Has anyone seen the Magic Bullet one? It's a classic. It has everything, a food processor that redefines the words, "too good to be true," a cast of middle age ham actors in bad clothing, 14 free accessories, and to top it off, a guy with some kind of British accent!
Oh, and Matthew Lesko has an new informercial. Yep, he's still dressing like Riddler, if Riddler were an enemy of the Libertarian Trio (Azulman, The Ferreter, and Druid Guardian, defenders of Liberty, Drugs and your privacy.) Although, he's prancing accross DC with some giant walking book behind him. It's surreal. You almost want the Objectivist death squads to attack him by the end.
Oh, and the Ronco has a new set of knives. Big sharp knives. But wait there's more!
There's also the Xpress 101, with no temperature settings, no indicator light, no timer, just a modified sandwich press that you just cram food into and pretend it's good when you scrape it out!
Me, I think infomercials are the bane of broadcasting. They were borne out of the Reagan administration's elimination of the limitations for commercial minutes per hour. But, they attract celebrities, a lot of whom are past their prime, and may be in the need for a quick buck. Lindsay Wagner is currently seen in one for the "Sleep Number Bed." Even Cher did one, not long after she won the Oscar for Moonstruck.
I was amused by Ronco's infomercial for something called "GLH - Great Looking Hair." Believe it or not, it's stuff you spray on your head, to hide bald spots. Beau Bridges used a similar product in an amusing scene in the movie The Fabulous Baker Boys, although I saw the movie years before I saw the "GLH" infomercial. (Jack Baker [Jeff Bridges] says something like "It's not hair. It's paint." to his brother.)
Infomercials predate the Reagan administration. The famous "Bass-o-matic" sketch on SNL was from the 70s, parodying the already infamous Ronco (and Ginsu) ads.
"Paid Programming" has been around forever, as long as the local stations need some timeslots filled.
Some cable channels, such as VH-1, have abandoned their "Paid Programming." VH-1 shows videos in the overnight instead of infomercials, and has for a couple of years now.
Dean Johnson and Robin Hartl, of PBS' home improvement series Hometime, star in an infomercial for some new fangled ladder. And, as far as I know, they're still doing Hometime, which is now in its 19th season. But...Bob Vila was fired from This Old House back in 1989 when he began doing ads for Sears. This reeks of double standard.
The SciFi channel should be proud. At six in the mornings it runs an infomercial featuring a "Sex Talk" chatshow. One female guest reveals what she wants most: a "large" male. The host then tells men that they can measure up to her request by ordering "Extends".
This garbage should be banned from the airways.
Except SciFi is on *CABLE*, therefore it's not on the public airwaves, and the gov has no standing to regulate it.
Ever hear of the First Amendment? Or maybe a channel changer or an "off button"?
I agree that the garbage should be banned on
SCI-FI, not because of content, but because they
shouldn't be showing a bunch of %$%$%ing infomercials on *cable* channels in the first
place!
/still remembers when one of the big selling
points of cable was the lack of commercials.
Actually the FCC does have some authority to regulate Cable, just not as much as they do with over the airwaves broadcasts.
I still remembers when one of the big selling points of cable was the lack of commercials.
Maybe you mean premium cable. The premium movie channels are commercial free. Although the endless promoes for upcoming programming sure feel like ads, don't they? The basic cable channels (TNT, USA and yes, Sci-Fi) are advertiser supported, and therefore adhere to pretty much the same standards as the over-the-air channels.
That "Sex Talk" infomercial used to be hosted by porn star (and former teacher) Ron Jeremy, by the way.
BET runs a great informercial every morning at 5:30 EST. It's a faith healer dude named Don Stewart, and the entire time he hawks the "green prosperity prayer handkerchief." Touch it on your infirmity, and you'll be instantly healed. Hallelujah!
There's about three different versions of the informercial, but they run them every day as if it was a regular series.
There's an infomercial being broadcast in the LA area (It's on right now as I type!) for a service called "Consumers Credit Choice". I swear this thing must have been designed to kill whatever remaining braincells one has left. Loud alarms and buzzers, garish CGI graphics, including a cheap looking "star warp" effect, tons of ultra-boring stock footage of cars driving, and lost and lots of repeition.
