An informal experiment...

It's been nearly a week since I became sick, and I had hoped that the vast selection of shows available via our DirecTV dish would help distract me during my convalescence, but in the end, it's been a general disappointment.

First, the extra $12 or so we pay per month for HBO is a waste of money, IMO. I don't think there was one HBO product that I watched this past week that was new or interesting, or whose description tugged at me hard enough to cause me to switch to a particular HBO channel (and it's not as if pressing the button would cost me money or anything).

There are several movie channels available via DirecTV, and I probably watched several old movies on AMC this past week, including The Longest Day for about the umpteenth time (though not recently). They plan to show Pacino in Scent of a Woman, which is tempting, except it's to be broadcast in this "special" format during which they show three minutes of the film, followed by 10 minutes of commercials, followed by 10 minutes of the "hosts" mugging for the cameras and trying to provide the thespian equivalent of color commentary, after which they go back to three more minutes of film, etc.

As far as the History Channel is concerned, I was disappointed. It seems over half the programming is aimed at military buffs whose lives apparently won't be complete until they understand the difference between the Japanese Type 98 and Type 99 infantry rifles, and what role that difference played (none, apparently) in the battle for Okinawa. Another show, Mail Call, features a retired Marine gunny who barks like a drill instructor between segments that answer listener's questions about subjects military (example: What was the first warship whose primary weapons system consisted of guided missiles?).

I think I may go upstairs shortly to catch the start of the Pacino film and see if I can stomach the endless shilling and mugging. It's been a long day.

Cheers...

Good call...

I'm glad I decided to watch Scent of a Woman. Pacino's acting was something to behold, and I had forgotten how inspiring Frank Slade's defense of Charlie was. The icing on the cake was the change in the presentation's format: the hosts kept the chitchat to a minimum and the overall number, length, and frequency of breaks was only slightly onerous, in my opinion.

This segues awkwardly into one particularly irksome ad I've seen recently several times. It's for some kind of medicine, but I honestly cannot recall which one (which must say great things for the ad, I guess, but I digress...). In fact, the ad does not explicitly say what the medicine is supposed to do (I paid that much attention), and the only thing I actually came away with from watching the ad is that legendary NFL player and coach "Iron Mike" Ditka endorses the product.

(I just did a little research, and apparently, the product Ditka is hawking is Levitra, a compound that addresses erectile dysfunction.)

So, I'm having a little trouble with an ad campaign that has a Famous Person say fabulous things about Product X, without explicitly saying what X is supposed to do. I can just imagine the scenes in doctor's offices all over the country:

"Hey, doc, I was watching TV last weekend where ol' Iron Mike Ditka did an ad for something called Levitra. Said it was good stuff. Can you write me a prescription?"

Well, at least this kind af approach does not allow the prospective patient to perform self-diagnosis, which is always fraught with risk.

Cheers...