In the early nineties, the film department of my university tried to keep up to date with film and television technology, so they got a Toaster.

By the late nineties, they abandoned all hope in technology and switched over to film theory.

(The montage at 2:25 sums it up perfectly)

Video toaster was a cheap way for local TV channels who had at least one tech-savvy neckbeard to do titles and pretty amazing (at the time) CGI graphics for commercials and what have you.

It also allowed some really atrocious stuff to be unleashed on the airwaves.

Adherents will often point out Babylon-5 and the show seaQuest DSV as successful uses of Video Toaster tech.

Oh man, I wanted one of these things so badly.