Perhaps motivated by the movie "" (or its more recent 1985 sequel, "2010"), a Diet Dr Pepper commercial was aired during the series that included a monolithic-type alien spacecraft visiting a rural trailer-home couple in search of intelligent life. Insulted by the country-folks' offer of a simple diet cola, a flash of light from the alien converted them to English-accented intellectuals wielding Diet Dr Pepper bottles, and transformed their tasteless lawn ornaments to modern abstract art sculptures. Aside from providing advertisement for the show's main sponsor, the subtle movie references contained in these commercials may be another reason why they were aired alongside the "Canned Film Festival". The series may also be remembered as one of the many little-known works of Laraine Newman's acting career. While she performed in countless supporting roles throughout Hollywood following her tenure on NBC's "Saturday Night Live", her work with the "Canned Film Festival" is rarely ever credited. The careers of other noteworthy stars also include this show, such as Kathryn Rossetter who played support roles in movies, electronic media (video games), and television shows such as "Law & Order", "Cosby", "Touched by an Angel", "L.A. Law", and "Kate & Allie". Patrick Garner, in addition to appearing in a myriad of TV commercial ads, also made cameos in television shows such as "Monsters", "Chappelle's Show", and "Law & Order", and more recently in theatre, starred as Mr. Cunningham in the Broadway version of "Happy Days The Musical". Rick Ford (identified as F. Richards Ford in the series credits) made appearances in episodes of "Married... with Children" and "Mama's Family" as well as movies like "The Tattoo Chase" and "", and is also very active in regional and professional theatre. Laura Galusha's acting career seemed to be brief, as she is recorded to have appeared on screen only once in an episode of "CBS Schoolbreak Special" in 1985, whereas Phil Nee (identified as Philip Nee in the series credits), in addition to working behind the camera as a writer and technical crew, has performed several cameos over the years following the series in both movies and television. "The Canned Film Festival's" genre-based similarity to "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (MST3K) did not stop with the show format. Following its 1988 debut, "MST3K" featured many of the same films as the "Canned Film Festival" did two years earlier in 1986.