Sober up with These Staggering Commercials from January, 1995

The Olive Garden was never classy or exotic. Or maybe I just can't remember it.

R1 I remember when my suburban wasteland only had ONE Olive Garden, and people went there on prom night. It was white stucco with green trim, and the tables had linen tablecloths, and the lobby had a gaudy fountain with an atrium in the center.

Not classy, but class-adjacent.

You know when she took the wig off, those cornflakes were REAL. 🐓 🌽 🥣

R1 No, you're remembering correctly.

Bump.

R3 Love it.

That was/is Sam Donaldson's real hair.

I can draw hair that looks more real than Sam's.

R8 Just a really good combover.

Yep. Things change. The only constant in life is change

Always.

Ah. Brett Butler, whatever happened to her?

R1 it's Phony Italian.

As a very old person these just remind me of how those of us who worked in offices in the 80s and 90s really fucking dressed up. The suits, the trench coats, etc. In retrospect I don't think it was a bad thing. People looked more dignified. They weren't going out shopping in PJ bottoms and crocks, or getting on airplanes without pants.

R14 The passing the of the torch from Boomers to Gen-X was what was happening.

I am much older than you. I remember my parents buying a 1969 Datsun (Nissan) 510 for about $2100 out the door. The only option was an AM radio. No power anything nor AC. Everything that was standard on a Caddie DeVille is now available on a Corolla. That aside from all the safety and smog equipment. Try finding a car with crank window and no AC today.

Since Reagan we have been told that "money trickles down". Judging by the increase in the number of billionaires between 1980 and now, money defies gravity.

Technology trickles down. Prior to 1938, writing pens had to have ink supply refilled from a bottle. Ballpoint pens came out then. I had heard they were $100 apiece. In 1938 dollars.

Today you can buy a package of pens for a buck or three in 2023 dollars. When my mother was recuperating in a convalescent hospital, I drove her 1997 Contour around to keep the battery charged up. It was competent but not equal to today's standards.

You don't mention the crap that was going on. Repugnicans went after Clinton far worse than they are going after Biden today. In the early 1990s Newt started the divisivness we have today. It's nice to look at the past through rose-colored glasses. There were bad things then. The bad things we have today seem worse because we are living with them, right in our faces.

1995 people were probably bitching about changes since the early 1960s, OP. Things change.

R17 Probably, or the 70s.

Sober/

Rip that wig off.

Honk!

That was never true about the Olive Garden.

Their breadsticks ruled.

That's a lot of commercials.

A family of 26 at KFC? Diabetes and more is in your future.

Here.