GOT AN IDEA?

I am assisting in the hunt for a WINNER of a product for an Infomercial. The WINNER will receive $50,000 and a FULL TV deal. I worked for some time with an infomercial studio, and have come in contact with many of the ICONS in the field. I have evaluated many products. As of now, all product ideas will proceed to step 2, and be evaluated.

I am working on a SECURE address to send the idea. I only want the ideas, up front, and will offer a CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT to any submissions.

Be working on an idea, I will update with further contact sources.

This is a GENUINE offer and all submissions will be held in strictness of confidentiality.

50 grand AND a FULL TV DEAL .... not bad.


More information to come.

What Next? Maybe a wrist radio?

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some people have had it with TV. They've had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don't like timing their lives around network show schedules. They're tired of $100-plus monthly bills.

A growing number of them have stopped paying for cable and satellite TV service, and don't even use an antenna to get free signals over the air. These people are watching shows and movies on the Internet, sometimes via cellphone connections. Last month, the Nielsen Co. started labeling people in this group "Zero TV" households, because they fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the U.S., up from 2 million in 2007.

Winning back the Zero TV crowd will be one of the many issues broadcasters discuss at their national meeting, called the NAB Show, taking place this week in Las Vegas.

While show creators and networks make money from this group's viewing habits through deals with online video providers and from advertising on their own websites and apps, broadcasters only get paid when they relay such programming in traditional ways. Unless broadcasters can adapt to modern platforms, their revenue from Zero TV viewers will be zero.

"Getting broadcast programing on all the gizmos and gadgets — like tablets, the backseats of cars, and laptops — is hugely important," says Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters.

MEMO

MEMO

FROM: All Network Sports Television Executives

TO: All Colleges and Universities participating in Bowl Games in 2012 and 2013

SUBJECT: Bowl Games

It has been brought to our attention by our accounting department that many previous bowl games have been boring, uneventful,unattended and  financially not profitable for all concerned. For those and other reasons, we are asking all 68 teams to strive to keep the games as close as possible through the third (03rd) quarter. All network executives would be exceedingly appreciative if all games were tied at the end of the third (03rd) quarter.

The monetary rewards that your school (conference) will receive remains the same regardless of the competitiveness and outcome of the game, but advertisers have complained that viewership has declined greatly, on some occasions, at halftime due to lopsided scores and teams being greatly outplayed by their opponents.

Realistically, the games have no importance, they are, after all, created solely for the benefit of creating "television revenue," and filling dead air time during a previously slow season.

So, please, to appease our advertising family, please keep the games as close as possible. Look at the game as Three Quarters for Advertisers and one quarter for the team, the fans, and the school, and whatever minuscule benefits are derived by emerging victorious over a much lesser opponent. After all, in most cases you are receiving a nice vacation in a highly desirable climate.

In future years we hope to expand the number of games to include every collegiate college program in the country, and by 2015 it is our goal to include high school teams in some selected areas, i.e. Texas and Florida.

Remember, this is "show business," ratings, and audience, save the athletics and heroics  for your regularly scheduled games.

Please take this memo as a "suggestion" and not as a threat in any way, keeping in mind that it is we who determine who goes to many bowl games, and therefore who is part of the multi million dollar payday. 

Wishing you all the best of luck in the "fourth quarter."

Study reveals violent head contact can lead to CTE

I doubt that anyone was surprised, what took them so long to determine this? I doubt the TV networks care, the harder the hits the more the viewers. Touch football would not go over well ...........

On the heels of the latest NFL suicide, researchers announced today that 34 NFL players whose brain were studied suffered from CTE, a degenerative brain disease brought on by repeated hits to the head that results in confusion, depression and, eventually, dementia.

The study was released just days after the murder-suicide of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher. It's not yet known what triggered Belcher's action, but they mirror other NFL players who have committed suicide.

Researchers at Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy published the largest case series study of CTE to date, according to the center. Of the 85 brains donated by the families of deceased veterans and athletes with histories of repeated head trauma, they found CTE in 68 of them. Of those, 34 were professional football players, nine others played college football and six played only high school football.

Of the 35 professional football players' brains donated, only one had no evidence of the disease, according to the study.

Commercials ..... too many

I am becoming convinced, that TV shows, sports, news, talk shows, are all noting more that a venue for commercials. They just can't run commercials all the time, they need "filler," and that's where all the shows come in.

If you think that TV doesn't rule sports, channel hop sometime, I just did, four football games, all had time outs at the same time, to air commercials.

Infomercials are at least honest, they are on the air to sell products, they are just one "honest" commercial. All of the other shows are just "fronts" so they can show commercials.

We realistically watch commercials, interrupted by some sad acting, action shots or sports. Commercials are the name of the game, the interruptions are just for show.

On the football field, there is a guy with a red sleeve, when the sleeve goes UP, the action stops, when the arm comes DOWN, action continues.

Chad Everett dies at 75

Chad Everett was married to Shelby Grant for 45 years until her death in 2011.

Chad Everett, who starred in the 1970s TV drama "Medical Center," has died. He was 75.

Everett's daughter told the Associated Press that he died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles after a year-and-a-half-long battle with lung cancer.

Perhaps best known for his role as surgeon Dr. Joe Gannon, the actor was twice nominated for a Golden Globe for his perfomances on "Medical Center." The series ran seven seasons and, at the time, tied with "Marcus Welby, M.D." for longest-running medical drama.

