"How Was Your Day?" "Great- you weren't around." Ugh.

Except for the part where this guy is getting a shave at a barbershop (does anyone really do this anymore?) it seems to me that everything he does without his wife would be more fun with her.  I wonder why ad agencies insist on trying to convince us that married men and women spend a great deal of their time trying to get away from each other so they can have clandestine fun.

Well, I was married a while back, and I can't recall EVER feeling like this.  Whatever I do these days-whether it's taking a walk, watching a movie, reading a book, or whatever- I enjoy myself as much as I can, but in the back of my mind I often find myself thinking "it was more fun to do this with her than it is now, without her."  Not to be maudlin or anything, but I get the sense that the people who write these ads really don't like being married, and assume that most of us don't care for it, either.  People on tv are always sneaking off to do amazing, fun things and hoping that The Spouse doesn't find out.*   It's as if they are all bitter that they woke up one day tasered, tagged and taken, and now they are going to spend the rest of their lives trying to squeeze every ounce of Fun they can out of their Alone Time.  Is it just me, or is this more than just a little sad?

*And none of the Amazing, Fun things are really all that impressive.  Actually, they are kind of stupid and juvenile. This guy manages to get himself a few hours without the missus, and what does he do?  Rides around in a little car.  Eats a basket of barbecued ribs (I suspect MommyWife wouldnt' approve.)  Gets a shave at a barbershop (again....)  I still think most of this would be more fun if he did it with the woman he loved.  Or his wife.  Either way.

"Hey Dad, you're blocking my view of my future car!"

I guess the joke here is that Junior WON"T appreciate the fact that he had a Dad who was willing to spend a  lot of time with him tossing a ball around, even though Dad isn't very good at it and will show badly for the neighbors in the attempt.

Nope, Junior is just tolerating all this Quality Time crap, and will never once look back and recall how Dad didn't even waste valuable minutes changing into jeans and a t-shirt, but insisted on using it to play ball with his son.  Dad doesn't have the good sense to send Junior off to play with someone who can actually throw a ball and give advice on how to throw one, or suggest they go inside and download some piece of crud movie from DirectTV and do something Dad DOES do well- sit like a rotting potato staring at a screen.  But at least Dad's got this nice-looking car (jesus, it's a Passat, not an Audi or BMW- is this kid really daydreaming of the day 10 years from now when he'll inherit THIS?)

Sure, Dad likes spending time with his kid.  Sure, Dad isn't concerned that he's not athletic and looks pretty bad trying to throw a ball. Sure, Dad can't really pass on any good tips on how to throw a ball.  But check out the shiny Passat.

I'm going to assume that the people who wrote this commercial either don't have kids, or don't spend any time with them- and think that's just fine, because all kids really want from their parents is a college fund, a new cell phone every six months  and a hand-me-down car when they hit 16.  I've never been a parent, but I was a kid once- and seriously, I don't get this message.  At ALL.

Subaru Presents: A Spot I would have been more than happy to miss

What is this commercial attempting to sell us?  The joy of having intensely stupid kids?  Of living on a suburban street in which none of your neighbors notice what your intensely stupid kids are doing?  Of leaving your kids totally unattended for hours,* while also leaving your car keys within easy reach (or just leaving your car unlocked in the driveway of your ticky tacky All Look Just The Same castle?)

None of the above.  I'm convinced that this is actually an endorsement of going through life heavily medicated.  Having woken up one day to find himself living the Middle Class dream (which seems to always include two kids who look like Dad,) this guy has decided to keep himself on heavy doses of Valium.  Or maybe it's just Marijuana.  I mean, come on- there's something in between throwing a murderous fit which finally gets the neighbors away from their DVRs ("watch five shows at once!") and "here, let me help you finish destroying my car."

Love:  Accepting that your kids are morons who are basically on their own, which is going to result in them doing a lot of damage to your property.  Can I assume that each Subaru comes with a starter supply of Daddy's Little Helper in the glove compartment?

