- The Rays are in a Championship run
- It’s both NCAA and NFL season
- The Olympics were wrapping up
- The Lightning were preparing for a breakout season
- Mad Men Season 2 was off and running
- The Office was back
- Entourage was picking up
- It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia was funnier than ever

I was on top of the world! Every night I would have something to come home to and watch on the DVR (which saved my life being that the Rays have been playing almost nightly). Football weekends. Great sitcom weeknights. It was a good time to have cable TV.

It’s Tuesday, October 28th and I feel like I’m in TV limbo. I finished up the season finale of Mad Men last night and as I expected, it was amazing, too amazing. How am I supposed to deal with the suspense and the wait until next season? As if this wasn’t enough to leave me a little distraught, I started analyzing the other programing that I had been so excited about:

- The Rays were [are] 1 game from World Series elimination
- My NCAA/NFL teams are flopping
- Olympics are 3.5+ years away
- The Lightning are still preparing for a breakout season, getting only 1 win in 7 games
- Mad Men Season 2 was over and done
- The Office was back, but dwindling
- Entourage was not meeting expectations
- It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia stopped running hour-long shows

With such a negative turn of events, I started scrambling to figure out how to fill up those free hours I devoted to watching my beloved TV programing. What are M24-35 watching these days? I realized that if worst came to worst I could go on another on my DVD binges. If you aren’t familiar, these are when I decide to take up a new show, buy the DVD of every season available, and watch them back-to-back incessantly. This is how I caught up on season 1 of Mad Men in about 2 weeks! Then I took a deep breath and thought about the future…

It’s Tuesday, October 28th and I feel like I’m in TV limbo. I looked to the future in order to avoid another one of my DVD benders. I was able to come up with the following remedy [listed in no particular order]:

- NCAA Bowl Season + Super Bowl is coming up….
- NBA season is heating up, and I’ve actually been getting more and more into it lately
- Mad Men Season 3 has not been purchased yet, hopefully somebody fronts the money soon
- The Office is still funny, at least the actors are getting movie roles now
- Entourage may have made a season-saving turn this past Sunday
- It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is still the funniest show on TV
- AND 30 Rock premiers this week, making Thursday the best night of the week for TV across the board*

*This is pretty much non-debatable: The Office, 30 Rock, Always Sunny. Don’t worry everybody else, I haven’t forgotten your shows: Grey’s Anatomy, Survivor, Life on Mars, and if anyone still watches them, there’s: ER and Ugly Betty.

In the end, there is still hope. TV still has some lures to keep me from going back to those commercial-less DVD binges. I’ll just be sure to pray every Sunday at 10pm for someone to buy Mad Men Season 3 (you know, the Emmy Award winning Best Drama series? C’mon networks!!).

Case 1: The Twitter Bug
Turn on CNN. It seems like every time I catch a story in the middle of the day a reporter is talking about what people are Twittering about. That’s nuts! …or is it? Is doing some active research on what people around the country are talking/sounding off about not newsworthy? If the content relates to mainstream topics (such as the economy) then maybe CNN and other similar news sources are on to something. Twitter is providing a one-stop service that allows researchers to read what people are saying across the country … and if that isn’t enough of a selling point for you, then consider the fact that Twitter is free and runs live.

Case 2: Chat it Up
Turn on ESPN. Most mornings I try to catch some sort of sports news on TV - unless one of my teams lost badly the night before. 1st & 10 is one of my favorite shows in the mornings. It provides insights from various sportswriters, news, updates and various other sporting content. Every morning there is one person on set whose sole job is to monitor what chatters are talking about in the ESPN chat room and report back to the crew. The crew then derives show content from these viewers’ chats. What ESPN has created is a simple forum to gather viewer generated content. Incorporating interactive online-polls is also a creative way ESPN has engaged the viewer and captivated them on both TV and web fronts. It’s innovative, easy and efficient. Now the production crew can sit back and watch the free storylines roll in.

