TV-related treasures abound at Metro Detroit toy show

The toy show at the Royal Oak, Mich., farmer's market is one we always look forward to. It's bigger than most local toy shows, and it's always brimming with wonderful TV-related memorabilia and collectibles. Here's a sprinkling of what we saw last weekend at this show, from "Starsky and Hutch" to "All in the Family" to "The Price is Right" and more ...

 

My cousin had this Evel Knievel stuff as a kid. Remember the little motorcycle that the figure could ride! Love it.

 

You don't often see the Batcopter that went with the Batman Mego figure of the '70s!

 

I had totally forgotten, until I saw this keychain on the table, that I had that full-size Missing Link puzzle toy as a kid! I wonder where that went ...

 

Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Copying with credit is OK; a link would be grand

Announcing a brand-new web series from BRBTV!

Ooooohhhhhh .... so many toys, so little time ...

That's the lament around BRBTV headquarters. So many wonderful collectibles procured from toy shows, birthdays and Christmas, shopping online, shopping down the road ... So much great stuff displayed on shelves or still stuck in boxes because there's no room on the shelves ... Figures, plates, plush items, other memorabilia ... It is the collector's desire to share, and share is what this collector will do, with a brand-new web series launching today on BRBTV.

It's Terrific non-TV Toys, the spinoff of Terrific TV Toys, which incidentally, just started its fifth big season! 

It's movies like 2008's "The Dark Knight" and the 2016 Batsignal model kit you'll see in this inaugural episode below. It's comics like the beloved Archies. It's comic strips like Peanuts. It's pop culture like Barbie, and the Darci and Dawn dolls from the '70s. It's wide open, baby! If it's collected and fun, you might see it here.



As the creator, producer, writer, director, whatever (!), I intend to have fun with this! And I hope you will, too.

Spotted: A "General Lee" of a different sort

Our roving reporter Jason, an avid "Dukes of Hazzard" fan, saw this site in Georgia and just had to share. Though we'd love to think this is a reference to our beloved classic TV show and its blazin' orange automotive star, we realize that Georgia, in addition to being the birthplace of the "Dukes," is also home to a lot of Civil War history. Sooooo ...

Photo by Jason G.; please do not copy without permission.

Terrific TV Toys: Wonder Woman plush doll by Toy Works

The "Justice League" animated series that first aired in 2001 featured the voice of Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, one of seven core characters to launch the show, which would later broaden and add many more heroes. So, with Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter, our favorite Amazon fought the bad guys and kept the world safe. Toy Works released a set of plush dolls for "Justice League," both in a smaller size of 10 or so inches high and a larger size of 16-17 inches high. It's one of those "amazon" Amazons we look at now, for the launch of the fifth season of Terrific TV Toys. Wow, a fifth big year of having so much fun showing you all kinds of crazy toys related to TV shows ...



Stay tuned, because later this month we launch a spinoff series of T3, and you won't want to miss the goodies we have in store for this sister series!

"Three's Company" -- and with Gloria Vanderbilt it's a happy crowd

Fallon wore them a time or two on "Dynasty." Mindy wore them on "Mork and Mindy." And on "Three's Company," both Janet and Chrissy were known to wear them a lot. They were Gloria Vanderbilt jeans, so hot-hot-hot in the late '70s and early-to-mid-'80s. For classic TV shows like these, dressing core characters in the iconic designer jeans was very much a reflection of the times.

This author has loved Gloria Vanderbilt jeans -- and Gloria Vanderbilt everything else, like fragrances, shirts, dresses, shoes, jewelry, glassware and more -- since that late-'70s heyday. It was with great delight that I recently rewatched the entire "Three's Company" series on Antenna TV -- a TV show I had watched, also, when it originally aired. But now, years later, I discovered all the many, many instances when the females on that show wore GV jeans, a label that originated with Murjani in 1976. Much of the time the girls were wearing the standard blue denim jeans with orange stitching that became such a huge trademark for Vanderbilt, but other times, the styles varied.

So for a highly quirky, can't-find-it-anywhere-else feature on this BRBTV News Blog, you are hereby presented with the uber-geeky index of every discernible appearance of GVs on the series.

(I mean, seriously -- where else are you going to find something like this????)





