Just finished searching through that latest VHS lot, and it basically stayed true to the description for the most part. In general, this appeared to come from a black family due to a lot of the programming featured. Almost all were off NYC area stations, though one find was off a Syracuse station upstate (my first find from that market), and one was off a Long Island PBS affiliate. The recordings ranged from 1987 to 2006, and of course if you don't know me by now, I only collect the pre-2000 stuff with a few exceptions (if WCBS-FM added a barrage of '00s stuff, I'm sure people would turn off, but I'd agree that the '90s are pretty firmly vintage at this point). As you may expect, the most items that were a victim of the pause button were sitcoms, but there were a some that had at least part of the commercials intact. Oddly, many of the sports finds were partial in unique ways, often with an entire quarter skipped despite many of the ads still intact, even with the halftime in some cases. Kept 30 tapes overall, so it was certainly better than that Michigan lot. Almost now cartoons though except for the end of a He-Man episode from a repeat in 1987. These tapes were also heavy on the re-recording side, meaning that there was that dreaded '00s on 'late '80s tape stock re-recordings on a couple cases, including some Cosby Show reruns off WPIX in the early 2000s. It even included several tapes with content off BET from the early 2000s, but alas it was most just gospel and at a time when the network had gone "mainstream".
TAPE 1: All three 1988 NCAA Final Four games without commercials or halftime (presumably off WCBS), followed by most of the 4th quarter of an NFL preseason game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Bears off WABC on 8/31/1987 with a few commercials, including a promo for Full House.
TAPE 2: The 1988 NBA Playoffs matchup between the Mavericks and Lakers without commercials (not sure which game since I wanted to just focus on games that had the ads on them), followed by part of Game 3 of the 1987 World Series between the Cardinals and Twins off WABC on 10/24/1987 with commercials (beginning in the 6th inning).
TAPE 3: Portions of the 1988 (technically early 1989) AFC and NFC Championship Games without commercials (not planning on recording those), followed by part of Game 5 of the 1988 NBA Finals between the Pistons and Lakers off WCBS on 5/16/1988 with some commercials as well as most of the halftime break, then it cuts back to the last several minutes of He-Man an the first few minutes of Thundercats off WNYW in February 1987 with a few commercials
TAPE 4: On a tape filled mostly with spliced episodes of The Cosby Show and A Different World from 1989, only a special episode of a spinoff attempt of 227 (billed as Jackee), taped off WNBC on 5/11/1989 with the opening and closing missing as well as an unscoped episode off A Different World, also off WNBC on 10/19/89, were kept free from the "pause" button.
TAPE 5: The first half of NBC's popular late '80s/early '90s Thursday Night lineup once again mostly gets the "economy" treatment regarding having just the two main segments of each episode intact and perhaps part of the mid-show bumper, but not all of them. This includes both The Cosby Show and most of A Different World, recorded off WSTM in Syracuse on 11/17/1988, with Cosby unscoped and A Different World missing its mid-show ad break as well as its close (but most of the adds prior to the closing break). Also worth preserving is another episode of The Cosby Show taped off WNBC on 11/2/1989 with some commercials.
TAPE 6: Most of a regular season game between the Lakers and Houston Rockets taped off WCBS on 3/5/1989 with most commercials as well as the halftime break left intact, followed by scoped airings of a couple 1989 NCAA Tournament games between Michigan/North Carolina and Winthrop/Virginia, before cutting for almost all of the 4th quarter of a first-round NBA Playoff match between the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers off WCBS on 4/30/1989 with commercials.
TAPE 7: All three 1989 NCAA Final Four games without commercials or halftime (once again, presumably off WCBS), followed by much of the second half of Game 6 of the 1990 NBA Easter Conference Finals between the Pistons and Bulls, taped off WCBS on 6/1/1990 (too bad for Michael and Scottie that they were still a step away from glory).
