TV COMMERICALS HAVE HIT A NEW LOW

You may find this hard to believe, but television commercials used to be entertaining. I’m old enough to remember the sexy, sultry Julie London singing the Marlboro song. That was when smoking was considered glamorous, not dangerous. But there were other great commercials. Better Buy Buick. The Pillsbury Doughboy. Even the soap ads were fun to watch. But now, the network news hours are filled with depressing pharmaceutical commercials that scare you to death. First, you’re afraid you may have whatever disease they’re talking about. Next, you’re terrified when they list possible side effects. The dire things that may happen if your doctor prescribes the drug you saw on television. It’s gotten even worse. TV commercials have hit a new low with acne medication ads. Does anyone really want to watch people squeezing their puss-filled zits, before or after you’re having dinner?

TV commercials have hit a new low. They used to be fun, but now they're all about disease and death. — Remember the Pillsbury Doughboy? He was fun to watch. But now, TV commercials have hit a new low; they’re all about disease and zits..

Honestly, I don’t know what product is being advertised in these commercials. It may be some salve or a pill you take for acne. All I know is that I’m calmly watching the news, and suddenly, I’m seeing not just one, but three or four people squeezing their disgusting pimples right before our very eyes. Unfortunately, it must pay off, because they keep running the ads over and over and over again.

If that’s not bad enough, just wait. The next commercial shows a horribly disfigured woman who has undergone treatment for lung cancer. If it makes someone quit smoking, I guess it’s worth it to show these macabre scenes. But for those of us who quit smoking years ago, it’s a downer. Something you really don’t care to see after all the depressing news about people getting sick and dying from Covid-19 virus.

So here’s what happens with me and lots of other people. The moment I see liquid being squeezed from a zit, I get up and walk away. My husband can watch the rest of the news if he wants to, but I’m just trying to get over the nausea backing up in my throat.

TV commercials have hit a new low. What’s next? Will we soon be watching people poop?

July 19, 2021July 19, 2021

ARE THEY RUNNING OUT OF NEWS?

Watching network news every evening has been a habit for as many years as we can remember. The idea of turning off the TV at the news hour would have seemed unthinkable until now. However, I find myself walking away after a few minutes of viewing. Because now, the lead story is always about the resurging covid-19 outbreak. Even if you didn’t like Trump or Biden, at least the presidential campaign and the fuss over who won the election provided a little excitement. Are they running out of news this week, or just not very interested in what else is going on?

I find the endless reports of new covid-19 outbreaks annoying. If half the people in the United States won’t get vaccinated, I consider them risk takers. They’re really no different than smokers, or people who ride motorcycles without helmets. Yes, we’re sorry that they get lung cancer or are permanently disabled, but they’ve mostly brought it on themselves. It’s unfortunate, but t can’t feel too much sympathy for irresponsible people.

I don’t know why they consider the Covid-19 outbreaks more important than the riots, high crime rate, and number of homicides taking place in cities like Chicago. The people in those areas did not bring their problems on themselves. They’re the victims of a very sick society where children grow up watching violent video games and then proceed to act out, with life-ruining results for small businesses and ordinary people in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Or they could take us to the Southwestern Border, where millions of illegal immigrants are overwhelming our resources, and wreaking havoc in the unfortunate cities and towns along the way.

There isn’t a dearth of news in our country. There’s just an unwanted emphasis on the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic which could have been prevented if the people who got sick had been vaccinated. They don’t deserve that much attention.

March 18, 2019March 18, 2019

DOES NIGHTLY NEWS DEPRESS YOU?

Less than fifty percent of Americans watch Network TV or Cable News around dinner time. We watch every night, but if you decide to do something else, I can hardly blame you. Does nightly news depress you?

Local news isn’t quite as bad as national news. It’s often rather bland, and heavily focused on the weather. On the other hand, national news is geared to making your blood pressure rise. Every single tornado, car wreck, terrorist attack, plane crash, and celebrity downfall is gleefully reported in excruciating detail.

David Muir is our favorite newscaster — WORLD NEWS IS ALWAYS FULL OF DEATH, DESTRUCTION, TRAGEDY AND TERRORISM.

Our favorite newscaster is ABC’s David Muir, mainly because he’s so hunky and dynamic. Your heart speeds up when he urgently announces, “we have a lot to report tonight.” What disasters are we about to observe from the warmth and comfort of our den? The world he sees is filled with death, destruction and tragedy. And yet, at the very end, he tries to lift us out of the doldrums with a heartwarming story . Maybe some endearing thing a little kid said or did –anything to reassure us that there are pockets of hope in the world.

Some news stations like CNN and Fox News can be counted on to tell us what a horrible president we have, or what a great president we have. Realistically speaking, no president is perfect. See: SOME POTUS WERE A LITTLE OFF @ https://livingwellafter80.com/some-potus-were-a-little-off/re-a-little-off/

Having lived through the Nixon resignation and the Clinton impeachment, I don’t relish the idea of putting our nation through that kind of prolonged melodrama. That’s what elections are for, folks. If you don’t like the guy in the White House, just vote him out of office. It’s called democracy.

But it’s not just the news and politics that gets you down. The really, truly depressing aspect of watching the entire evening news hours is the plethora of pharmaceutical drug ads.

Within the time frame of a mere hour, the commercials will remind about all the terrible diseases you could develop at any given moment. There’s cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and COPD for starters. It seems like everyone is at death’s door, and the only hope lies with some sophisticated, expensive drug that you’ve never heard of, but are supposed to demand that your doctor prescribe.

Whatever happened to all the cheerful commercials such as “I’d like to teach the world to sing?” by Coca Cola? I wouldn’t even mind seeing some perky housewife talking about the best toilet bowl cleaner. Any TV commercial that doesn’t remind me of sickness and death would be preferable to what dominates the airways around dinner time.

If you prefer sweet dreams to nightmares, you might turn off the television at 6 o’clock.