Now, we will preface this by saying that the girls -- Janet in particular -- were spotted wearing other brands of designer jeans on the series, which ran from March 1977 to September 1984. You would see Calvin Klein jeans a few times, and even Sasson. But with this list we submit that Gloria Vanderbilts were worn more than any other brand. You be the judge ...

S3, Ep14 16 Jan. 1979 The Older Woman
Chrissy: Tan pants / jeans


S3, Ep18 20 Feb. 1979 The Harder They Fall
Chrissy: Tan pants / jeans


S3, Ep23 / “ The Ropers ” – Stanley, the Ladies Man
Mrs. Brookes: standard blue denim jeans (with orange stitching)


S4, Ep2 11 Sep. 1979 Jack on the Lam
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S4, Ep2 18 Sep. 1979 Love Thy Neighbor
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S4, Ep4 2 Oct. 1979 Snow Job
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S4, Ep5 9 Oct. 1979 Jack the Ripper
Janet: pale blue denim jeans with light stitching
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S4, Ep6 23 Oct. 1979 The Life Saver
Chrissy: standard blue denim jeans (dark and new)
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S4, Ep7 30 Oct. 1979 Old Folks at Home
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S4, Ep8 6 Nov. 1979 A-Camping We Will Go
Chrissy: standard blue denim jeans
Janet: pale blue denim jeans with light stitching

S4, Ep9 13 Nov. 1979 Chrissy's Hospitality
Janet: pale blue denim jeans with light stitching
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S4, Ep11 27 Nov. 1979 The Love Barge
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S4, Ep15 8 Jan. 1980 Larry Loves Janet
Chrissy: hot pink pants
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S4, Ep18 29 Jan. 1980 Handcuffed
Janet: standard blue denim jeans
Chrissy: standard blue denim jeans


S4, Ep19 5 Feb. 1980 And Baby Makes Two
Janet: standard blue denim jeans 


S4, Ep21 26 Feb. 1980 Lee Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
Chrissy: hot pink pants
Chrissy: standard blue denim jeans 


S4, Ep22 4 Mar. 1980 The Root of All Evil
Janet: standard blue denim jeans
Chrissy: hot pink pants 


S4, Ep25 6 May 1980 Jack's Graduation
Janet: standard blue denim jeans
Chrissy: hot pink pants





S5, Ep2 11 Nov. 1980 And Justice for Jack
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S5, Ep4 25 Nov. 1980 Downhill Chaser
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S5, Ep5 2 Dec. 1980 A Crowded Romance
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S5, Ep6 9 Dec. 1980 Room at the Bottom
Janet: standard blue denim jeans
Chrissy: Tan pants / jeans 


S5, Ep7 16 Dec. 1980 Chrissy's Cousin
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S5, Ep8 6 Jan. 1981 Jack to the Rescue
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S5, Ep10 20 Jan. 1981 Jack's Other Mother
Janet: standard blue denim jeans
(And possibly Janet’s beige pants from “Father of the Bride”)


S5, Ep14 17 Feb. 1981 Furley vs. Furley
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S5, Ep15 24 Feb. 1981 In Like Larry
Janet: standard blue denim jeans

S5, Ep16 3 Mar. 1981 Teacher's Pet
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S5, Ep17 10 Mar. 1981 And Baby Makes Four
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S5, Ep19 24 Mar. 1981 Double Trouble
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S5, Ep20 5 May 1981 Dying to Meet You
Janet: standard blue denim jeans






S6, Ep1 6 Oct. 1981 Jack Bares All: Part 1
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S6, Ep2 6 Oct. 1981 Jack Bares All: Part 2
Janet: standard blue denim jeans

S6, Ep5 3 Nov. 1981 Some of That Jazz
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S6, Ep10 8 Dec. 1981 Dates of Wrath
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S6, Ep12 5 Jan. 1982 Strangers in the Night
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S6, Ep13 12 Jan. 1982 The Matchbreakers
Janet: standard blue denim jeans


S6, Ep15 26 Jan. 1982 Maid to Order
Brunette at bar: standard blue denim jeans
Jack’s date Rita: hot pink pants


S8, Ep8 29 Nov. 1983 Like Father, Like Son
Janet: blue-black denim with newer stitching