September 15, 2023 • 16 mins
We're taking a trip down memory lane, spilling the beans on the public outcry that led to Betty Rubble's vitamin debut. Then there's a song by Bree Sharp that unexpectedly became a time capsule for the 90s as well as a tribute to Agent Mulder himself--David Duchovny. And for anyone who was (and maybe still is) obsessed with all things Buffy, we chat about Sarah Michelle Gellar's beginning stardom. It's a nostalgic episode filled with quirky tales from the past—sure to satisfy your thirst for trivia!
We don't just share fascinating stories—your engagement matters to us! So, why not let us know which cases you're interested in? Or perhaps drop us a review on your favorite podcast app? We would also love to see you on the Murder Is Bad Podcast Instagram page. Every share, comment, or direct message means the world to us! So sit back, relax, and let us take you back to the 90s in this episode.
Buzzfeed UK. Sarah Michelle Gellar Reacts to Her Most Iconic Roles. https://youtu.be/uY3ABVIJoLU?si=EgOvMp9B7WJc4IJl. 3 Feb 2023.
Brodsky, Rachel. We’ve Got a File on You: David Duchovny. stereogum.com. 11 Aug 2021.
Eloise, Marianne. That time Scully made Mulder a lip sync video in the 90s. dazeddigital.com. 26 Sep 2017.
Grimm, David. Pro-vitamin Betty fans want her out of the rubble and into the bottle. latimes.com. 4 May 1995.
Minotta, Mauricio. “You can bite into Betty.” The Kokomo Tribune. December 1, 1995.
McRobbie, Linda Rodriguez. A Brief History of Flintstones Vitamins. mentalfloss.com. 21 Oct 2010.
Bree Sharp performs “David Duchovny” live in front of David Duchovny in New York. https://youtu.be/elYq4I-4TQI?si=y3oghDsper3VDDDj. 11 Feb 2015.
For images related to the cases, check out the Instagram.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julia Goodwin (00:00):
Hi everyone.
This is Julia, and murder isbad, so let's not talk about it
today.
It can be rather upsetting onlyconsuming true crime, and for
(00:28):
every episode I put out I'veresearched probably four or five
, and at times it can be taxingbecause I'm also consuming true
crime through other podcasts, asI'm sure you are, and this week
(00:48):
I just needed a palettecleanser.
So if you're looking for moida,you ain't gonna find it kid.
What you will find is a lovelycompilation of one of my other
favorite pet passions, which israndom things from the 90s that
(01:11):
most people have forgotten about.
So yeah, if that soundsinteresting to you, then stick
around.
If not, I'll see you next week.
All right, here we go.
We all know what Flintstonesvitamins are.
Flintstones problematicchildren's programming vitamins
problematic health supplement.
(01:33):
But let's back it up a littlebit.
When the Flintstones aired, itactually took the 830 to 9pm
slot on ABC.
It was supposed to be like aStone Age honeymooners for
adults, but it actually turnedout to be very popular with
(01:53):
teens.
So it kind of had this effecton children's programming where
they moved away from live actionprogramming like puppets and
things like that towards moreanimated things.
The Flintstones moved intosyndication in 1966, and then
(02:17):
Miles Laboratory, whichElkhart, Indiana, or was,
acquired the branding to makethese Flintstones vitamins,
which came on the market, Ithink in 1969, some places as
1968.
So that kind of sets the stage.
(02:39):
Now Miles Laboratory actuallywas acquired by the German
company Bayer in 1979, and wesee the commercialization.
You guys know the jingleprobably.
It was written by, oh gosh,martin O'Donnell, who also did
(03:00):
the music for Halo.
Just interesting little tidbit.
But here's the jingle we areFlintstones, kids, 10 million
stars, flintstones with thevitamins and minerals kids need
and the taste they love.
Now, that's what I callcomplete and growling.
And so you would think theFlintstones vitamins would
(03:26):
contain all the main characters,wouldn't you?
Well, you'd be wrong, becausethere was a very important
character missing, pardon me.
