Friday, September 19, 2008
TV ages us
TV has established the Age of Irony. Naivete, innocence and credulity are not only laughable on television, they are mortal sins. TV hosts and pundits wink and smirk; kids on TV are wised-up before the age of puberty. Nothing in life is serious on TV, even making fun of life.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Going against the Flomax
Flomax is supposed to be for all those guys who want to spend less time in the bathroom. What about all us guys who want to spend MORE time in the bathroom? Actually, Flomax sounds like it should be for us. And one of the guys in their commercial, running every night during Jeopardy, looks like he just had a good time in there in the restroom, as he is shown emerging and breaking into a laugh.
I’d personally rather spend my time in the bathroom working on a good dump than riding bikes with this over-the-hill gang.
I’d personally rather spend my time in the bathroom working on a good dump than riding bikes with this over-the-hill gang.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Is TV dumb, or are we? (Part 1)
“There is still so much we have to learn about TV!” – Kurt Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus.
Ever since Idaho farmboy Philo T. Farnsworth figured out one could scan a picture in a horizontal line with an electron beam and thus eventually send Viagra commercials into every home in America, watching TV has been one of our species’ guilty pleasures. I do it, you do, all God’s chillun do it, but none of likes to admit it.
That’s not quite right. The same wretched soul who’d rather die than recount the hours spent slumped on the sofa watching Jerry Springer or reruns of Bonanza is the one will doggedly wait for a lull in the conversation to offhandedly extol the wonders of The History Channel, as if that were his regular fare.
To own up to one’s true TV-watching habits is to confess to a character flaw.
Ever since Idaho farmboy Philo T. Farnsworth figured out one could scan a picture in a horizontal line with an electron beam and thus eventually send Viagra commercials into every home in America, watching TV has been one of our species’ guilty pleasures. I do it, you do, all God’s chillun do it, but none of likes to admit it.
That’s not quite right. The same wretched soul who’d rather die than recount the hours spent slumped on the sofa watching Jerry Springer or reruns of Bonanza is the one will doggedly wait for a lull in the conversation to offhandedly extol the wonders of The History Channel, as if that were his regular fare.
To own up to one’s true TV-watching habits is to confess to a character flaw.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Not our fave two
Two characters we've had our fill of: Charles Barkley and Dwayne Wade. The cell phone spots were amusing the first two- or three-dozen times we saw them, but now they're as annoying as a cell phone going off in a theater.
Way back when we cared to think about them, some things we wondered:
If D-Wade didn't want to field Barkley's endless calls, why didn't he just not pick up? Didn't he have caller ID?
Why would Wade have his cell phone in plain view and turned on at a press conference?
And seeing as how, judging from these commercials, Charles Barkley would appear to have the cushiest job in America -- being Charles Barkley -- why would he ever want to be governor of Alabama?
For more on Barkley, visit NBA to Z
Way back when we cared to think about them, some things we wondered:
If D-Wade didn't want to field Barkley's endless calls, why didn't he just not pick up? Didn't he have caller ID?
Why would Wade have his cell phone in plain view and turned on at a press conference?
And seeing as how, judging from these commercials, Charles Barkley would appear to have the cushiest job in America -- being Charles Barkley -- why would he ever want to be governor of Alabama?
For more on Barkley, visit NBA to Z
Monday, May 19, 2008
They should have nipped it in the bud
Future multiple Oscar-winner Jodie Foster made her TV debut on this day in 1969, in Mayberry RFD, the lame follow-up to The Andy Griffith Show. She had a bit part. Her brother, Buddy Foster, played farmer Sam Jones's son, Mike, on the series. Aunt Bee was Sam's housekeeper. Andy, to our dismay, married Helen Crump and looked lost and surly without Barney.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Flummoxed by Flomax
Their commercials show over-the-hill sportsmen and adventurers charging into the wild, all undaunted, in kayaks and on bicycles, only to be stymied by their unruly bladders.
So, I don't get the name Flomax. Aren't theirs already flowing to the max?
And the announcer makes a big assumption -- that everyone wants to spend less time in the bathroom. How about those who want to spend more time there?
So, I don't get the name Flomax. Aren't theirs already flowing to the max?
And the announcer makes a big assumption -- that everyone wants to spend less time in the bathroom. How about those who want to spend more time there?
Thursday, May 8, 2008
And hello from Mary Lou
Eric Nelson was born on this day in 1940.
Who's Eric Nelson, you say? If you know him, you'll know him as Ricky Nelson, and if you are a child of the 'fifties you'll think of him fondly, having watched him grow up before your eyes on the Ozzie and Harriet TV show.
At the end of every show, once he got to be old enough to sing and play a guitar, Ricky would do a song, and we liked it almost as much as we enjoyed Roy Rogers singing at the end of his show.
There was Fabian and then there was Elvis, but we always thought Ricky Nelson was the coolest, probably because we got to see him acting like a goofy kid around the house -- he was never a rock star, just a funny and personable guy who happened to play rock-and-roll.
What we thought was most cool about Ricky's performances was the way he closed his eyes to register intensity of feeling.
Happy birthday, Ricky -- I'm sure if you were alive today you'd have this to say:
"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. Hi, Dave. Hi, everybody."
Who's Eric Nelson, you say? If you know him, you'll know him as Ricky Nelson, and if you are a child of the 'fifties you'll think of him fondly, having watched him grow up before your eyes on the Ozzie and Harriet TV show.
At the end of every show, once he got to be old enough to sing and play a guitar, Ricky would do a song, and we liked it almost as much as we enjoyed Roy Rogers singing at the end of his show.
There was Fabian and then there was Elvis, but we always thought Ricky Nelson was the coolest, probably because we got to see him acting like a goofy kid around the house -- he was never a rock star, just a funny and personable guy who happened to play rock-and-roll.
What we thought was most cool about Ricky's performances was the way he closed his eyes to register intensity of feeling.
Happy birthday, Ricky -- I'm sure if you were alive today you'd have this to say:
"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. Hi, Dave. Hi, everybody."
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