Green Screen Adventures - Children's TV

This is shown every Saturday here in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

And it is just awful.

It's for kids, so what do they have - a bunch of nasally, nerdy characters walking around trying to teach kids .... god knows what. It's like a cut rate version of Electric Company (a show I used to watch believe it or not, thirty years ago. Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno were regulars.)

And at least on those shows - Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Electric Company, the adults spoke as adults and never pandered down to the audience, as this piece of crap does.

I guess it's an overbroad style of acting that is used for TV shows aimed at kids and teens, but in this case it's offensive just because of the way the adults talk and act. They just sound so stupid. Now in real life I suppose kids with adenoids sound stuffed up in the same way, but they don't necessarily sound stupid.

No wonder kids today can never accomplish anything, if this is the kind of crap pap they watch.

Doritos Again

I've blogged about this commercial already, but it is soooo offensive and I've just seen it again so I'm going to blog about it again.

I mean...jesus. After seeing this commercial all I want to do is throw up.

It's the commercial where two businessmen, one black and one white, are in an office cubicle. The black guy finishes off his doritos, but of course the fingers of one hand have that Dorito residue on them. So the white guy grabs the black guy's hand, sticks a finger onto his mouth, and sucks and sucks, while the black guy looks at him incredulously.

It's not a black/white thing, I hasten to add. (It's unfortunate that that disclaimer always needs to be made, but there ya go.) The black guy is cool, calm, effcient, the white guy is a nerd who likes to suck Dorito residue off people's fingers.

Next an older white guy wipes dorito reside off on his hands, the nerdy white guy rips his pants off and holds them up to his nose, breaths deep, and shudders like he's just taken a hit of cocaine.

Is this supposed to be funny? That sniffing Doritos gives people the same reaction as sniffing Cocaine?

There are no redeeming qualities about this commercial. It's just awful.

So much devolution media, so little time

Sorry not to have posted here in so long.... I've been working on a project and when I do so I watch DVDs of shows I've seen before - like Stingray and Perry Mason - so that I can let the noise wash over me while I write, only pausing to pay attention when one of my favorite bits come on.

As such, I haven't seen any commercials - or fresh-run TV - and so haven't had anything to report here.

No doubt as I watch TV later tonight, I'll be able to make a post tonight!

Modern Family Swear Word Show

I've never watched Modern Family and never will watch it. But I read an interesting article today.

They are going to have a "swear word" show. And the producer is "proud and excited" about it.

Apparently, the family is at a wedding, their 2-year old daughter says "Fuck" and the family has to deal with their 2-year old daughter knowing such filthy language.

There's an anti-swearing alliance that doesn't want the episode aired because this little girl says this word (apparently, in reality the actress is instructed to say "fudge", then the program bleeps it out and pretends she's said "fuck." So the girl has not actually learned a swear word.)

Now, don't get me wrong, I think swearing is deplorable. Sure, if you've run your car into a ditch or have had some other disaster of that nature, swearing helps you express your feelings adequately. But most people, from teenagers upward, use swear words as a matter of course in normal conversation - they couldn't say a single cuss-word free sentence if they tried.

So getting upset about an episode of a show in which parents have to deal with finding out how their 2-year old daughter learned a word like that - that seems kind of ridiculous.

For myself, I'm more concerned with the degradation of our culture brought on by the constant emphasis on sex, sex, sex. A 2-year old girl has more to worry about that than about what kind of language she uses, unfortunately.

California Milk - commercial

I've seen this for several months now...

Short kid is practicing his baskbetball skills, while his sister is relaxing on a lawn chair doing her fingernails (god forbid she should be reading a book or making a model or doing anything other than being concerned about her appearance).

Next to her is a female cow.

Great big kid comes on the scene, 7 foot tall, with a "full on man beard" - except he's supposed to be the same age as the shrimp playing basketball.

"Wanna go play some video games?" he asks and the little kid agrees.

I don't really know what message California Milk thinks that they're sending, That drinking milk is going to cause you to hit puberty when you're 13? That drinking milk will make you look like a freak, with a "full on man beard." I bet girls wont want to drink it lest it give them breasts to early...oh, wait, maybe they will...

Just a repulsive commercial.

Chex Squares - commercial

I think that's the name of the cereal - Chex squares.

You've got this little square with expressive eyes and a mouth standing on the edge of a bowl of cereal. He stretches out a really long tongue like a frog, captures one of his fellow squares - also anthropomorphized, and eats it!

Isn't that like, cannibalism?

If I were a kid, I sure as heck wouldn't like to eat such a ceral.

Direct TV commercial

This commercial is meant to be funny, and in a way it is as it follows cause and effect, but it's also kind of offensive as well.

Man's cable bill rises, so he goes to the gym to blow off steam Gets hit in the eye and so wears an eyepatch. People with eyepatches are supposed to be tough. (Really - that went out with pirates!) So he's riding on a bus, and a couple of skinhead white guys covered in tattoos look at him, chase him, beat him up, and leave him in a roadside alley.

We see the guy's head move, so apparently he hasn't been stomped into a coma, but he is lying with his legs a little crooked which makes one wonder if his back is broken and he'll ever walk again...

Just the kind of imagery that we don't need in a world where everyone's reaction to the most innocent things seems to be a violent one, and a prolonged violent one, at that.

ATT Free Mobile Minutes - commercial

okay, this commercial is kind of funny, but kind of stupid and offensive, too.

Some young woman calls up a guy who is apparently her boyfriend.

"Just calling to let you know I'm giving you the silent team."

Boyfriend says, "This is the 8th time you've called me to give me the silent treatment. I don't think you know what the silent treatment means."

Then she says nothing, just looks gloatingly at the camera.

But it's still kind of sad. How many girls do this - give their "boyfriends" the silent treatment just so that the boyfriend will apologize and grovel so he can get back into the girl's pants?

Doritos Fire Tortilla Chips - commercial

Just saw this absolutely awful commercial on TNT, in the middle of the crime drama Las Vegas.

Middle aged black businessman in an office is eating a small bag of Doritos Fiery Tortillos. Younger, nerdy looking white guy comes up to him. Black guy has Doritos residue on his forefinger. White guy grabs his hand, sticks his forefinger into his mouth, and sucks it clean.

Homoerotic sexual intercourse imagery, anyone? Not to mention totally inappropriate office behavior.

But it gets worse.

Another middle age white guy finishes his bag of Doritos and wipes his hand on his pants. The nerdy white guy rips his pants off and holds them up to his nose, breathes deeps and shudders like he's having some kind of heroin injection. The fact that he whispers Doritos afterwards is hardly sufficient.

I mean, come on, Doritos. Do you really think that commercial is going to appeal to anyone - except those who have just secretly had their heroine addiction validated?

Nerdy businessmen wiping hands on pants, sniffing pants, sucking fingers. Who in the world is going to buy this product after seeing that commercial? I know I won't.