*Where's Mommy?  I don't know why, but I got the oddest notion while watching this that Mommy is sitting at the bay window with a glass of wine in her hand and a big smile on her face, watching all of this happen to Daddy's car.  But who am I kidding? The sequel will probably show harried, Had Been Off Doing Important Stuff Mom coming home, surveying the wreck of the car, and thinking once again "why did I think I could leave the kids in the care of that idiot, even for a few hours?"

Discover Card presents: My Idiot Husband, Chapter 46,789

Here's a chapter in Discover's Oops I Missed A Payment ad campaign that rankles a bit more than the others.  It was bad enough when the credit card company was just trying to present itself as the Credit Card With A Heart because it won't triple your monthly interest charge and slap you with a $35 fine the first time you are an hour late getting your minimum payment in (the second time you are late, they take your house and send Rocky to break your kneecaps, but that's another story.)  After all, anyone who has ever owned a credit card knows already that getting the fine removed from your card generally requires no more effort than a phone call and a threat to change issuing companies- that works at least once.

But this one adopts the All Too Familiar "Men are Irresponsible Little Children Who Must Be Rescued By the Wise Women they Somehow Begged into Marrying Them" theme, and seriously, haven't we seen enough of this?  Calm, ever-suffering MommyWife is sitting on the couch explaining to the Understanding Because Hey I'm a Woman Too I've Got My Own Helpless Schmuck at Home Discover card rep that in a moment of weakness, she stupidly let her Idiot Pet Male have responsibility for the family credit card for a month, and wouldn't you know it, he Couldn't Even Manage to Make a Monthly Payment.

Well, what did MommyWife expect from the moron- she sent him out for milk once, and he came back with a puppy.  We must assume that she checks on Hubby regularly to make sure he hasn't accidentally set himself on fire or used his allowance to buy lottery tickets.   MommyWife and Understanding I've Been There Sister on the other end of the line share a We Are All In This Together moment as the elderly child MommyWife is attempting to raise rushes to get the puppy out of the house before it pees all over MommyWife's hardwood floors.

What the hell?  Why does anyone think ads like this are funny, or smart, or anything but manipulative and insulting and downright stupid?  Several YouTube posters congratulate themselves for thinking that this commercial is LOL awesome (later, they'll pat themselves on the back for refusing to see the racism in old Amos 'n Andy skits and loudly proclaim their motto to be "Lighten Up.")   I really wonder about anyone who thinks ANY ad featuring Helpless BabyMan and Wise Woman is any more appropriate than the old Wise Man and SuperKlutz Helpless Woman ads of the 50s and 60s.   Yes, they are very easy to make.  Yes, they sound way-too-familiar themes that aren't supposed to make us think about it too much.  But when they make anyone with a brain (I put myself in this category) react with "to hell with you, I'm not using this service because you have no respect for me,"  are they really accomplishing anything of value?

Oh, they'll end up Well Rounded, all right

1.  Who the hell talks like the guy in this ad? Who narrates their recent decision to purchase a breakfast at Dennys?  Does he think the kids give a damn how much it costs?  More likely, they are just happy that it's Daddy's Weekend, which means they get to eat at Dennys.  (Children like to go to restaurants and eat crap.  It's one of those things that make them Children.)

2.  Why does every Dad on Television act like a befuddled, clueless dumbass the moment a kid asks him a question about ANYTHING?  "I should have said 'Well-Rounded Meal.'"  Um, no- when you do that, you are just replacing one stupid, hackneyed, virtually meaningless line with another.  I'm not a Dad, but I'm pretty sure this is one of those "teachable moments," where you have an opportunity to teach your idiot kids something important about nutrition.  Instead, you just fumble around for another non-answer.

3. Of course, this might not be the best place to have a discussion on proper nutrition with the kids.  "By square meal, I mean it's got all the major food groups right here on one plate- Fat, Grease, Cholesterol,  Meat, and Sodium.  And look, I can wash it all down with a cup of Coffee.  See how responsible Daddy is?  Just remember, this is just Every Other Weekend Stuff.  It's not a plan for regular, healthy eating."

4.  Why does every kid of a certain age in every commercial have to talk like this horrible little girl?  I would rather stick nails in my eyes than have a "conversation" with this treacly little drip lasting more than five minutes.  How about letting Daddy eat the meal he just purchased and is now inexplicably giving a speech about, and stop reminding Daddy why Mommy loves these weekends so much?

