Intermissions were common, the TV studio often experienced telecine jams or blown tubes, cutting to a “sorry, it’s not your TV” card or similar.
They did have adverts, too. Most were for normal products and services, but longer, milder than Western ones (e.g. products slowly rotating on a tray) annd almost never mentioned prices. There was little risk of litigation so overpromising with phrases like “ensure” and “only at” was common even though many things required frequent repairs (especially TVs) or were easily beat by gray market imports or underhanded services. I saw a Czechoslovak 80s ad collection and two stood out:
one presented TNS, Eastern Bloc’s objectively best computer terminal system by JZD Agrokombinát Slušovice (the Asianometry video is good except it’s pronounced Slew-sho-vi-tzeh), of course nobody could just buy a terminal, they were installed at farms and factories. The ad featured basic 3D graphics and synthesized speech.
“Introducing new technology, new possibilities, programs and connectivity, with the new TNS microcomputer from JZD Agrokombinát Slušovice, distributed by ZZN Brno, Gottwaldov branch. TNS JZD Agrokombinát Slušovice. ZZN Gottwaldov.” (JZD means Collective Farm. Slušovice was by far the most “capitalist”. ZZN means Agricultural Distribution Center. Gottwaldov is a town named after our worst Stalinist president, now bearing its original name Zlín (Eviltown). Slušovice (Politeville) is a random village near Zlín.)
one had surreal music and showed Brutalist architecture. After a while, a well-paced documentary presenter voice talked about how concrete is the stone of the 20ᵗʰ century and mentioned its advantages over one whole minute. Then it showed the dirty process of concrete being poured into the rebar cage and the voiceover thanked concrete workers, none of which are seen in the video, for their contributions to society. (What do you mean it’s not selling anything specific? It’s the most concrete ad you’ll ever see!)
“Mankind seems to have an insatiable yearning to build and rise. Across ever broader areas, over ever deeper valleys, to ever taller heights. These daring engineering challenges are possible thanks to a material contemporary in every way: malleable, hard and flexible. Artificial stone, stone of today: concrete. This material is shaped by concrete construction professionals. Our society needs and is grateful for the hard work of concrete construction experts.”
I wonder if there was also more blatant propaganda they cut from the collection, or if adverts were just like that.
By the way, the comic appears to show a cartoon, many of which (Slovak Pat a Mat, Polish Bolki i Lolki, Hungarian Mézga család) beat current production because acclaimed film creators who didn’t quite ideologically align with the party were delegated to children’s programming, and many of the resulting productions were enjoyed by all ages. Also, dubs of Western films/shows were uncommon but very good.
Of course, nobody but party cadres had a VCR so people were very careful not to miss episodes.
By the way, the comic appears to show a cartoon, many of which (Slovak Pat a Mat, Polish Bolki i Lolki, Hungarian Mézga csálád) beat current production because acclaimed film creators who didn’t quite ideologically align with the party were delegated to children’s programming, and many of the resulting productions were enjoyed by all ages
wow, that’s surprisingly deep for that picture of the pig in the hat next to the plant. Thank you for your in depth message
For extra context: szünet is Hungarian for intermission
I suppose she just found the fish
damn, I thought it was advert. But it makes sense since it’s communist hungary
Intermissions were common, the TV studio often experienced telecine jams or blown tubes, cutting to a “sorry, it’s not your TV” card or similar.
They did have adverts, too. Most were for normal products and services, but longer, milder than Western ones (e.g. products slowly rotating on a tray) annd almost never mentioned prices. There was little risk of litigation so overpromising with phrases like “ensure” and “only at” was common even though many things required frequent repairs (especially TVs) or were easily beat by gray market imports or underhanded services. I saw a Czechoslovak 80s ad collection and two stood out:
TNS JZD Agrokombinát Slušovice. ZZN Gottwaldov.” (JZD means Collective Farm. Slušovice was by far the most “capitalist”. ZZN means Agricultural Distribution Center. Gottwaldov is a town named after our worst Stalinist president, now bearing its original name Zlín (Eviltown). Slušovice (Politeville) is a random village near Zlín.)I wonder if there was also more blatant propaganda they cut from the collection, or if adverts were just like that.
By the way, the comic appears to show a cartoon, many of which (Slovak Pat a Mat, Polish Bolki i Lolki, Hungarian Mézga család) beat current production because acclaimed film creators who didn’t quite ideologically align with the party were delegated to children’s programming, and many of the resulting productions were enjoyed by all ages. Also, dubs of Western films/shows were uncommon but very good.
Of course, nobody but party cadres had a VCR so people were very careful not to miss episodes.
wow, that’s surprisingly deep for that picture of the pig in the hat next to the plant. Thank you for your in depth message
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