September 1981 HBO intro

[cyanidemaiden]

Its mind rattling that there was a time where cable wasn't 24 hours

[1957pinup]

My God, so many cheesy colorful early 80's TV graphics. Evidently the best time to watch HBO was between movies smoking some pot.

[kxmode]

"now 24 hours on weekends" lol

[heydee06]

ol' home box office.... priceless!!

[fullmetalmedji]

Wow, I didn't even known that HBO existed in the 80's.

[H2HOtex]

@fullmetalmedji We even had microwaves. Crazy lol

[Kame411]

Good old HBO back when it was still on G1-23. Kinda miss the old big huge C-Band dish

[Metallicghost81]

Damn,3 months before I came into exsistence.

[MyAmericanJesus]

Oh how this makes my heart hurt!! The 80's: when phones had chords, computer screens were green, you needed a quarter to play a video game, and America was still America.

[misterashley]

and the 'The Shining' played.

[RapedByRepublicans]

This was recorded on my bday (lie).... (well a year early)

[TheLogosRock]

I miss Big W.

[bradcuewalker]

"Where tha white women at?!!" Haha. Great movie.

[NitekMuscle]

It seems as if the 24 hour tech-driven media oriented consumerist culture of this era had its genesis in the 1980s.

[MrJacMac1986]

to tvcommercialman: Nobody was as sleep deprieved back then.Thats probably why there wasnt so much obesity in 1981. they say there is a link btwn sleep and overweightness. With youtube,dailymotion,facebook, twitter, direct tv, late night jobs ,work deadlines,and other things nobody can sleep like they used to.Oh yeah more light pollution at night probably has an effect too

[MrJacMac1986]

Seemed like every movie after 10pm had more female nudity in it back then.Not as much now in the 2010's

[olddocVenkman]

"Now 24 hrs. on Weekends!" hahaha

this is the weakest HBO intro I've seen.

[SkorpionOne]

"Home Box Office will show this feature only at night." Boy how times have changed....I wanna build a time machine out of a DeLorean and GO BACK!!! :):)

[MrClassicAds]

"Home Box Office will only show this [R-rated] feature at night." ... lol

[paulwhitemon]

HBO has come a long way.. didnt know it even existed in 81..lol

[HolyDiver1]

I was born in 88 so I've got not reason to be nostalgic over this or anything, but these things are just enjoyable to watch. Totally a time I wish I could have experienced.

[Mr1980schild]

when each and every movie coming on was something id never seen and just that anticipation of how epic it would be was amazing.Now 20 years older 99.9 percent of the movie i see are GARBAGE

[sean1ers]

lol the evolution of hbo inros

[newscaster13]

September 1981 was the time HBO was on the air 24 hours on weekends, while the network signed off Mondays thru Fridays.

But that was about to change three months later, when HBO began staying on the air 24/7

[retrofann1]

Back when you could only see theatre movies on tv.

[marioTmaggot]

They should have kept reading the parental guidance warnings aloud. That would help remind parents when their children were watching something they shouldn't have been.

[loopyman76]

I had just started kindergarten around the same time of this ad! LOL! My parents got HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel (whch I think at the time was called Spotlight) sometime in '81 or '82. They didn't really censor what I watched, so I got to see all the good scary movies, but I also remember watching shows like Fraggle Rock! I still remember the Cable "BOX" we had that had the wood panelling. We thoguht it was so cool to watch TV with no commercials! How I miss those days. :-(

[MARYLANDSTATEVOTERS]

the days of super tv !

[gli7utubeo]

This is about the first time we got Hbo; thought it was really special to see movies & stuff w/o commercials...

[verranth1]

VINTAGE HBO GUIDES GROUP on FACEBOOK!

March of 1978, HBO was installed on the enormous 27 inch Zenith Color TV in what was lovingly called, the “rec” room, of my family home in Green Brook, NJ.

From that point one I became obsessed with two things. Cable TV and HBO Guides!

Vintage HBO Guides on Facebook already has about 15 complete guides and grows bigger every day...check it out!

[undergroundbasement]

Mom didn't get cable till Summer of 82 right at the end of Summer, I remember it well, she got HBO with Cinemax , and I learned how to read by reading the TV Guide every month, was only 6 yrs old, HBO and Cinemax taught me more than any adult ever did, I was never told I couldn't watch this or that either, back then you only had 3 or 4 times to catch a movie during the month as they didn't play the same movie 4 times a day, week after week, you actually got more variety back then than now

[homebuiltindoorplane]

I saw this as it happened on tv! Yahoo!

[daffieapple]

I was born in 82, so I guess that's why I've never seen this before. I still love it though. Nothing tops the 80s!

[jfrockon]

The world made sense back then..... I'd give everything I own to get to relive that era.

[Wildcock23]

@jfrockon Absolutely

[DownsA530]

I wish I had been around to see stuff like this (I was born in 1984, so I missed it by a few years) or had stuff to trade for this, because these intros are so cool. Thanks for posting it!

