Gee, EUReKA, do we smell that bad?
Jul. 30th, 2008 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
farrandyWarning! Here may be spoilers!
Okay, so last night was the the start of the new season of EUReKA, and we decided to sit down and watch it in realtime instead of taping and watching it later. Big Mistake. Now, the show itself was fun, as usual, but the commercials! They're usually annoying enough on the SciFi channel, but I'm specifically talking about the deodorant commercials that kept repeating AT EVERY BREAK! These involved a CGI robot that was trying to make humans sweat (I don't get it either). Later they had one where a a guy was being tested in a EUReKA type testing facility--again trying to make him sweat but since he'd used this type of deodorant, it wasn't working (I actually don't remember the name of the stuff--how's that for productive advertising--but I wouldn't use the name if I did). But down in the corner during this commercial was a little logo that said "Made in EUReKA". And I thought WTF? AND THEN during the last part of the episode, which involved the introduction of a new character, who is there supposedly to make sure that the government starts getting something out of the town or she'll just shut the place down (let's just call her Uber-Bitch), she says that "this" will be the first thing to help the town start paying for itself. "This" was several metal cases with the same name and logo as that frakin' deodorant!
Now, I got's nothin' against a little occasional product placement. I understand that the shows have to be payed for. I didn't mind during the last couple of seasons seeing the Cisco logo showing up on computer monitors and cellophones. I didn't mind when Tony Stark stopped at Burger King (if it had been McDonald's I might have--but that's another matter). But this was just really annoying and several questions come to mind:
1) Did they write the episode first and insert the commercial, or did they write the episode around the commercial?
2) Gee, if you're going to ram this kind of marketing down our throats, why not some clever techno-toy (I wouldn't mind having one of those Ghostbusters-type blasters that Carter and Joe were using). But Damn! Deodorant? Do you really think that we smell that bad? It's kind of insulting to your audience.
3) If I were to buy a product from EUReKA, it wouldn't be anything that Uber-Bitch was trying to sell. Henry, maybe, but not her (not sure the Marketing guys were thinking on this one).
4) ...or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe some people are dumb enough to buy a product just because it has "Made in EUReKA" on it. If so, all I have to say is ...."SUCKERS!"
5) Is this stuff really made in EUReKA? If not, then someone might have a false advertising suit on their hands (and if that works, Keebler better watch out with that whole "made by elves in a hollow tree" bit, but I digress...)
6) If it is made in EUReKA, tell me where it is, because I'd like to visit the factory. That town seems like it be a neat place for a vacation...though on second thought, considering how many times that place has nearly been destroyed or nearly caused the destruction of civilization/the world/the time-space continuum, maybe not...
Anyway, back to my point (I think I left it lying around here somewheres), It's good to have EUReKA back, and I have to admit that the Uber-Bitch looks to be an interesting character (she can't help what the writers are making her shill), but in the future, I think I'll only be watching it after taping it, to zip through the regular commercials. But if this situation worsens, I'll move out of EUReKA. I left those folks to be LOST on that island after one season, and haven't regretted it. Life is to short to have crap thrown at you every week.
Okay, so last night was the the start of the new season of EUReKA, and we decided to sit down and watch it in realtime instead of taping and watching it later. Big Mistake. Now, the show itself was fun, as usual, but the commercials! They're usually annoying enough on the SciFi channel, but I'm specifically talking about the deodorant commercials that kept repeating AT EVERY BREAK! These involved a CGI robot that was trying to make humans sweat (I don't get it either). Later they had one where a a guy was being tested in a EUReKA type testing facility--again trying to make him sweat but since he'd used this type of deodorant, it wasn't working (I actually don't remember the name of the stuff--how's that for productive advertising--but I wouldn't use the name if I did). But down in the corner during this commercial was a little logo that said "Made in EUReKA". And I thought WTF? AND THEN during the last part of the episode, which involved the introduction of a new character, who is there supposedly to make sure that the government starts getting something out of the town or she'll just shut the place down (let's just call her Uber-Bitch), she says that "this" will be the first thing to help the town start paying for itself. "This" was several metal cases with the same name and logo as that frakin' deodorant!
Now, I got's nothin' against a little occasional product placement. I understand that the shows have to be payed for. I didn't mind during the last couple of seasons seeing the Cisco logo showing up on computer monitors and cellophones. I didn't mind when Tony Stark stopped at Burger King (if it had been McDonald's I might have--but that's another matter). But this was just really annoying and several questions come to mind:
1) Did they write the episode first and insert the commercial, or did they write the episode around the commercial?
2) Gee, if you're going to ram this kind of marketing down our throats, why not some clever techno-toy (I wouldn't mind having one of those Ghostbusters-type blasters that Carter and Joe were using). But Damn! Deodorant? Do you really think that we smell that bad? It's kind of insulting to your audience.
3) If I were to buy a product from EUReKA, it wouldn't be anything that Uber-Bitch was trying to sell. Henry, maybe, but not her (not sure the Marketing guys were thinking on this one).
4) ...or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe some people are dumb enough to buy a product just because it has "Made in EUReKA" on it. If so, all I have to say is ...."SUCKERS!"
5) Is this stuff really made in EUReKA? If not, then someone might have a false advertising suit on their hands (and if that works, Keebler better watch out with that whole "made by elves in a hollow tree" bit, but I digress...)
6) If it is made in EUReKA, tell me where it is, because I'd like to visit the factory. That town seems like it be a neat place for a vacation...though on second thought, considering how many times that place has nearly been destroyed or nearly caused the destruction of civilization/the world/the time-space continuum, maybe not...
Anyway, back to my point (I think I left it lying around here somewheres), It's good to have EUReKA back, and I have to admit that the Uber-Bitch looks to be an interesting character (she can't help what the writers are making her shill), but in the future, I think I'll only be watching it after taping it, to zip through the regular commercials. But if this situation worsens, I'll move out of EUReKA. I left those folks to be LOST on that island after one season, and haven't regretted it. Life is to short to have crap thrown at you every week.