The name is Betty, your wife.
Oh, you must remember.
You know, with the meals,washing, keeping the house clean
(03:50):
, think hard, it'll come to you.
Oh, betty, there, I doubt youwould remember.
Oh, cut it out, betty, that'sright, there was no Betty.
And Miles Laboratory did get afew complaints over the years,
but by the time this quoteunquote controversy peaked,
(04:13):
miles had been absorbed by Bear.
So the whole thing that kind ofreinvigorated this mystery is
that Rosie O'Donnell playedBetty Rubble in the live action
Flintstones in 1994.
She starred opposite RickMoranis of Little Shop of
(04:34):
Horrors fame, I think, aGhostbusters movies Keymaster
kind of thing and a DVD that Iwatched in my room several times
my Blue Heaven.
There was also John Goodman andRita Wilson, who is the wife of
Tom Hanks.
I can't mention Rita Wilsonwithout mentioning Tom Hanks,
(04:55):
because my mother would kill me.
She went to go see Rita Wilsonwhen she was doing country music
stuff and she told me I thoughtI felt that Tom Hanks was there
that night and then she heardon the radio the next day he had
been there.
I love you mom.
I don't know if she's listening, she is, she listens to
(05:15):
everything.
Anyways, the Flintstones moviescomes out.
Rosie O'Donnell does aninterview with Connie Chung on
this news magazine programcalled Eye to Eye and tells
Connie there's no Betty vitamin.
This causes Spy magazine to doan article about it.
(05:40):
Then something called the BettyClub in Grants Pass, oregon
gets all in a hubbub about itand even an Atlanta, Georgia
band forms called Betty's Not aVitamin.
Paste magazine called it one ofthe top 100 band names.
A bare spokeswoman, karen LaZan, said this public outcry has
(06:07):
made us rethink the originaldecision.
If America wants her, we'll putBetty in a bottle, which, when
you put it that way, doesn'tsound like a good thing.
Also, in some articles thatyou're talking about, like now,
you can bite Betty Like oh gosh.
So the whole reason for Bettynot being there is kind of vague
(06:27):
.
But I think the real reason isthat she was too similar once
you shrunk them down to vitaminsize to Wilma and Bayer was like
kids, like different shapes.
Also, something comes out about.
They tried to make a Betty buther waist was just too small.
(06:49):
The vitamin kept breaking inhalf.
Well, I think that's a problemwith her waist size.
I'm just saying maybe cartooncharacters shouldn't be created
to have a non-existent waist.
But that's a differentconversation.
But before they just go putBetty in a bottle, marketing
(07:11):
happens.
They put up some originalvoting booths and shopping malls
and put out a 1-800 number forpeople to call and vote if they
wanted Betty to be a vitamin.
There was 20,000 votes betweenthose two things and 91% were in
(07:34):
favor.
What is the 9% doing?
What is up with you?
Who are you?
But Betty finally gets to be avitamin January 1st 1996.
I've never seen them so excitedabout something that you
couldn't spread an I&A's on.
And of course they don't skip abeat when it comes to oh.
(07:59):
But you know, we have a bunchof bottles that don't have Betty
.
You know what they do.
They come up with a campaign ofa find Betty.
So some bottles have Betty andsome bottles don't.
Smart, super smart Moneymakers.
They've done this before.
But if we're talking about RosieO'Donnell, we have to talk
(08:20):
about something that happened atthe end of the 90s, because
Rosie O'Donnell was in a tributevideo to David Duchovny for his
birthday.
Now, in 1999, a musician namedBree Sharp recorded a song
titled David DeCovney why won'tyou love me, I Around.
(09:16):
The same time, david Covney'sfriend, joe Blake, was working
on a mockumentary about countrymusic and was going through
hours and hours and eons ofmusic and found this David de
Covney song and sent it to himand David de Covney Really liked
it Not in an egotistical way,or maybe he did like you deserve
(09:41):
that, but he thought was reallycatchy and he would listen to
it.
