Stuff you don't need to see on tv...

I'm Jonathan Overholts, Pharm.D., and I approve this message.

 

Some of those drug commercials are almost psychedelic though; make me wonder what they are promoting, but a world of everything made out of paper or turning into cartoon wolf characters is better viewing than some of the shows!

Reminds me of a new program I enjoy... Off The Air on Adult Swim... it's just a bunch of weird short bits put together along a theme lasting around 12 minutes, but at least it's not predictable or seen before. If you can find it it's a good little mental aesthetic rinse cycle!

The various 'Judge ______' shows seem to have started thinning out or I might have had that in my list.

 

Tabloid journalism masquerading as news.

 

Most of those commercials are bizarre. Without the mention of the medication, you might not even know what the commercial is about.

The drug companies should take all the money they're pumping into direct to consumer advertising and pass the savings along to the consumer. While I can see Big Pharma's concept of getting the drug into the consumer's minds and getting them to talk to their doctor or pharmacist about it, it's up to the prescriber to decide whether it's appropriate for the patient.

When I get questions from patients about some commercial they've seen for a medication, I always counsel them to have a dialogue with their prescriber about it, as they are the one aware of the patient's particular conditions and needs.

 

Political commercials, all of them, but especially those for candidates from a neighboring state (NH) that buy time and broadcast in my market (Boston).

 

I saw the documentary American addict 2
Then I watched American addict 1
It was fascinating


It seems like almost every commercial is about medicine or Medicare

 

Drug commercials...ambulance chasing lawyer adds...any advert with Joe Namath

 

Dennis Frantz's butt.

 

I dumped TV in 1997. But about three years ago, after having an Amazon Prime account for over a year and already owning a smart TV, I discovered "on Demand" streaming. It doesn't have that sense of "immediacy" that real time broadcasting has.

Anything I don't need to see on TV, I don't see on TV.

 

I definitely like on demand and PVRing, they are a definite improvement on ye olden tymes, but there still has to be quality stuff to want to demand or to PVR... and I can think of zillions of cool '50s-'80s shows not being shown on any service I get which are also not on DVD. Why do we get so many re-runs of just a handful of series? They should learn from Disney and put some stuff in a vault and not have it always there, and then maybe there'd be room for, heck, My Mother The Car, or Ernie Kovacs or Michael Bentine or Dave Allen or... yatta yatta yatta (oops, Seinfeld again).

 

I too like to watch Off the Air late at night. I watched Your Pretty face is Going To Hell for a few episodes but the joke got old after awhile.

 

Still enjoy repeats of Hill Street & NYPD Blue. The first episode of Blue(even before the credits roll:Andy Sipowicz pulls at his junk and declares to ADA Syliva Costas:"Ipsa this you pissy little bitch!" Sylvia would marry Andy,they would bring their child Theo into the world. Later Sylvia was gunned down in a courthouse. That "ipsa" line cemented the relationship between my date and myself. Tomorrow we celebrate 28 years of marriage!

 

9/11 footage. I was there, I saw it, I don't need to see it ever again.

 

How about those partial screen 'ads' for other shows that obscure some of the action, text or subtitles on the show you want to be enjoying? Lately they've even had ones that move for even worse distraction.

 

Same here. Jeff. I also feel the same way about Sandy documentaries. I never want to experience a storm surge like that again.

 

Even that pantyhose commercial he did?

 

Dark, depressing, dystopian shows

 

The old trope of 'family pet gets mysteriaously killed' in any type of suspense/mystery/horror show or movie.

 

Food porn shows. And everyone vocalizingly loudly and enthusiastically.

 

Things I don't see on TV? How about a picture. I don't watch TV.

 

Huge fan of the show Fringe. Not so much a fan of needles. I swear you could make a drinking game out of people getting shots or blood drawn.

 

People being interviewed after an epic natural disaster saying, "I've never seen anything like this before!"

Or, from the other side...

Reporters asking stupid, obvious questions of people who just suffered some sort of tragedy in order to get them to cry.

Followed by fake empathy to tie a bow around the whole package.

The TV audience is made up of unfeeling vampires who need to feast on real human emotion.

 

The pharmaceutical industry has really gotten out of hand, with the whole "ask your doctor if poison is right for you" schtick. It would be great to see some counter-programming initiative, where somebody based a whole series on those little moments of fictional lifestyle that happens in those ads while the announcer is mumbling drug disclaimers. Or better yet, drug commercials with actual scenes of afflicted patients misusing the drugs, and rushing into the ER to get their stomachs pumped or flatlining.

This sounds cruel on the face of it, but just highlighting what the advertisers do in a way that could actually shame them into realizing it's not worth it for them to keep doing it if we are going to keep making fun of them, would be a good way to force these 2-minute malpractice-inducements off the air.

 

Tampon\pad commercials
Erectile dysfunction commercials
Bladder leak commercials

 

Sometimes I think there is branch of the Bilderberg Group dedicated to driving the few intelligent people left crazy, with commercials, programs and news of fresh disaster..