“The More You Know,” the Emmy Award-winning series of public service announcements which were created by Tom Brokaw in 1989 to replace “One To Grow On,” are turning twenty-five this year. Over the past two and a half decades, the campaign has featured some of NBC’s biggest stars, not to mention several United States Presidents.
So, on this occasion, I thought it would be fun to look back on the most spoofed, parodied and appropriated PSA campaign ever, made famous by its ubiquitous rainbow and yellow stars — WHICH THEY DON’T EVEN USE ANYMORE, judging by the 25th anniversary clip above.
Hello, shirtless Nick Offerman on going green in 2012 (Ron Swanson unapproved):
And of course, here’s Mrs. Offerman on inner beauty:
The Office got into the game with these character spoofs, circa 2006-2007:
George Clooney says don’t hit your kids:
And here’s Scrubs with an anti-child smothering PSA:
:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Q7cy7p3B4
Don’t f*cking smoke, says Christopher Meloni:
Julia Louis Dreyfus’s “stay in school” PSA lends more proof to her inexplicable Benjamin Buttons hotness:
David Hyde Pierce on why kids should be more like the dog from Fraiser:
Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter did a take on Conan back in the day:
Not sure if this was from around the same time period, but even Max Weinberg got one in:
Finally, David Schwimmer got to do one about feeding kids breakfast, because Jesus Christ even his PSA is totally lame:
