Photo: John Squires
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Things are changing today. We hear about things in the news that we didn't have to worry about in the old days. Today when we watch the news and see headlines, we might see and hear unpleasant things like “slow death of sugar for breakfast.” You might hear talk of companies changing or just going completely out of business. If it was that way for cereal in the old days, we didn't notice.

Back in the 70s, cereal didn't cost you five dollars. Cereal wasn't even in the dollar range. It was in the cent range.

I used to love watching the cereal character cartoons on television. Watching cartoon cereal commercials was just like watching Saturday morning cartoons. The only difference was the commercials were not as long as the regular cartoons.

Let’s talk about all of the monster cereals. The monster cereals are a line of breakfast cereals produced by General Mills Corporation in North America. The line was introduced in 1971 and, at various times, has included five brands, each featuring a cartoon version of a classic movie monster: Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry (all produced seasonally from September 1 to October 31), as well as Frute Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy (both discontinued, except for limited productions) with a sixth character Carmella Creeper introduced in 2023.

As of late 2010, information such as nutrition data and historical facts can still be found on the official General Mills website at all times of the year.

In August 2013, General Mills released all five monster cereals for purchase during the Halloween season. Both Fruit Brute, which was being released for the first time in 31 years, and Fruity Yummy Mummy, which was being released for the first time in 21 years, received updated packaging like the other cereals, and the Fruit Brute variant was renamed Frute Brute.

Until the early 1980s, the monster cereals were also known for their wide variety of both in-pack and mail-away cereal premiums. Many items, such as posters, stickers, paint sets, speedster cars, parachutes, and even vinyl advertising figures, were produced.[20] In 1979, three flexi-discs were made available via cereal boxes: "The Monsters Go Disco", "Count Chocula Goes to Hollywood" and "Monster Adventures in Outer Space."

As a kid growing up, buying cereal was like buying a present to me. I couldn't wait to tear open a box of cereal just to find the prize. The prize wasn't always something I could find in the box right away. It was found as the cereal got low in the box.

I'm Gail Nobles, and you're listening to Commercials and Reviews. Today’s topic is The Best of Cereal. This is part one. I'll be back with more of today's topic: The Best of Cereal.