TAPE 8: A classic episode of Like It Is, recorded off WPIX in February 1990 with a few commercials (a rerun of a 1980 episode), followed by an episode of Blackside off WLIW from 1990, then it cuts ahead to most of the George Michael Sports Machine on 12/16/1990 off WNBC with commercials, then a portion of the classic film Prescription Murder off WPIX in August 1987 with a few commercials, then more episodes of Like It Is (another "classic" 1980 episode off WPIX recorded in 1990), then another episode of Blackside off WLIW in 1990 with part of a pledge break afterwards.
TAPE 9: Starts with five spliced episodes of In Living Color, presumably off WNEW in 1990, then cuts to most of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air off WNBC with commercials (missing the last break and close), then another spliced episode of ILC, then another episode of A Different World with the ad breaks and close unfortunately a product of what Uncle Phil on that above sitcom lakes to "portray" from the #1 kids show at the time, then most of Gabriel and the first 15 minutes of Primetime Live off WABC on 11/8/1990 with most commercials, more "Shredded" ILC and A Different World episodes, followed by most of another episode of Gabriel on 11/29/90 off WABC with commercials.
TAPE 10: Coming to America and Fatal Attraction off unknown stations circa 1989 without commercials, then it cuts to a rerun of Oprah Winfrey off WABC on Christmas Eve 1990 with commercials (a rerun of the Winans Family Christmas episode from 1989), then an episode of Law & Order without commercials afterwards.
TAPE 11: The first episode of Columbo "Prescription Murder" off a station I can't remember without commercials, followed by several reruns of the Jeffersons in the early 1990s off an unknown station without ads, then it cuts to most of an episode of This Is The NFL off WPIX on October 1990 with some commercials, followed by a few clips of The Arsenio Hall Show from late 1990 (including Whitney Houston performing "I'm Your Baby Tonight", followed by most of A Different World off WNBC on 12/20/90 with commercials.
TAPE 12: Portions of Games 3, 4, and 5 of the 1991 NBA Finals between the Bulls and Lakers with some commercials, followed by most of an episode of Oprah with Stevie Wonder and Spike Lee from June 1991 with a few commercials.
TAPE 13: The first 40 minutes approximately of the special Lost Youth, taped off WNBC/NBC on 4/26/91 with commercials, followed by part of Game 5 of the 1991 NBA Western Conference Finals (LA Lakers vs. Portland), beginning just before halftime and including most commercials (taped 5/28/1991 off WNBC), followed by Arsenio Hall from the same night off WWOR with commercials, followed by much of Game 1 of the 1991 NBA Finals, ending with about eight minutes left of game time. Includes all commercials off NBC/WNBC, intro sequence, and halftime.
TAPE 14: Starts with several more scoped sitcom airings (In Living Color, Fresh Prince, Cosby Show, etc.), followed by part of an episode of Arsenio Hall from April 1991 off WWOR with some commercials, then most of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air off WNBC on 5/6/1991 with commercials (no close), then most of an episode of In Living Color on 5/12/1991 off WNYW with commercials. Along with the Nixon era, the Bush 41 era is my favorite African-American cultural era, so if you can tell by now, its nice to get a nice blast from the past.
TAPE 15: In a tape with more of the same shows from Tape 14 scoped, a few more keepers, including most of A Different World off WNBC on 12/12/1991 with commercials, along most of another classic episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from four nights later. There was also a scoped episode of the now obscure Baltimore-set sitcom about a garbage man ROC from 1992 on the tape, along with part of an episode of the short-lived Brewster Place, based off the 1989 TV Movie that aired in mid-1990.
TAPE 16: A bloopers special of In Living Color along with a general episode of ILC off WNYW in May 1992 with commercials, followed by most of the CBS Sunday Movie "A House of Secrets", taped off WCBSon 9/27/1992 with commercials, then cuts to part of an episode of Arsenio Hall from August 1990 with some commercials, then finishes with part of a WABC Eyewitness News report on the Los Angeles riots from April/May 1992 with a few commercials.
