From the ER waiting room, part two: Saturday television
While waiting to be seen in the ER waiting room Saturday, I thankfully had a book. Otherwise I would have been forced to watch nearly five hours of television. Tuned to an American station, no less.
It started out with terrible, terrible cartoons. None of which I could bear to watch long enough to get a name.
Then there were the non-animated, Saturday morning sitcoms and children's action shows. The two shows I happen to remember were the new Power Rangers and a sitcom with the actress who played Olivia in the Cosby Show. She still annoys me. After watching random samples from both of these shows, I can only conclude that that class of television exists to provide jobs to crappy actors and writers.
There was a four-year-old with his parents there for a while. Little guy with light brown hair and intelligent eyes. When a new character would come on screen he'd say to his parents, "Who is that?"
When the Power Rangers came on and were about to fight the villains, the kid gasped.
"No! Don't hit him!" he cried.
His dad grinned and looked down at the child.
"Have you seen this show before?" the dad asked.
"At Nana’s," said the kid. "It's a bad show. I don't like it."
After that were the infomercials. Dear God, the Americans must love their beef. The entire hour was devoted to these slow-cooking home rotisserie things that came with a variety of extra items. Two syringe like things were for injecting stuff into the meat before it cooked. One was for solids like garlic or cranberries. The other was for liquids, like lemon juice.
These great big plastic mitt things came as well. I think they were called "barbecue mitts." They'd protect your hands from burning when taking out the enormous slabs of beef that these home rotisseries held. Then you could wash them in your dishwasher or something.
I swear the "audience" was either well paid or well brainwashed. The host would close up the rotisserie, twist a dial and say, "Set it..."
And then the audience - all smiles, all eager eyes - would cry, "and forget it!"
This happened five times.
It started out with terrible, terrible cartoons. None of which I could bear to watch long enough to get a name.
Then there were the non-animated, Saturday morning sitcoms and children's action shows. The two shows I happen to remember were the new Power Rangers and a sitcom with the actress who played Olivia in the Cosby Show. She still annoys me. After watching random samples from both of these shows, I can only conclude that that class of television exists to provide jobs to crappy actors and writers.
There was a four-year-old with his parents there for a while. Little guy with light brown hair and intelligent eyes. When a new character would come on screen he'd say to his parents, "Who is that?"
When the Power Rangers came on and were about to fight the villains, the kid gasped.
"No! Don't hit him!" he cried.
His dad grinned and looked down at the child.
"Have you seen this show before?" the dad asked.
"At Nana’s," said the kid. "It's a bad show. I don't like it."
After that were the infomercials. Dear God, the Americans must love their beef. The entire hour was devoted to these slow-cooking home rotisserie things that came with a variety of extra items. Two syringe like things were for injecting stuff into the meat before it cooked. One was for solids like garlic or cranberries. The other was for liquids, like lemon juice.
These great big plastic mitt things came as well. I think they were called "barbecue mitts." They'd protect your hands from burning when taking out the enormous slabs of beef that these home rotisseries held. Then you could wash them in your dishwasher or something.
I swear the "audience" was either well paid or well brainwashed. The host would close up the rotisserie, twist a dial and say, "Set it..."
And then the audience - all smiles, all eager eyes - would cry, "and forget it!"
This happened five times.