He ended up memorizing it andin this reddit AMA he actually
said he got caught singing alongto this song while his windows
were down and he kind of justsped away.
So the song is out there and acouple different versions of
(10:04):
this story come out and In oneversion Gillian Anderson kind of
spearheads making a video forDavid Gillian Anderson, his
co-star in X files, you know,skully and Mulder.
And Another version says thatthe creator of the show, chris
Carter, david showed it to himand then it was his idea, or
(10:25):
maybe it was a combination ofboth, but they were gonna make
him this video using this songand they wanted to give it to
him as a present.
They got permission from BreeSharp and had two writers,
assistants, just go around thefilm lot of X files and you know
other stuff is filming theretoo Century Fox, I think and
(10:49):
Just ask people if they wantedto be in this video.
A quote from David Covney saidthey went out and whoever they
got, they just said we're doingthis as a present for David,
will you do it?
And whoever did it did it.
So they got a bunch of people.
Okay, they were like on the setof Frasier.
There was David Spade, janineGarofalo and even Brad Pitt
(11:16):
dressed as Tyler Durden on thesite of Fight Club said.
Being that, they got some goodpeople.
My great friend, gary Shandling,is in it, with Kevin Nealon and
people that I'm very close to,as well as people I didn't know
and never met, and people thatI've worked with, like Brad.
(11:38):
So a little while After thevideo is made and given to David
to Covney at Christmas time heloves it, obviously he's walking
down the streets of New Yorkand a woman comes running up to
him and is like I'm Bree Sharpand he's like oh my gosh, I love
that music that you made.
I'm so flattered.
(11:59):
And they kind of stay in touch.
And in 2015, david De Covney isreleasing a book Holy Cow and
Bree just happens to text him orcall him around that time and
he's just like oh, you know what?
(12:19):
Why don't you come to a readingI'm doing for Holy Cow and
seeing this David De Covney song?
And she was like yeah, sure, sothen that happens.
Bree says the whole point ofthis video is that it's so
random and so funny.
That's why I think it's sort ofhas this like underground
status now, because it'scompletely bizarre and makes no
(12:42):
sense.
It's pop culture in action.
Do you know who else is in thisvideo?
There's a part of the song thatsays I'm gonna kill Scully, who
lip syncs that Sarah MichelleGellar on the set of Buffy
(13:03):
holding a stake in the librarySaying I'm gonna kill Scully.
Which brings us to my lastlittle tangent, which I remember
reading from an unauthorizedAuthorized watchers guide I got
from Barnes and Noble aboutBuffy the Vampire Slayer.
There was a story and SarahMichelle Gellar actually has
(13:26):
recently talked about the samestory.
So let me stop being crypticand just tell you she was a
five-year-old girl who got castin a Burger King commercial.
In the commercial she mentionsMcDonald's and this leads to
(13:47):
McDonald's suing the advertisingagency Burger King and naming
five-year-old Sarah MichelleGellar in the lawsuit.
I look 20% smaller to you.
I must to McDonald's.
When I order a regular burgerat McDonald's they make it with
(14:09):
20% less meat than Burger KingUnbelievable.
In a YouTube video from BuzzfeedUK, sarah Michelle Gellar says
that all she kind of rememberedabout that time is that she
wasn't eating a lot of fast foodand she was so excited because
(14:30):
her mom said she could have aburger when she was on the set.
Quote and what I learned onthat day is that when they make
the burgers for commercials theyglue each seed on it to make it
look all perfect and beautiful,and then they shellack it and
they paint it.
You guys, tv is not real.
(14:52):
I love Sarah Michelle Gellar.
She also said that while thelawsuit was going on she wasn't
allowed to go to McDonald's.
It wasn't like a ban, but justoutward facing publicity, and at
that time a bunch of kids arehaving their birthday parties at
McDonald's.
(15:12):
So she missed out on a lot ofApple pies.
But after the lawsuit turns outnow you're allowed to say your
competitor's name.
So when you see a side by sidecomparison, that's all because
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
That has been my random 90s rant.