5.  Why does Daddy call for the waitress at the end of this commercial?  What does he plan on asking the waitress to do?  Adopt his kids?  Tell them that Talking is Not Allowed at Denny's and if they keep it up, they won't get dessert?  Bring a sedative he can slip into the kids' milkshakes?  What?

Gun Lake Casino: Where the trolls come out to play

Seriously, did the makers of this awfulness go out of their way to find the most repulsive, unlikeable humaniods not already booked to appear in cell phone commercials to appear in this ad?  Because these ugly, nasty, stupid mutts are really beyond the pale when it comes to being just plain repelling.

"Everyone's winning at Gun Lake Casino."  Wow, really?  Well, I guess it's probably too late for me to get in on the action.  Gun Lake Casino must have gone out of business some time ago.  Oh wait, what?  The vast majority of people who play at Gun Lake Casino actually walk away with less money than they walked in with?  Well, I'll be darned.  How come they aren't hopping up and down and waving their arms and grossing me out in advertisements for Gun Lake Casino?

Oh, right.....

So instead, we've got mostly senior citizens "enjoying" their golden years by blowing their social security checks on slot machines.  All senior citizens LOVE Gun Lake Casino- even the ones that have no neck (what IS it with that guy?  Ugh.)  And to make sure that we don't think that Gun Lake Casino isn't just for seniors, here's a middle-aged-looking fat doofus woman telling us how much SHE loves it, too.  So if you go to Gun Lake Casino, it won't look and smell entirely like Leisure Village with cheap, watered down drinks and lots of noise.  Women like this stupid slob will be there too.  Boy, that sure sweetens the deal, doesn't it?

All this Separate Addicts From Their Money ASAP stuff is pretty lame and sad- maybe not as sad as commercials for CashStop and Rent A Center and LibertyTax and TaxMasters and all the rest aimed at the bored, scared and/or just plain stupid, but pretty close.  Sad, and irritating, because you know that the scumbags who profit from these things don't give a flying damn if their clientele can afford to lose or not.  As Mr. Burns once told us, Casinos have the perfect business model- people come in, spend money on nothing, and leave, generally without complaint.  And even when they win, they generally keep coming back until they lose.  Kind of amazing that there aren't more of these things- but that's a "problem" that is being remedied by revenue-hungry, cowardly legislators.  If you don't live near a Casino, just wait a few years.  You will.

Commercial Curmudgeon want all horrible Couchgating monkeys Go Boom!

Sometimes, I feel compelled to start off my blog post with an apology for subjecting readers to a god-awful mess of an ad that they might have been blessed to have missed.  In the case of this horrid commercial for fried chicken parts, I think that the whole damn post should be an apology.

I'm sorry I needed to comment on an ad featuring about a dozen of the most loathsome excuses for human beings seen on television since the last showing of The Phantom Menace.  (I mean, just look at these Smug For No Reason At All jackanapes.)  I'm sorry for the contribution I've made in spreading KFC's latest attempt to introduce a new tagline into the national lexicon:  Couchgating. As in Couchgating: To sit on your fat, lazy ass wolfing down a month's worth of grease and carbs over the course of three hours.   I mean, I always thought Tailgating was really stupid- but at least Tailgaters had to leave the freaking house. And Tailgaters tend to set up barbecues and toss footballs around parking lots while creating and nurturing social connections with other Tailgaters.  Compared to sitting like zombies watching a football game while cramming mass-produced poisonous junk from a magic (always overflowing, never goes down even a little no matter how many pieces of the crud are removed) bucket on the table?  Tailgating is the height of entertainment compared to Couchgating.

And I'm sorry that the image of that wretched, poor excuse for a female life form bleating "Game Day Bucket Go Boom" will be with your long after you've cursed my name and closed this page.  Here's something I'd really like to see go boom, lady.  Your intestines.  Your furnace.  Anything that causes you to keel over and never, ever pollute my television screen again.

Because I'm really not into apologizing, and hope I never have to do it again.  But who am I kidding?