Musings triggered by watching the tube

I watch my share of TV. Not tons, especially during the summer, because I seldom watch reruns of TV series. But I try never to miss Jeopardy, and my TV is often on while I am fixing dinner. Here is some stuff that came to my mind as I was watching TV last night:

- What's with commercials for room deodorizing sprays? Aren't those laden with harmful chemicals? Frankly, I would never ever use that stuff in my living room, kitchen, office, or bedrooms (I have a can of room deodorizer in my bathroom, though, but it is seldom used, actually.) Here is something I read here about room deodorizers:

Advertisements teach you that if the room smells, you have to use a room deodorizing spray or some plug-in gadget that disperses heated scented oil into the air that you breathe. Before you use a room deodorizing spray such as Lysol, think: If the spray really kills the germs, what will it do to the cells of your lungs? What should you do? Get rid of the source of the smell and open the windows to get fresh air! Throw out that garbage and clean up the mess with a non-aerosol cleaner that will not contaminate the air that you breathe.

I have to say that I fully agree, if you want fresh air, open the damn windows. Fresh air does not come out of a can - a compound of chemicals made to artificially simulate a "fresh air" scent does.

That kind of product, by the way, is used tons more in the U.S. than in France (but I may be totally wrong because, of course, I live here and not in France - correct me if I am wrong, my faithful readers who live in France or lived there recently.) I never saw a deodorizing spray used in my household when I was growing up, and my house did not have a funky smell (some Americans, though, will argue that the French are immune to detecting foul odors, because they stink themselves to begin with, since they do not shower regularly, and often fail to use deodorant - but that's another issue.) The obsession of Americans with germs will cost them big time when their excessive use of antibacterial soaps and lotions has obliterated the effectiveness of antibiotics meant to treat real diseases.


- What's with commercials for dentures, or for dentist practices where you can get the best-looking dentures ever in no time at all (some stipulate "on the same day as tooth extraction" - ouch!)? I may be totally naive, but I'd like to know what the percentage of denture-wearing Americans is at the present time. Years ago, for sure, it was fairly common to have lost all of your teeth by the time you were in your late fifties or early sixties, but is it still that way? Frankly, I am a bit miffed, here.


- What's with those kids they bring on Jeopardy for the yearly Teen Tournament, which is being re-run this week? Those kids appear to be exceedingly geeky and rather unpleasant, no fun at all, sometimes pretty arrogant or, on the opposite, extremely nervous (OK, the nervousness is legitimate. I would probably have a heart-attack on stage if I were a contestant on Jeopardy.) And they always seem to come from affluent families - yesterday alone, in the "chat with the contestants" moment, one kid told of an encounter with an angry elephant while on an African safari with his mother, and another told of acting up in a Paris museum with his sister. I know very few 16 or 17-year olds who are so well-traveled.


The sheer quantity of commercials, as well as their loudness and idiocy (I only like the Geiko caveman commercials) has come close many times to driving me totally away from television. I absolutely resent the fact that I dish out some $53.00/month to Comcast, for a bunch of channels about which I could not give a hoot - some of which, like QVC, are trying to sell me stuff like tacky jewelry or really ugly handbags. And I have to put up with zillions of obnoxious commercials! Have you ever counted how many commercials there are during the last fifteen minutes of David Letterman?

When will we finally be able to select, for a reasonable price, an à la carte selection of TV channels? I would probably need no more than about 15, because I do not watch more than 15 channels regularly. The cable industry must have a pretty strong lobby to have prevented legislatures from enacting laws that would do away with its monopolistic practices (my town is serviced solely by Comcast for TV cable, although I think that Verizon will be getting into the game in the near future. If you're not willing to go with Comcast, then you have to opt for some sort of satellite service, where you end up with an unsightly dish and more channels than you want as well.)

Anyway, enough ramblings and bitching about TV. Nothing is going to change soon. And, by the way, I still love watching TV.