I hope you enjoyed it.
(15:33):
I will get back to true crimenext episode.
I just needed a bit of abreather and I hope you enjoyed
it too.
Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you to the 90s, thank youto David DeCovney and Rosie
O'Donnell and Sarah MichelleGeller, and just thanks to the
(15:57):
universe for making weirdhistory a thing people like to
revisit.
If you'd like to see imagesrelated to this episode, you can
go over to the@murderisbadpodcast
murderisbadpodcast.
Feel free to comment, strike upa conversation If you want to
(16:18):
send me a DM about a case you'reinterested in or if you just
want to say hello, I would lovethat.
If you're feeling generous, whydon't you hit the five star
rating on the app you'relistening to?
You could even leave a littlenice review.
That would be lovely.
I would appreciate it.
What I appreciate the most,though, is you listening and
(16:40):
sharing with someone who youthink might enjoy this.
So take care of each other andremember murder is bad and
sometimes we need a break fromit.
Hi everyone.
This is Julia, and murder isbad, so let's not talk about it
today.
It can be rather upsetting onlyconsuming true crime, and for
(00:28):
every episode I put out I'veresearched probably four or five
, and at times it can be taxingbecause I'm also consuming true
crime through other podcasts, asI'm sure you are, and this week
(00:48):
I just needed a palettecleanser.
So if you're looking for moida,you ain't gonna find it kid.
What you will find is a lovelycompilation of one of my other
favorite pet passions, which israndom things from the 90s that
(01:11):
most people have forgotten about.
So yeah, if that soundsinteresting to you, then stick
around.
If not, I'll see you next week.
All right, here we go.
We all know what Flintstonesvitamins are.
Flintstones problematicchildren's programming vitamins
problematic health supplement.
(01:33):
But let's back it up a littlebit.
When the Flintstones aired, itactually took the 830 to 9pm
slot on ABC.
It was supposed to be like aStone Age honeymooners for
adults, but it actually turnedout to be very popular with
(01:53):
teens.
So it kind of had this effecton children's programming where
they moved away from live actionprogramming like puppets and
things like that towards moreanimated things.
The Flintstones moved intosyndication in 1966, and then
(02:17):
Miles Laboratory, whichElkhart, Indiana, or was,
acquired the branding to makethese Flintstones vitamins,
which came on the market, Ithink in 1969, some places as
1968.
So that kind of sets the stage.
(02:39):
Now Miles Laboratory actuallywas acquired by the German
company Bayer in 1979, and wesee the commercialization.
You guys know the jingleprobably.
It was written by, oh gosh,martin O'Donnell, who also did
(03:00):
the music for Halo.
Just interesting little tidbit.
But here's the jingle we areFlintstones, kids, 10 million
stars, flintstones with thevitamins and minerals kids need
and the taste they love.
Now, that's what I callcomplete and growling.
And so you would think theFlintstones vitamins would
(03:26):
contain all the main characters,wouldn't you?
Well, you'd be wrong, becausethere was a very important
character missing, pardon me.
The name is Betty, your wife.
Oh, you must remember.
You know, with the meals,washing, keeping the house clean
(03:50):
, think hard, it'll come to you.
Oh, betty, there, I doubt youwould remember.
Oh, cut it out, betty, that'sright, there was no Betty.
And Miles Laboratory did get afew complaints over the years,
but by the time this quoteunquote controversy peaked,
(04:13):
miles had been absorbed by Bear.
So the whole thing that kind ofreinvigorated this mystery is
that Rosie O'Donnell playedBetty Rubble in the live action
Flintstones in 1994.
She starred opposite RickMoranis of Little Shop of
(04:34):
Horrors fame, I think, aGhostbusters movies Keymaster
kind of thing and a DVD that Iwatched in my room several times
my Blue Heaven.
There was also John Goodman andRita Wilson, who is the wife of
Tom Hanks.
I can't mention Rita Wilsonwithout mentioning Tom Hanks,
(04:55):
because my mother would kill me.
