusive teacher who we were stuck with in the mornings. You can see why I doodled a lot.

It was a fad back then to tear the shiny part of your planner cover off so you had a canvas to draw stupid stuff on.

This was my cover in 1996. Why did we put the Cat in the Hat hat on everything that year? I forgot. The magazine cut-outs were from Sassy. I don’t know why I drew an octopus girl on skates.

I forgot one thing! I had a transcript I made of when Lisa said goodbye at Mr. Bergstrom at the train station!

300. The thirtieth anniversary of The Simpsons on Tracey Ullman (April 19, 1987)

I would have forgotten about this if it wasn’t for FXX showing The 138th episode spectacular on a boring Sunday afternoon! The thirtieth anniversary is approaching!

The first Simpsons short that was shown before and after commercial breaks during the Tracy Ullman Show was “Good Night”, a crudely drawn sort about how horrifying lullabies can be if you really pay attention to the lyrics.

The short aired on the third episode of Tracey Ullman, and only a few weeks after FOX began their primetime schedule. Can we discuss the night FOX premiered? This was the first thing people saw:

a dude’s butt in cutoffs.

He and his butt was erecting a giant FOX sign over the HOLLYWOOD sign:

299. Drexell’s Class & Victor Newman

A few months back, the library I work at ordered a copy of Eric Braden’s biography I’ll Be Damned. If you’ve ever been unemployed for long stretches of time, you know that Eric plays Victor Newman on the soap opera, The Young and the Restless. I only checked out the book because I wanted to know how he got the role of a lifetime playing Victor.

Well, turns out that Dabney Coleman, a.k.a Drexell’s Class helped him out. I know Dabney has played other roles, but he will always be “Drexell’s Class” to me.

The show was one of the earliest FOX sitcoms to play after The Simpsons, starting around season three, and I would watch it with my mom every Thursday.

(here are all my commercial breaks with Drexell’s Class commercials)

You know who else was on Drexell’s Class? Rayanne Graff.

Luanne Platter.

The Boy from the American Pie movies.

Right, back to Eric Braden. Eric ran into Dabney when he at the NBC offices for something. Dabney was there shooting a soap opera, and said that he should get into the business. Dabney talked him into it!

So, there you go.