[mangrum876]

I was born in 1980. But I rember watching hbo in the late 80s. Been a long tie since ive seen the 1987 inro.

[SuperAV21]

@mangrum876, I myself was born in 1988, seven years after that HBO promo/intro air'd. I've been watchin' HBO since da early 1990s ('92 or '93 @ da least).

[0871Atta]

Oh the 80's. Those folks knew how to live.

[MoPapparani]

"Now 24 hours on the weekends!"

XD

[Simon5005]

You can tell just from these old intros alone that life back then was so much more laid back.

[wastpoanfd]

@Simon5005 ha ha ha good one. lol

[southport97]

@Simon5005 You're right. Today people are more mean-spirited, paranoid and suspicious of each other. Sad.

[Simon5005]

@southport97 We can thank the Internet and News media for that. I'm accused of "living in the past", but it's a comfort zone for me............and it works.

[SweeetCherryPieAyAy]

@Simon5005 HELL YEA. My husband despises me for it, I loved the 80's best times ever!

[missNYCmodel]

I was born in 1981 (YAY) and i was very fond of HBO and ALL the openings, well, except the early ones ofc. I vividly remember HBO around the yr 1984/85, so, just knowing that HBO has been around past my yr of birth just adds more knowledge to my 80's frame of mind lolz. Basiclly, i would of never guessed that HBO started in 1981, i always just figured it started in 1985 or something LOL. The Friday The 13th movies scared me the most on HBO. Ahhh, the good ol' 80's ^____^

[NamelessGhostLIM]

Hbo actually launched on November 8, 1972.

[missNYCmodel]

Umm, that's what i said before, i neva really knew that HBO existed before the 80's...i just remember the 80's HBO, i wasn't born in the 70's....geez!

[MrNocommercials]

@NamelessGhostLIM Come November 8,2012 it will mark 40 Years.

[jfrockon]

You know, back then cable TV, Night Flight, and MTV was magic to me. I so miss the 80s

[dragonman462]

Back in those days the remote control was your kid lol

[cwf1701]

or a 12 button remote, hard wired into the cable box, and was only 6' long. 12 buttons, 4 positions (off) (2-13) (14-26) (27-38). and Nick ran only from 8am-8pm. and some channels doubled up (used a channel that was off the air).

[SteelCity1981]

You can tell these were the days before people copying movies from their VCR, because there is no Warning about how this content is copywrite protected and you will get fined and put in prison... blah blahh blah.

[schwarrow]

So, how many HBO's there were that time? One channel or what?

[salchli]

Just One.

[jdgssf]

One and it didn't start until late afternoon! Back then, kids like me had to go outside for entertainment.

[schwarrow]

lol thanks, I think it was pretty cool back then. I wish I was born that time.

[lukenuetzmann]

I was born that time! September 21 1981, pretty cool to see what HBO was doing when I was born. I miss those days, my dad used a "box" to unscramble HBO and Showtime and everything had fake wood paneling!

[ATRTAP]

@lukenuetzmann You miss less than 24 hour HBO days. Yeah, I miss the Nazis too- no wait! I don't!!

[bvd1022]

@schwarrow one until the early 90s but they really didn't expanded until the mid-late 90s. I loved HBO back in the 80s their boxing coverage was second to none.

[GOODFELLAS74]

@bvd1022 Yes thats right,but back then they had some good boxing fights on regular tv also, like abc

[TedBrownMedia]

@schwarrow YES THERE USED TO BE ONE CHANNEL FOR YEARS THEN CAME CINEMAX THEN SHOWTIME AND THEN ENCORE STARZ CAME LATER THEN THEY SPREAD INTO MULIT CHANNELS THAT WAS LATE 1990 AFTER THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1996 THANK BILL CLINTON

[schwarrow]

@TedBrownMedia Thank you for the info. I wish I was born that time to see things from the 80's, Thanks

[TurtleDove81]

O_o so on my birth year this was HBO?

[Kartoonkid95]

Does this mean that HBO still signed off on weeknights? Also, did HBO sign off on Sunday nights?

[salchli]

Yes. Their typical schedule was sign on at 3PM; sign off at 12AM. Yes, they did sign off on Sundays.

[Kartoonkid95]

But not on Friady or Saturday?

[salchli]

Correct, as of Sept 1981. By January 1982 HBO was 24 Hours.

[cameron20101000]

@salchli right hbo was a 24/7 service on weekends but not on weekdays until 1982.

[smcgamer1]

@salchli So what network aired during the 15 hours that HBO was not on? Or was it just color bars/generic music, etc?

[PDS1990]

Awesome Neon HBO look in 1981!

[acceptthis01]

Now 24 hours on weekends! So that kids could have a reason to sleep in on Saturday!

