I didn't even think of Burger Chef. We had those in our area, in the 70s, but I don't recall any specific promotional giveaways. Then again, we didn't exactly eat out a lot, so I wouldn't have seem them, except on a tv commercial. I do recall, as a little child, eating at Burger King and being given posters of Leroy Nieman images, for the 1972 Munich Olympics.

I always liked Burger Chef....mainly because his sidekick was named Jeff. I didn't hear my name that often, in pop culture or advertising.

Yeah, Barb used to watch episodes on her computer.....not my cup of tea.  Or Father Knows Best....or My Three Sons.  We had more overlap with 1970s tv, but not so much the 50s or 60s, beyond a few shows.

It depends.  I Love I Love Lucy and I Married Joan, with Joan Davis...The Jack Benny Program, Burns & Allen (to a lesser extent).  The 50s sitcoms not so much.  They are okay, but they seemed more one dimensional.  Part of it, I am sure, is based on being exposed more to 60s comedies and adventure shows, at a young age and 50s shows when I was older.  My childhood syndicated tv featured a lot of Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, The Beverly Hillbillies, I Dream of Jeanie, Hogan's Heroes, The Lucy Show, Please Don't Eat The Daisies, Hazel, McHales Navy.  I might see Leave it to Beaver or I Love Lucy when I was at my grandparents, who had different tv stations.

I got to see Jack Benny, I Married Joan and Burns & Allen on the old Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), before it changed through various hands.  I avoided the evangelical stuff liked the plague; but, they had a lot of programming like that, plus My Little Margie, Bachelor Father and The Great Gildersleeve.  I Married Joan seems like Lucy-Lite; but, Joan Davis is pretty darn hilarious and she and Lucy were old friends.  Plus, it was fun to see Jim Backus in something other than Mr Howell or Magoo.

I do enjoy 50s stuff like The Honeymooners.  I just find the family situation comedies not to be as good as later ones.  They are okay for an episode or two, but seem kind of bland, with constant viewing.  Barb grew up with more of that and had a greater fondness, since she grew up in the Chicago suburbs, while I was downstate, with fewer options.  They were also calm, mellow shows, which she would play in the background, while she did other things, which helped with her depression (to a limited degree).

We both loved the Sheldon Leonard-produced tv shows (especially The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show) and the MTM shows, like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show.  She was bigger on Rhoda than I was (go figure); but, it was decent to pretty good, for most of its run.  I had all of the Dick Van Dyke Show dvds and we watched them, when we were dating.  The episode where Rb tells the story (via flashback) of doing a marathon broadcast, as a radio DJ, when he got the call to speak to Alan Brady, about the writing job.  There is a bit where he is deep into the broadcast, is really out of it and reads a "lighter side" news piece about a cat stuck in a tree and remarks "Poor little pussycat."  That scene made her laugh hysterically every time.

RE: Shazam!/DC Placemats.

Someone on the Mego forums passed this along to me from a collector/author they know who wasn't part of the forums:



which is the most solid lead I have seen. Outside of a copy of the actual advertising for the promo, I'm not sure what infallible concrete evidence I could find, but it looks this is the most solid anecdotal evidence I've received so far. I'll keep looking though.

-M

Fwiw, on the WorthPoint site there's a 1978 Batman placemat for auction and the seller's listing includes this blurb: 
"This piece was given in conjuncture with the special glasses at participating pepsi outlets (pizza hut)!"

www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1978-pepsi-dc-batman-1735210962

I did see a reference to a Chicago White Sox placemat around that time as well, so I would guess it was a regional promotion depending on the MLB team in the market rather than a national one.

-M