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Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Price is Right

Since I was knee high to a cricket, I have always watched the Price is Right. I got out of the habit of watching it when I switched to overnights because I have other tasks that need to be accomplished along with sleep that surpass the need to see someone play Plinko or scream and jump around like a crackhead when they see a new car. Today I watched.

The show is in reruns until the new season starts. It won't be the same without Bob at the helm but I am sure the advertising will remain the same. Ads for the elderly abound. There are various ads for hearing aids, dental implants, medical supplies, "Help me. I've fallen and I can't get up." alert buttons, accident help lines, car insurance, and prescription assistance.

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance has Montel Williams telling you how to get drugs if you don't have insurance. If you see the fine print, they can't help you if you are in the Medicare donut hole or if you have Medicaid or even a prescription discount card. They show all these people who say they wouldn't be around if it weren't for the PPA. Bullocks! Just another tax write-off for big pharma.

Liberty Medical touts the ease of having medical and diabetic supplies delivered to your house. I thought Wilfred Brimley was dead.... My favorite role he played was the doc that got digested and replaced by an alien in "The Thing" and built a space ship in a tool shed. Awesome! That sure beats the pants off hawking diabetic supplies during daytime TV.

Why haven't the Jitterbug cell phones reared their overinflated digits and extremely overinflated pricey service plans? I was sure they would prey upon those with poor vision just as fast as I could remember that super gay neon video Wham! did for that song.....jitterbug.......jitterbug........wake me up before you go go.....don't leave me hanging on going solo.....damn, now I am going to be singing that all day!
"Wake me up before you go go. Now, take me dancing tonight.....I wanna hit that hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh yeeeaaah yeeeaaah yeeaaah baby.......(kill me now)... With a 1000 minute plan for $150 (eeek!) it is cheaper to go through a regular cell service provider and deal with tiny buttons, especially if you have budgetary restrictions.

My favorite commercial during the Price is Right has to be Hoveround scooters. I applaud the devious jingle master that came up with that one. It will soon drown out George Micheal and I will sing along all day. "I go go go in my Hoveround!" Not only do they have a wickedly catchy theme, they also portray a beautiful ballet of elderly in their Hoveround scooters. Not since the Olympic gold medal synchronized swimming have I seen such awkwardly graceful and disturbingly choreographed movement. The only problem I had is that for some reason not all chair drivers were wearing their seatbelt. Shame shame on you! Accidents, like a messy fall, can be prevented with seatbelts. Mayhaps a "Click it or Ticket" mandate could be enforced....nope.

"I go go go in my Hoveround!"

3 comments:

Eric, AKA The Pragmatic Caregiver said...

I'm *so* glad I'm not the only one who thinks that Hoveround choreography is a thing of wonder. I swear it's got to all be remote controls - the visual-spatial perception in that demographic is notoriously poor. I think it's reminiscent of the finest Esther Williams spectaculars.

Don't knock the Jitterbug, though - that's 1000 prepaid minutes with a year of validity for 15 cents each, which is actually very competitive with the market in prepaid cell. The operator assistance feature is genius, too, the user interface is friendly and familiar, and the use of a "dial tone" rather than "bars" is pretty clever too. The soft cushiony piece on the ear is surprisingly useful at blocking outside sound.

yeah, it's a shame you can't get the device like this and throw mom/grandma/aunt dot on your family plan, and I think they underestimate the ability of the 80-and-older demo to learn to text - my grandmother is surprisingly good at it, but in terms of putting a phone in every old lady's purse so they don't end up out in the woods for a week after they run off the road in their Buick, it's a major advance.

Anonymous said...

What's funny in the Hoveround commercial is that the big guy comes out and says HI! I'M TOM KRUSE!

Mc RPh said...

I thought Wilford Brimley was dead too. Since when did he become the poster-boy for geriatric health? "Eat it bitch, it's the right thing to do".

And if you want to see the majesty of Hoveround choreography in action, just go to Branson, MO. On second thought, don't.