[bodonnavox]

Cool <3

[RatchetSouth]

blazing sadles is awesome

[ShadowWolf10000]

nice and smooth

[StaciAutumns]

All right!!! 24hrs on weekends!! This really gave me a weird flashback... Nice copy:) Thanks for posting it:)

[Borntocoast]

When I was a Kid one of my friends, who was quite a Techno-Geek in his day, Taped several of the disclamers from HBO and Showtime and altered them so they'd go like this:

"The Following Movie has been rated "G". This means this film has Mature Subject Material and parents may wish to consider whether it should be viewed by Children under 17"

"The Following Movie has been rated "R" by the Motion Picture Institute, and is suitible for viewing by your entire Family!"

[retromann1]

Man how i remember this and when R- rated movies were only shown at night. LOL!

[OPENARMS1981]

This intro is often called The Liquid Marquee.

[progjazzfusion]

the music at 0:28 is in a jazz fusion style of the late 70's / early 80's...LOVE IT

[jacko39]

yeah it sounds great.

[loopyman76]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the music. Makes me think of Steely Dan for some reason!

[progjazzfusion]

Right on, that's why i like it too, it's derived from jazz fusion of that era. They used the same phaser effect on a Rhodes Electric Piano that Steely Dan also used, which adds to the similarity in sound.

[jacko39]

classic cool...wow.

[angryniggah]

would always turn the sound down when the rating would be presented so my parents couldn't hear i was watching a raunchy movie. then it was out with the old salaam.

[Cantstopdamuzik]

Me too. I would always roll up a towel and place it at the door bottom so my parents couldn't see the light from my bedroom when I should have been sleep. "R" movies were gold to a 13 year old.

[angryniggah]

at 13, i was so pathetic that i would watch the scrambled playboy channel. the only show that came in clearly was "electric blue". those were the days...innocence was bliss and ejaculation was only a tug away.

peter tomarken hosted a game show on playboy and that was where i discovered the legenday shannon tweed before she was forever defiled and besmirched by gene simmons' nasty tongue. incidently, shannon tweed gives gene some stiff competition on the tongue dept, but i digress.

[palmercomm]

Peter Tomarken? Playboy?

I hope you don't mean OUR Peter Tomarken, the "Press Your Luck" Tomarken.

[angryniggah]

there's only one (unfortunately late) peter tomarken. no whammies, no whammies...no whammies!......STOP!!!!!!

[angryniggah]

i had your parents didn't use a gas heater or karesone hotplate. you could have asphyxiated them...a small price to pay for some wank-time.

[verranth1]

Please feel free to visit my Yahoo group dedicated to Vintage Hbo Guides from 1976 to 1985!

Just go to yahoo groups and type in:

Vintage HBO Guides

[wmbrown6]

Just curious as to who was the V/O at this time for HBO.

[OPENARMS1981]

I Think Don LeFontaine,the voiceover guy featured on The Geico commercial.

[robken0174]

Wow, i can just barely remember this intro. I was about 7, so my memory's a bit fuzzy then.

[menocu87]

HBO, kicking out the jams.

[TonyDuMont]

Love those 80s-style graphics!

[jakestooge34]

Probably the best of all the HBO intros.

[Bu8956]

Amen to that

[Bu8956]

This is cool!!!!!!!!! Very retro!!!!!!!!!

[dmine45]

I remember that HBO was not a 24/7 operation until January 1982.

[JustyHakubi]

Now 24 Hours on weekends!! Woohoo!

[Susque1]

These old HBO intros/bumpers are AWESOME! When these came out, my parents had an old Betamax to record the movies with.  When the Beta tapes were converted to VHS, the intros/bumpers were left out. Thanks a million for posting these salchli!!!!

[Kargaroc286]

I think that rated r movies are still on only at night (only on the main hbo channel (the other ones will show r rated movies when ever they feel like))

[SilkyGreensleeves]

cool intro,but I liked the rocket more.

[blackmoviefan]

I do remember that like back in the early 80's they would show rated R movies only at night but now they show them during the day now because people don't really care now watching rated r films during the day.

[JackSpader]

They were able to do so when they started full day scrambling in the mid-80s. I think the reason was that they would be unscrambled during daytime on satellite but then scrambled at night to force people to pay to watch the better stuff. But they wanted to maximize their programming variety during the day and I guess that meant having to be more of a choice.

[bigbill1991]

back in the days when R rated movies were on only at night.

[OpenArms81]

Blazing Saddles was most watched movie,when it premiered on Hbo in 75.

[ROCKSORES]

GOOD TIMES

[tvcommercialman]

Hard to believe HBO actually signed off at night. In fact, the 1982 Intro was created to promote HBO's 24hrs of programming.

[talkingpie99]

"Nowhere special. I always wanted to go there."

Blazing Saddles is such a funny movie.

[huggyface]

Never saw the movie, but I know the late Cleavon Little played in it. He also played in the early '70's med-sitcom, "Temperatures Rising." (I watched that once in awhile, some time back)

[ncbeach22]

I feel like I am back in junior high school when I see these