Case 3: Blog for a Reporter
Turn on your computer speakers. Our office took part in a mass e-conference call today that focused on how reporters from mainstream media outlets (such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and AP) deal with story pitches. The reporters discussed methods, techniques and trends that they see on a daily basis. While the main message seemed to be that they look for stories with high-quality content, there were some trends that I noticed from all of the outlets. The reporters told horror stories of sorting through hundreds of email pitches and press releases. They complained of certain media tactics such as mass pitching (pitching to everybody) and over pitching (pitching, and pitching, and pitching some more). Each reporter mentioned the importance of the internet - especially the importance of blogs when it comes to researching popular topics and storylines. When asked, “Do you prefer receiving pitches via blogs or normal PR tactics?” a reporter answered, “Blogs are normal. Blogs are the normal PR tactics now.” That response spoke so much to the fact that blogs are changing the way news is shared and can really bolster an effective PR campaign if done correctly and strategically. It screamed: Don’t just get people talking, get people blogging!

The blog-o-sphere is so new and vast that it has become difficult for traditional companies to adapt. Look for major players to make the transition and for some of the new, up-and-coming companies to rise greatly due to strong blogging tactics.

It’s Monday morning and I’ve prepared for another week of loud clanking, air filled with saw dust and the occasional saw screech. I’ve been working with headphones on for the past two days to block out some of the noise. All of this construction really has the office in shambles. Boards have been pulled from the walls and there’s even a brand new hole in the ceiling. It’s cool seeing the entire process up close - it’s helped me realize this project is much larger than I originally believed.

We’ll have photos shortly!

“Criss Angel stole an hour of my life.”

“Chris Angel sucks.”

These were three of the new status updates I noticed when I checked up on some of my facebook friends this morning. If you aren’t familiar with status updates, they’re open ended sentences that users update to let others know what they’re doing/thinking. I awoke to a list of anti-Criss (sometimes “Chris”) Angel propaganda on the web this morning. Away messages, IMs and even more status updates raged about their disappointment with last night’s much-hyped stunt.

If somehow you missed it, Criss Angel ’starred’ in a live, hour-long special on A&E last night performing his newest stunt: escaping from a locked building in less than four minutes. Cameras were placed throughout the hotel to give viewers an inside look. The cameras showed Angel race through the building, but when the timer hit zero he was still inside. The building imploded and there was no trace of Angel. Miraculously, Angel walked from the rubble and great the crowd - not scratched, not bruised, not broken.

Right. It took the crowd I was with about three seconds to debunk the ‘illusion’. The popular belief is that Angel never actually ran through the building. That he escaped while viewers watched prerecorded B-roll footage of him running around a building. I found it insulting that Angel and all involved in the ‘trick’ (which felt more like a cop-out) actually believed Americans were stupid enough to believe he actually survived the explosion. In fact, yesterday’s TBT had an article that predicted this very outcome! Kudos.

In my opinion, the biggest story here is no the magic stunt, but the publicity stunt. This story was everywhere yesterday (especially here in Tampa since the stunt was performed across the bay in Clearwater). People gathered to watch the stunt, even though everybody knew the chances of Criss Angel being killed on live television were right next to impossible. I speculate that ratings were up - especially for A&E - and it’s safe to say that Criss Angel’s awareness level among the public has been elevated. The ultimate question, though, is: Is this publicity good publicity?

Sure, there are many who believe the old saying “any publicity is good publicity”, but, is that really true?. Is the negative reaction to this stunt supposed to help Angel sell more tickets in Vegas? Sure, because of yesterday I know that Angel has a 10 year, multi-million dollar deal to perform in Vegas, but at the same time I know there is no way I’ll pay to see him. I am more aware of Criss Angel (In fact, I know that his name is spelled “Criss” rather than “Chris”) now than ever before, but I am also more aware that I find him less credible as a magician.