TAPE 17: The WABC late movie "Cooley High" from May 1992 with commercials, followed by a clip of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from the summer of 1992 with the Winans with no commercials, then a clip of I-Witness Video from September 1992 featuring Hurricane Andrew coverage off WNBC with no commercials, and then finally part one of the miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream off WABC on 11/15/1992 with commercials.
Tape 18: Various coverage from the 1992 Summer Olympics off WNBC with some commercials. Among the events featured include the Men's 400m hurdles, Women's 100m run, some boxingh, the Women's 4 x 400m relay, and the Men's Basketball Gold Medal Game with The Dream Team's triumph against Croatia.
Tape 19: Alex Haley's Queen, the three-part miniseries taped off WCBS in February 1993. Only part one has the commercials though (I've already got part 3 with commercials). This allows to make room for the MLK special March to Memphis 1968 special taped off WNET around March/April 1993 with some promos at the end.
Tape 20: Three 1993 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament games (including the championship) without commercials or halftime, followed by most of the 4th quarter of the Lakers-Suns first round playoff matchup as well as the first quarter of the Hawks-Bulls game off WNBC on 5/2/1993 with commercials, followed by part of ABC Day One from around the summer of 1993 with a few commercials, and finally a syndicated rerun of Roseanne off WNYW in November 1993 with commercials.
Tape 21: Games 2, 5, and 6 of the 1993 NBA finals without commercials, intros, and halftime, followed by an episode of Oprah Winfrey featuring Michael Jordan off WABC on 10/29/1993 with commercials.
Tape 22: Biography: Stevie Wonder off A&E in 1994 without commercials, followed by "The Race To Freedom", an original TV film off the Family Channel on 2/20/94 with commercials, followed by a clip of Anita Baker performing Rhythm of Love on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno with no commercials.
Tape 23: The 1994 Midwest Regional Final between Arkansas and Georgetown with some commercials off WCBS, followed by part of an episode of 20/20 from 4/22/1994 with a few commercials, including some special report break-ins announcing the passing of Richard M. Nixon, then it cuts to part of an NBA Playoffs game between the Jazz and Houston with some commercials. The tape started with a rerun of Columbo: Deadly State of Mind off A&E with a few commercials.
Tape 24: Parts one, two, and part of three of the Roots mini-series taped off the Family Channel in February 1995 with commercials (including some local Long Island ads, including the Family Fun Center in Farmingdale.
Tape 25: The rest of part three, part four, and part five of the Roots mini-series taped off the Family Channel in February 1995 with commercials.
Tape 26: All three 1995 NCAA Final Four games, with only the finals game between Arkansas and UCLA featuring most commercials off WCBS on 4/3/1995, including an interview with president Clinton during halftime. The tape ends with part of an early round matchup between Connecticut and UCLA from a couple weeks earlier with some commercials.
Tape 27: Begins with a couple of reruns of The Honeymooners of WPIX in September 1987 with almost no commercials (one for Nobody Beats The Wiz featuring Michael Jackson's Bad and Whitney Houston's Whitney album among the products offered), then cuts over to a couple partial NFL on NBC games off WNBC on 11/17/1996 with commercials; the second half of the Jets and Colts, followed by the first half of the Dolphins and Houston Oilers. The tape ends with part of the first half of the following night's Monday Night Football game off WABC.
Tape 28: Most of the 1996 NCAA Men's Semifinal match-up between UMass and Kentucky without commercials, followed by most of the 1996 NCAA's Men's Basketball Final between Kentucky and Syracuse, recorded off WCBS on 4/1/1996 with commercials.
Tape 29: Various HBO specials and movies including Southern Justice: The Story of HBO Medgar Evers recorded on 7/11/1994, followed by most of an episode of 20/20 Sunday from 9/20/1998 off WABC with commercials.
Tape 30: Various coverage from the 199 NBA Finals between the Spurs and Knicks with a few commercials, followed by most of the second half of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Knicks and Pacers off WNBC on 6/7/1999 with commercials, followed by about the first 20 minutes of the WNBC 11 PM News.
