Watching television, there is one thing that stands out more than the new fall television shows, or even the constant news coverage of terrorism. At least it stands out to someone like me, a Communication major, who also writes a column on television. Those little things that occur in two or three minute intervals that break up our favorite programs: commercials.
Over the past few weeks many of these nuggets of information and manipulation have been noticeably different. Sure, there are still the old annoying Cleo the Psychic adds and those “Seven Up Yours” commercials, but one theme has reigned supreme over the past few weeks from America’s advertising companies: “You love America, and since you love America, live your life as normal” or “Make America Great Again.” Translate those messages: “Go to the mall and buy stuff, that is the best way you can fight terrorists.” Company after company has ad campaigns that have just begun airing that spread, either a message of patriotism or a plea to consumers to return to normal by buying their stuff. Investment firms like Payne Webber, Merrill Lynch, airlines like American and Southwest, and especially car companies have began to spread this message.
On the surface the message seems legitimate enough; if these companies fail, great damage will be done to the U.S economy. Consumers can help by continuing to buy. However, we don’t need this thrown in our faces every commercial break.
Ad campaigns have always been foolish and manipulative enough over the years, but using a national tragedy to sell soda or cars is unnecessary, and just plain corny. If companies want to have ad campaigns that allude to the tragedy, that is acceptable in small doses, but draping the American flag and patriotic music all over an ad to increase profits is not. Make no mistake about it, I’ve got no problem with the American flag unlike a certain know-it-all physics professor from around here does. Heck, fly as many flags as you want. I’d just rather not see it as a tool used to sell things.
Tube Notes Show Spotlight:
Undeclared (Fox, Tuesday 8:30)
There is no place like home, except maybe for a co-ed college dorm. That’s the tagline for the new Fox show “Undeclared,” one of the few pleasant surprises of the new fall television season. The dramedy chronicles the lives of a group of college freshmen at a fictional California University. Unlike other depictions of college life (cough…. “Felicity”) this one actually has some element of realism to it. Out are all the melodramatic introspective moments and plush apartments and dorms in the middle of New York City, and in are boozing, parties and dorms that actually look like dorms.
The show centers around Steven (played by Canadian born Jay Buchal) as a likable, dorky but not too dorky (an actual realistic person on a teen TV series for once!), college freshmen whose biggest problem is that his father has for some reason followed him off to college, potentially ruining “the best years of his life.” Buchal has a unique acting style that seems awkward at times, and is heavy on facials and stressing certain words. Still, he has a certain onscreen charisma that makes the character likable, as is the obvious intention. The rest of the cast (all Steven’s hall or roommates) is far from bit players and all help to drive the series. Each one of the characters has their own quirks that help keep the ensemble fresh, and moving in a wide variety of potential plotlines. There’s Steven’s roommate, the British lover boy Lloyd (Charlie Hunnam), Ron (Seth Rogan), the stereotypical freshmen partier, and Lizzie, the introspective (ok, there is some of that) female, plus a few others.
The main strengths of the show are its smart dialogue and offbeat topics. This is no surprise considering that the executive producer of the series is Jay Apatow, the man behind both “The Larry Sanders Show” and the short lived but quality NBC series “Freaks and Geeks,” two shows which were entertaining for precisely the same reasons “Undeclared” is. Whether it’s hiring a local townie (Will Ferrell) to write term papers for them in one episode, or Steven being relegated to sleeping in the lounges along with dozens of others because their roommates are all having sex in this week’s episode, the show topics manage to be offbeat and clever. After all, teen angst and unrequited love have been explored to death on television, dealing with roommates having sex and cheating on term papers hasn’t.
It’s not as if “Undeclared” is completely unique from all other teenage series, it does at times resemble the status quo. Still, it manages to mix in enough originality to separate it from the pack. Ratings for the show have been decent, so hopefully “Undeclared” will make it through the semester. Who knows, maybe it will even make the Deans List. Either way, it is off to a solid start. Grade: A/B