This morning I heard a radio personality claim he wouldn’t be surprised if this stunt would discredit Criss Angel as a magician and ruin his career. Many message board posts that I read this morning were filled with disgruntled messages calling Angel “a cheat”, “a fake” and even ” coward”. A poll on tbo.com asked “How Did Criss Angel Do It?” with 75% of respondents selecting “He was never in the building. The guy in the building was a movie, like on ‘Scooby Doo’”.

Time will tell. The stunt definitely got people watching, talking, and yes, blogging. Despite a rather negative reaction, awareness and Criss Angel talk/banter is high. I just see the stunt as a missed opportunity. The reaction to the the stunt could have been the exact opposite had it been more believable and mystifying. They promised viewers gold and gave them a fancy ‘coin behind the ear’ trick. A quality act would have won many more fans and much more positive feedback. I’m curious to see what happens to his career from this point forward. For his sake, I hope his fans don’t pull a magic trick of their own and disappear. [ohhh burn]

Ahhh… there’s nothing like old-fashioned, do-it-yourself, aired between midnight and 5 a.m. commercials. You just don’t see too many of them nowadays, and that may be a good thing. But in 1979, this was the standard local commercial, even for a large market such as Cleveland.

May I introduce to you C. Miller, and old man who’s on top of the world. Well, it looks like he’s actually on top of a globe purchased at Zayre’s, but he probably also thinks he’s made of cheese so let’s just humor the man. Why is he on top of the world? Because in 1979 he was number one in the greater Cleveland area. Now this statement causes some problems. What is he number one in? Sales of Chevrolets? Sales of cars in general? Sales of ANYTHING in general? Also, this may be the only time the words “greater” and “Cleveland” have been used in the same sentence. While this sentence may cause us problems, it really causes C. Miller problems as he slips off his snug perch on Quebec. I hope he doesn’t break his hip!

What started as a charming commercial now falls into the category of incredibly goofy. C. Miller clumsily falls (or is he trying to fly?) past the vast Cleveland skyline. All one building of the Cleveland skyline that is. Suffice to say if “dreary” is your favorite color, Cleveland is the place to be. At least C. Miller has the calmness while he’s falling to clarify his earlier statement of what he was number one in. If my claim to fame was selling the most Chevrolets in Cleveland, I’d probably jump off a tall building too. Or maybe buy a nicer suit.

After a mighty “thud” portrayed only slightly better than William Shatner throwing himself around the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise during a Klingon attack in the original Star Trek, C. Miller proudly sings we can see the USA in a C. Miller Chevrolet. With a stiff point to his chest, and a Muppet-like blown kiss, we’re suddenly brought down by the reality that C. Miller probably just crapped his Depends following that harrowing fall from the globe. And before you chastise me for picking on an old man, check out this commercial from 1976 and agree with me that C. Miller lost his sanity way way way before he fell off a cheap globe.

As kooky as this commercial was, C. Miller did sell a lot of cars. He begs the question of which was more entertaining; watching the Cuyahoga River burn or watching this old man fall through Cleveland only to end up on his feet? One thing’s for sure, seeing this old man fall all by his lonesome sparked somebody to create those legendary Life-Alert commercials.

The first 15 seconds of the spot is your typical 1960s toy commercial– a clunky battery-powered toy rolls into the screen amidst a mist of dry ice. Like most toys of the time, the key to beating the nasty monster was to shoot it. Is there any wonder why America has so many NRA members? But I digress…

The commercial takes a turn for the odd here when we find out you don’t just shoot at King Zor, you shoot for his tail. Now scientifically this makes no sense. Sure, an attack on the tail will hurt King Zor but it will hardly kill him. Shouldn’t you take him out at the head? What about the neck? Or how about deflating those tires he cruises in on? Shooting him in that giant round target on his tail just makes it look like a bad carnival game. Batteries may not be included, but I have a hunch the cuddly teddy bear you win for hitting the target with three pitches doesn’t come included either. Then things get even wackier…

When you hit the tail target, King Zur launches a marble from his secret marble magazine in his back! Who says God doesn’t make all creatures with a purpose? Now shooting the tail target makes even less sense since you won’t hurt him much and you’ll probably lose an eye from that marble he’s chucking at you. Now King Zur apparently is more than a clunky mechanical dinosaur, he’s a fighting machine! How brilliant! Or is he?