She went to go see Rita Wilsonwhen she was doing country music
stuff and she told me I thoughtI felt that Tom Hanks was there
that night and then she heardon the radio the next day he had
been there.
I love you mom.
I don't know if she's listening, she is, she listens to
(05:15):
everything.
Anyways, the Flintstones moviescomes out.
Rosie O'Donnell does aninterview with Connie Chung on
this news magazine programcalled Eye to Eye and tells
Connie there's no Betty vitamin.
This causes Spy magazine to doan article about it.
(05:40):
Then something called the BettyClub in Grants Pass, oregon
gets all in a hubbub about itand even an Atlanta, Georgia
band forms called Betty's Not aVitamin.
Paste magazine called it one ofthe top 100 band names.
A bare spokeswoman, karen LaZan, said this public outcry has
(06:07):
made us rethink the originaldecision.
If America wants her, we'll putBetty in a bottle, which, when
you put it that way, doesn'tsound like a good thing.
Also, in some articles thatyou're talking about, like now,
you can bite Betty Like oh gosh.
So the whole reason for Bettynot being there is kind of vague
(06:27):
.
But I think the real reason isthat she was too similar once
you shrunk them down to vitaminsize to Wilma and Bayer was like
kids, like different shapes.
Also, something comes out about.
They tried to make a Betty buther waist was just too small.
(06:49):
The vitamin kept breaking inhalf.
Well, I think that's a problemwith her waist size.
I'm just saying maybe cartooncharacters shouldn't be created
to have a non-existent waist.
But that's a differentconversation.
But before they just go putBetty in a bottle, marketing
(07:11):
happens.
They put up some originalvoting booths and shopping malls
and put out a 1-800 number forpeople to call and vote if they
wanted Betty to be a vitamin.
There was 20,000 votes betweenthose two things and 91% were in
(07:34):
favor.
What is the 9% doing?
What is up with you?
Who are you?
But Betty finally gets to be avitamin January 1st 1996.
I've never seen them so excitedabout something that you
couldn't spread an I&A's on.
And of course they don't skip abeat when it comes to oh.
(07:59):
But you know, we have a bunchof bottles that don't have Betty
.
You know what they do.
They come up with a campaign ofa find Betty.
So some bottles have Betty andsome bottles don't.
Smart, super smart Moneymakers.
They've done this before.
But if we're talking about RosieO'Donnell, we have to talk
(08:20):
about something that happened atthe end of the 90s, because
Rosie O'Donnell was in a tributevideo to David Duchovny for his
birthday.
Now, in 1999, a musician namedBree Sharp recorded a song
titled David DeCovney why won'tyou love me, I Around.
(09:16):
The same time, david Covney'sfriend, joe Blake, was working
on a mockumentary about countrymusic and was going through
hours and hours and eons ofmusic and found this David de
Covney song and sent it to himand David de Covney Really liked
it Not in an egotistical way,or maybe he did like you deserve
(09:41):
that, but he thought was reallycatchy and he would listen to
it.
He ended up memorizing it andin this reddit AMA he actually
said he got caught singing alongto this song while his windows
were down and he kind of justsped away.
So the song is out there and acouple different versions of
(10:04):
this story come out and In oneversion Gillian Anderson kind of
spearheads making a video forDavid Gillian Anderson, his
co-star in X files, you know,skully and Mulder.
And Another version says thatthe creator of the show, chris
Carter, david showed it to himand then it was his idea, or
(10:25):
maybe it was a combination ofboth, but they were gonna make
him this video using this songand they wanted to give it to
him as a present.
They got permission from BreeSharp and had two writers,
assistants, just go around thefilm lot of X files and you know
other stuff is filming theretoo Century Fox, I think and
(10:49):
Just ask people if they wantedto be in this video.
A quote from David Covney saidthey went out and whoever they
got, they just said we're doingthis as a present for David,
will you do it?
And whoever did it did it.
So they got a bunch of people.
Okay, they were like on the setof Frasier.
