Smash cut back to the 1980’s and there wasn’t anything bigger on TV than The Cosby Show. From 1984 to 1989, the show was at its peak of popularity and was ranking #1 in the Nielsen ratings over these five years. The force behind the show was Bill Cosby who played Dr. Cliff Huxtable. Yes, this is the same Bill Cosby who has recently been accused of sexual misconduct by several women. The Cosby of the 1980’s, as seen on TV, was a highly likable character who played a humorous and admired TV dad. He was a perfect fit to sell just about anything at the time, especially if it was kid orientated. The one product that probably nobody could’ve pitched better was Jello products including Jello Pudding Pops. However, Cosby had a long history with Jello prior to the Cosby craze. He became spokesman for the company in 1974. Here is a sampling of Cosby’s work:
Anyway, enough with Cosby. The Jello Pudding Pop was established as a way for Jello to move outside of the traditional boxed Jello products. The company had the brilliant idea to create freezer pops out of pudding and also eventually from Gelatin Pops. The Pops were popular in the 1990’s and eventually in the early 2000’s the Popsicle brand took over manufacturing their version of Jello Pudding Pops with a Popsicle shape and purportedly different ingredients. In approximately 2011, the Popsicle version faded away. Popsicle states the following about the discontinuation of Jello Pudding Pops,
We are sorry to inform you that the Jell-o® Brand Pudding Pops® have been discontinued.
Many factors contribute to a decision to discontinue a flavor or product, but they all add up to the fact that we didn’t sell enough of the flavor or product to keep producing it. We know that you did your part to keep the flavor or product in production. Please understand that we would rather not disappoint any of our consumers
Unfortunately, Jello Pudding Pops are not produced at this time, but there are alternatives. Kemps makes a 10 pack version of a mix of chocolate, vanilla, and chocolate vanilla swirl pudding pops. Obviously, these aren’t available in all markets, however, there is a DIY way to make pudding pops at home. Amazon sells the below Jello Pudding Pops mold kit which will allow you to make 12 pops at a time using just instant pudding and milk. We haven’t personally tried these, but let use know what you think of the kit if you have tried it. As with most things, there probably isn’t anything better than the original.
Photo Credit: Chris Larkee