3-D movies on regular TV

[bandit957]

Anyone remember when 3-D movies used to be a really big deal? They were so big in the early '80s that I remember one time they actually showed a 3-D movie on regular over-the-air TV!

I don't remember if it was the network or just something picked up by a local station. I think we picked up 3-D glasses (with a red lens and a blue lens) at some fast food restaurant. For the life of me, I don't remember what the movie was about.

I remember that if I removed my 3-D glasses, the movie basically looked normal. But I also remember seeing a 3-D movie in a theater around that time, and if I removed my 3-D glasses, it would be blurry.

[Big John]

Super Bowl XXIII in 1989 had a 3D halftime show.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Nickelodeon had some shows in the late 90s with interspersed 3-D segments, which I believe the glasses came in the Nickelodeon-show themed boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

[Max Rockatansky]

Jaws 3D was my introduction to the concept as well the end point of my interest in it.

[Rothman]

I still like the idea, but I think there was a lot of audience apathy or even backlash in the end.  In those early days, alignment of frames was tough, so people got headaches.

[kphoger]

Anyone ever go driving at night with 3-D glasses on?  Look through just the red lens, and headlights look the same as taillights.  Look through just the blue lens, and taillights are nearly invisible.  It's great fun!

[SP Cook]

I don't remember if it was the network or just something picked up by a local station. I think we picked up 3-D glasses (with a red lens and a blue lens) at some fast food restaurant.

The 3D movies on TV was a time-buy advertising deal.  Works like this:  advertising company buys some bad time slot, say Friday night in the summer.  Sponsor, say a fast food place, promotes the heck out of the coming deal.  Kid bugs mom and dad to take him/her to said fast food place to get the glasses.  Profit.

[bandit957]

The 3D movies on TV was a time-buy advertising deal.  Works like this:  advertising company buys some bad time slot, say Friday night in the summer.  Sponsor, say a fast food place, promotes the heck out of the coming deal.  Kid bugs mom and dad to take him/her to said fast food place to get the glasses.  Profit.

This was definitely during the summer. I'm pretty sure we went to the local lake earlier on the day that it aired. Probably about 1982, so I would have been about 9. It was before we had cable, which we got in 1983. It was probably a Saturday.

I don't remember what fast food chain it was, but it might have been Burger Chef, back in the days when most Burger Chefs were in their final throes before becoming Hardee's.