There was David Spade, janineGarofalo and even Brad Pitt
(11:16):
dressed as Tyler Durden on thesite of Fight Club said.
Being that, they got some goodpeople.
My great friend, gary Shandling,is in it, with Kevin Nealon and
people that I'm very close to,as well as people I didn't know
and never met, and people thatI've worked with, like Brad.
(11:38):
So a little while After thevideo is made and given to David
to Covney at Christmas time heloves it, obviously he's walking
down the streets of New Yorkand a woman comes running up to
him and is like I'm Bree Sharpand he's like oh my gosh, I love
that music that you made.
I'm so flattered.
(11:59):
And they kind of stay in touch.
And in 2015, david De Covney isreleasing a book Holy Cow and
Bree just happens to text him orcall him around that time and
he's just like oh, you know what?
(12:19):
Why don't you come to a readingI'm doing for Holy Cow and
seeing this David De Covney song?
And she was like yeah, sure, sothen that happens.
Bree says the whole point ofthis video is that it's so
random and so funny.
That's why I think it's sort ofhas this like underground
status now, because it'scompletely bizarre and makes no
(12:42):
sense.
It's pop culture in action.
Do you know who else is in thisvideo?
There's a part of the song thatsays I'm gonna kill Scully, who
lip syncs that Sarah MichelleGellar on the set of Buffy
(13:03):
holding a stake in the librarySaying I'm gonna kill Scully.
Which brings us to my lastlittle tangent, which I remember
reading from an unauthorizedAuthorized watchers guide I got
from Barnes and Noble aboutBuffy the Vampire Slayer.
There was a story and SarahMichelle Gellar actually has
(13:26):
recently talked about the samestory.
So let me stop being crypticand just tell you she was a
five-year-old girl who got castin a Burger King commercial.
In the commercial she mentionsMcDonald's and this leads to
(13:47):
McDonald's suing the advertisingagency Burger King and naming
five-year-old Sarah MichelleGellar in the lawsuit.
I look 20% smaller to you.
I must to McDonald's.
When I order a regular burgerat McDonald's they make it with
(14:09):
20% less meat than Burger KingUnbelievable.
In a YouTube video from BuzzfeedUK, sarah Michelle Gellar says
that all she kind of rememberedabout that time is that she
wasn't eating a lot of fast foodand she was so excited because
(14:30):
her mom said she could have aburger when she was on the set.
Quote and what I learned onthat day is that when they make
the burgers for commercials theyglue each seed on it to make it
look all perfect and beautiful,and then they shellack it and
they paint it.
You guys, tv is not real.
(14:52):
I love Sarah Michelle Gellar.
She also said that while thelawsuit was going on she wasn't
allowed to go to McDonald's.
It wasn't like a ban, but justoutward facing publicity, and at
that time a bunch of kids arehaving their birthday parties at
McDonald's.
(15:12):
So she missed out on a lot ofApple pies.
But after the lawsuit turns outnow you're allowed to say your
competitor's name.
So when you see a side by sidecomparison, that's all because
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
That has been my random 90s rant.
I hope you enjoyed it.
(15:33):
I will get back to true crimenext episode.
I just needed a bit of abreather and I hope you enjoyed
it too.
Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you to the 90s, thank youto David DeCovney and Rosie
O'Donnell and Sarah MichelleGeller, and just thanks to the
(15:57):
universe for making weirdhistory a thing people like to
revisit.
If you'd like to see imagesrelated to this episode, you can
go over to the@murderisbadpodcast
murderisbadpodcast.
Feel free to comment, strike upa conversation If you want to
(16:18):
send me a DM about a case you'reinterested in or if you just
want to say hello, I would lovethat.
If you're feeling generous, whydon't you hit the five star
rating on the app you'relistening to?
You could even leave a littlenice review.
That would be lovely.
I would appreciate it.
What I appreciate the most,though, is you listening and
(16:40):
sharing with someone who youthink might enjoy this.
So take care of each other andremember murder is bad and
sometimes we need a break fromit.
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