Those old
Macintosh infomercials from the mid 90s were a hoot. Especialy that
sad "woh wah" music when they mention "PC clones (in one scenethey
show the father working on a sadly out of date Ibm XT with green
screen text and a kid saying that he was always putting numbers
into it), and the ultra corny "were keping the computer" song at
the end.
Richard Karn (he played Al on Home Improvement) has replaced Dean Johnson on the Little Giant Ladder. But Robin Hartl remains. I guess Johnson thought the infomercial was beneath him. What Karn knows about home repairs because he co-starred on a goofy sitcom for eight years is for greater minds than myself to ponder.
I just found out that Robin Hartl had left Hometime, and she's a full-time spokesperson for Little Giant, along with Mr. Karn.
And, I saw a Home Depot advertisement in the newspaper yesterday. That Little Giant Ladder has a big giant price - over $350.
Art Fleming, the original host of Jeopardy in the 1960's and '70's (when the game was lower tech and more difficult) hosted (or should I say shilled in) an infomercial for Carleton Sheets' real estate course, titled "The Keys To Success." That piece of drivel was my first exposure to an infomercial. I was enormously pissed off when that stupid infomercial bumped an entire week of Hill Street Blues reruns on WPIX Channel 11 in December 1987.
One infomercial I kind of enjoyed was the one advertising 29 DVD volumes of "The Best Of The Dean Martin Variety Hour." It was a reminder not only of the late, great Dino, but of an era and shows we'll probably never see again. It's a shame that sales of the DVD sets were stopped, due to a lawsuit filed by NBC-Universal against Guthy-Renker (the DVD sets' marketer) and Greg Garrison Productions. (Garrison was Dean's longtime producer, who never had a contract with Dean, just a handshake.) More here.
As much as I hated infomercials before this morning, it can't come close to how much I hate them now. TV Land bumped their scheduled run of the Trek episode "Spectre Of The Gun" this morning for two 30 minute commercials. Jeez, am I p.o.'ed over that! There's nothing in that 30 that can't be said in a one or two minute ad. Plus, they bumped one of my favorite third season episodes.
TV Land has reduced their airings of Trek to once a week - Thursdays at 7 am (ET). The informercials still fill up the 6 to 7 a.m. hour, and probably will for the forseeable future.
And, the infomercial for The Dean Martin Variety Hour DVD's is back. Watch it if it's on. Dino was spontaneous on his show (he never rehearsed) and anything and everyone would make him break up with laughter. A lot of fun.
Are these the remastered ones?
I doubt the infomercials are remastered.
The Amish Mantle fireplace is now the subject of a 30-minute infomercial, with alleged Amish men building them. Those men can not be Amish, as the Amish do not allow their faces to be photographed. If any Amish people are featured on tourist brochures for the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, they are only seen from the back.
Star Trek (the original, not the re-mastered) is now run on TV Land Sundays at 6 a.m. Infomercials now occupy three hours of TV Land's weekday programming (6 to 9 a.m.) A waste of three hours a day. Does Viacom need the money that badly?
but does it work like a dust magnet
There's an infomercial for an OTC pill called "Prosvent." If you believe all the claims on the infomercial (hosted by a supposed urologist, Dr. Larry May), I could have avoided the hospitalization and surgery that derailed me for a good part of the summer of 2009. I don't belive a word of what's said on the infomercial, and I think my urologist will use the word "quack" in describing Dr. May.
"Singing" hobbit Justin Bieber is interviewed in an infomercial for acne remedy "Proactiv." IIRC, he's 17 years old, and he says that he uses Proactiv to hide acne when he's performing (if you call his "singing" a performance.) Wait until he's in his 50s, and has prostate problems and acne. Just like yours truly. I had the misfortune to hear a "performance" by "The Bieb" on a recent Michael Buble Christmas special. To say "The Bieb" can't sing is a gross understatement. Spitting salivated tobacco juice into a spitoon sounds more pleasant. And more musical.
Be prepared for an attack of screaming teenage girl zombies.
Mike Lindell currently has a three-hour infomercial for his My Pillow Mattress Topper. Lindell has put his devotion to Trump ahead of any concerns about his business or employees, as retailers are (supposedly) dropping his products. However, he apparently still has the funds to buy three hour blocks of TV time.
He can make these all he wants, but no on has to buy them.