Remember when The Jetsons surged in popularity again in the 80s and early 90s? The show came back in 1985 and then they released Jetsons: The Movie in 1990, so it’s no surprise that they made Jetsons Valetines in 89. I don’t know if kids would have been that excited about getting Valentines featuring George Jetson and the gang, but I probably would have. I was a weird kid though.
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As an aging geek, I’m starting to fall victim to stuff only old people do. For instance, I get up somewhat early on Sundays and watch CBS Sunday Morning. You youngins may know about this news magazine TV series hosted by octogenarian Charles Osgood. It’s a very well-produced show with a wide variety of news and features that we old people enjoy.

I know what you’re probably saying to yourself, “Whoa, slow down, grandpa. You’ll break a hip.”

Risking a shattered pelvis, I settled in for this week’s edition of the show and its Future theme. As usual, the show was exciting but not too exciting so as to soil my Depends. I was thrilled to see a segment about the “retro future” of the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons.
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It doesn’t matter whether you like sports or not, the Super Bowl is one of the biggest entertainment events of the year. The estimated 111.3 million viewers Sunday night made it the most watched television show of all time.

A big highlight from the night, at least for me, was the commercial presented by MetLife. The insurance company’s “Everyone” ad featured a bevy of classic cartoon characters.

A great aspect of the nostalgia-inducing spot was its use of B-list stars. Sure, the Peanuts characters common with MetLife advertising were present but so too were Saturday Morning heroes long forgotten. You could easily see popular ’70s and ’80s figures like Voltron, He-Man, and The Jetsons. Also on hand were lesser-knowns like Jabberjaw, Hong Kong Phooey, and Magilla Gorilla.

MetLife’s Facebook page has bios of most of them but cartoonist Mark Anderson has an exhaustive list in chronological order. Anderson even corrected MetLife’s mention of Captain Caveman to his doppelgangers Rock and Gravel Slag.

If you missed the ad, watch it below and then seek out the excellent coverage by Anderson. The Facebook page also has a few “behind the scenes” videos to check out. Oh, and see if you can find the numerous inclusions of the stripe shirt-wearing Waldo.

This time around on Bubble Pipe Theater, Rob, Tim, and Tommy discuss the NikeMag Back For the Future benefit auctions (read: pricey sneakers), the Star Wars Blu-rays (again), fictional technology we’d like to see in real life, the Walt Disney Family Museum, arcade nostalgia, Wii hacking, our current obsessions, and more.