King Zur is smart enough to shoot marbles at his opponents, but avoiding that giant mountain? King Zur has to stick out his tongue, think about it for a few seconds, then reverse course? So much for intelligent design. I mean, WHAT THE HELL ARE HIS EYES FOR? The announcer is right, there’s never been a fighting dinosaur like King Zor. That is unless someone at Jurassic Park mixed up the dinosaur and Mr. Magoo DNA in a blender.

Not surprisingly, the kitschy King Zor lives on in goofy t-shirts and toy collector clubs. A fairly good-conditioned one, with the original box, sells for $1,500 on E-Bay! This only shows the fondness we have for vintage toys… and the need to pay way too much money for a marble-shooting dim-witted dinosaur. Even if there hasn’t been a dinosaur like him before or after 1962!

Hmmm… maybe I was doing it all wrong back in my dating life before I got married. Back then I would talk to women on the phone or online, meet them for dinner or drinks somewhere, and if things went well over the next few weeks we would become “an item”. I would use my charm, my knowledge, my sense of humor, my good looks, and a bunch of money on dinner, drinks, movies, etc., all for a piece of tail… err… a relationship. Who knew I could have just bought a 50-cent can of Diet Pepsi and made my life so much easier?

Who really picks up somebody because of a tasty can of diet soda? I’ve heard all sorts of interesting stories as to how people have met one another, but a can of soda? And it’s not like these two lovebirds just bumped into each other and spilled their soda on each other. This chick is getting all hot and bothered over this lunkhead drinking a Diet Pepsi. If that was how it was in real life, a 20-ounce bottle would have her calling out from work the next day. A 6-pack would induce a coma. A 12-pack would make Peter North wonder how you do it.

Just the idea of a woman fawning over a man because he drinks Diet Pepsi is crazy enough, but do you remember how crappy diet soda tasted back in 1984? Diet colas are fairly decent tasting now, and that’s the only soda I’ll ever drink if I HAVE to have a soda. All those carbs and corn syrup globs just aren’t preferable to my taste any more. But back in the 80’s I’d rather have drunk a 6-pack of sugary sweet regular Pepsi over that diet crap any day. Mostly because of NutraSweet, the artificial sugar of its day, tasted like pencil shavings. Unlike NutraSweet though, pencil shavings have yet to be linked to cancer so go ahead and carve up a number-two Ticonderoga over my soft drink, garcon!

So kids, you don’t need to stick a can of Diet Pepsi down your pants to impress the girls. You just have to walk around with one in your hand. They’ll jump on you so quickly, you’ll have to make sure you’ve brought the proper protection.

Now the woman who is purchasing all of these items seems to be a sensible woman. So why does she seem so shocked at how much it costs to buy some groceries? And why does she think plastic wrap or foil will save her food “investment” forever? Has she ever heard of Tupperware? Or maybe she should stop buying EVERYTHING wrapped in plastic!

Which brings us to her food selection. What is the deal with all of these fruits and vegetables? Granted, in 1983 there weren’t nearly as many processed frozen foods like there are today, but I think this woman eats nothing but salad and fruit cups. Perhaps that’s why she’s a little loopy when she sees the price adding up and she runs off to the tin foil pile. A lack of protein has made her a little weak in the brain! Put back the tomatoes and have a steak, woman!

Then comes the whole “investment” angle of this. Our voiceover guy is trying to get us to save money buy saving our food. Yet he says Reynolds products cost only a penny more per foot than “bargain” wraps. Well smart guy, that adds up! That box of aluminum foil is 25 feet long, and the plastic wrap is 100 feet long. That’s $1.25 or roughly a gallon of gas back then (which was very expensive as the world was coming down from an energy crisis). So where’s the wise investment? Why not buy non-perishables instead of stocking up on the entire produce department like this woman is?

When it comes down to it, foil and polastic wrap are simply that– foil and wrap. It’s not an investment saver, it just keeps that leftover hamburger meat safe to eat for a couple more days. Unless you’re going to wrap your house in plastic wrap or tin foil, you’re not protecting an investment. Then again if you wrap your house with plastic wrap or tin foil, you probably don’t get out much in the first place. Your house is probably still stacked with canned foods from your Y2K bunker.

I chose this commercial because it’s Father’s Day weekend. While the “average” Father’s Day gifts include ties, dress shirts, socks, and underwear, as boring as those gifts are at least they are useful. As for this magnetic wrist band… I don’t know.

The general idea is when dad has to fix something, he can assume the role of Superman. Always there with his tools, he just can’t use them properly without these magnetic wrist bands. So the next time he gets called, dad has his special wrist bands on so he can put them to good use! He hangs a hammer on his wrist! YAY! Nevermind the toilet is still broken and spilling water all over the place, at least dad can wow us with a hammer hanging off his wrist! Is this how Kreskin got started?

And what good does having a hammer on your wrist do anyways? It’s kind of hard to hammer something in when the hammer is just hanging off your wrist. And not every tool you use is metallic or magnetic, so how many injuries and foul-ups have been caused by some numbskull trying to hang something that wasn’t metallic off his wrist? Now this “super dad” is looking more and more like Monty Python’s “Bicycle Repair Man” sketch.

But you can get one 2-for-1 this weekend only! Now you can hang a hammer and a screwdriver on BOTH wrists! Or maybe you can get wacky and cram four wrenches on both wrists! The possibilities are endless! Try doing that with your gift necktie!

The year was 1993, and “Sir” Charles Barkley was at the peak of his career and his commercial sellability. And at first, this commercial is actually very clever. In 1993, basketball shoes were all the rage and during the previous three or four years Americans were bombarded with commercials from Nike, Reebok, L.A. Gear, Adidas, and many other brands. So the, “here’s another shoe commercial…” line is pretty ingenious. The ensuing, “Oh this is new…” line is also good. Then we see the product– a Hyundai.

Nowadays Hyundais are actually decent, affordable cars. But up until five or six years ago, Hyundai was producing one undependable turd after another… and they had been doing so for almost 20 years. We’re instantly reminded about this as the voice-over (identified on You Tube as Jeff Goldblum) spouts off all the good things about the car. Written in small letters at the bottom of the screen; “ABS, CD, leather optional on GLS models”. So you not only had to ask for these bells and whistles, you had to ask for them on the GLS model!

Then comes the funniest line; “More room than a Lexus.” Really now… when you’re shopping for a car, when does the final decision come down to a Hyundai or a Lexus? When does somebody shopping for a Lexus, or a Lexus-style car, put the nearby Hyundai dealer on the list of places to shop? And since when does somebody in the market for a Hyundai think, “I should check out that Lexus dealer, where the much better cars sell for five times as this piece of crap!”

Then we reach out to our for the star power, Barkley’s cute thuggery we all came to respect and molded the current NBA after. The funny thing is Barkley would need a shoe horn to squeeze into an actual ‘93 Hyundai Sonata. Barkley was 6-foot-6 and 252 pounds! According to Edmunds, the Sonata had a front leg room of 42.4 inches while also having head room of 38.5 inches. Add that up, that’s 80.9 inches or just under 6 feet, 9 inches of space. I hope Sir Charles doesn’t drive over any speed bumps or pot holes.

While it seems laughable at the idea of Barkley driving around town in a Hyundai Sonata, based on reports of his recent gambling debts he may be doing just that today. So I suppose this may be one of the best testimonials for a product, as pathetic as that product may be.

And no Charles, I don’t have a problem with that!