But in an acting career that spanned more than 40 years, Everett guest-starred on a wide range of television series, including "The Love Boat," "Murder, She Wrote," "Melrose Place" and as a closeted gay police officer on "Cold Case." Everett found a new audience in 2009 when he acted in an episode of the CW's "Supernatural" as an aged version of Dean Winchester, usually played by Jensen Ackles. He  recently appeared in the TV series "Castle."

Andy is gone --- his shows will live forever

Andy Griffith, a television legend who starred in two iconic series that debuted a quarter-century apart, has died, a friend says. He was 86.

Bill Friday, a former UNC president and close friend of Griffith's, told North Carolina NBC affiliate WITN-TV that the entertainer died this morning. The death has not been independently confirmed by NBC News.

Emergency Medical Services responded to an early morning call Tuesday from Griffith's home in Roanoke Island, N.C., according to reports.

Griffith was already a star of Broadway, comedy recordings and film when "The Andy Griffith Show" debuted on Oct. 3, 1960. Griffith starred as Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, North Carolina, a widower with a young son known only as Opie, played by Ron Howard, who would go on to star as Richie on "Happy Days" before becoming an award-winning director.

May 16, 2012, The day our lives were changed, forever

MAY 16, 2012


On that day, a saleslady came to our door, and could save us money, on our TV, Internet, Phone .... BUNDLE. She was going to get us a DISH, bundle, and save us $80 per month. I was ready to say NO, close the door, but my wife heard that ........ $80., so she was invited in.

She promised us everything, including METV, which we don't get, TCM, which we don't get, ONE payment, which due to "re-bundling" seems to have changed. WE took the bait. Later, got an UNSIGNED contract in the mail from them, two year contract, (which we did not know about), unsigned, with a couple of penciled initials.

Our life has been a living hell since that day. We were going to send the dish back, no problem, except, one wanted money for an early disconnect, and one wanted MORE money to re-connect, so, we decided to stay with the dish and our bundled package. EXCEPT, someone un-bundled it, and now they want at least TWO payments, way over what we were promised.

THINK closely before you decided upon a dish, the stress has put my wife in the hospital, $44,000.00, and now, we got another bill today .... on our bundled package.

Remember, salesmen want to make commissions, they will promise whatever to gain that goal. Consequences be damned, live for today, get that commission. These are old people and won't notice.

I told the DISH people, today, if my wife goes in the hospital again, THEY get the bill .... $44,000, and it goes to them. Our lives have not been the same since that date, May 16, 2012. It now replaces December 7, 1941 in importance.

She is quite a "dish" now has different meaning for me. "A day that will live in infamy," May 16, 2012.

And I still don't get TCM or meTV, and we still have that stupid dish in our front yard, and the piles of dust, still on the floor, where they drilled through the wall, three holes, three  piles of dust, and of course, the wire the installer used, when he stapled them to the front of our door jam. But, our dog, Caleb, has found a good place to relieve his bladder, on the pole, holding the DISH.

Growing old, growing old. ............

I am getting old, I can tell I am getting old. I had tears in my eyes many times this beautiful Saturday morning. All due to living so long.

Tom McNutt retired from television in Columbus, Ohio. I am not a big fan of his, I have seen him on TV often, he was a plants and trees and flowers guy on Saturday morning. Why was I sad?. Another milestone has come and gone, another memory I will see no more. Many "milestones" have come and gone, just means I am getting much older.

Then, on another channel, this was the last show for some lovely lady. I have no idea who she was, but I must have seen her on TV. From the remembrances, she was a very neat lady. I don't remember seeing her before, but, I will never see her again. That's what made me sad.

As George Younce, my favorite Gospel Singer,  said, "I know I have many more days behind me, than ahead of me." That makes me sad at times. When I get that way I stop and look at now, I have less than many, and I have much more than many, and much to be thankful for, almost 80 and "still above ground."

Farewell to Tom McNutt and that other girl, all on Saturday morning TV, never to be seen again.

Have we changed?

   The NFL Draft. How, when and why, did an event such as this, become so big in our culture. I guess the same way they have almost made the Super Bowl a national holiday. Sports shows and even the news are all talking about the upcoming DRAFT.

   Probably the same bunch of marketing people who have pushed the idea of a "green lawn," and billowing flowers being a must in your yard, every Summer. Check out the parking lot at Walmart or any such store. Tons of mulch and other outdoor "necessities" to make your yard more attractive, and the great thing, it only lasts a year and you have to do it all over again, how great is that?

    Marketers have trained the public to spend money, seasonally. Fall stuff, Summer stuff, Spring stuff, Winter stuff and assorted holidays. Easter, halloween, Christmas, all the holidays that require annual purchasing.

   TV, the master, our lives are dictated by them.

    I remember, years ago, a marketing lecture I attended, telling how great the Barbie Doll program was. The point of it was, sell a product, reasonably, with a "never ending" after market. The seasons come around every year, as do the holidays.

   Just think of all that "TV" actually controls in your daily life, scary isn't it?

   They used to sell gladiators and slaves to the highest bidder, same as we do today. I guess things really haven't changed that much.

Looking back a bit ............

No one could figure out how they did this .... amazing, for the time ............

HOW DID THEY DO THIS?    WAY BACK WHEN...

When did it happen?

Ellen DeGeneres wears neckties, 

and all the men on TV, don't.

 What happened?

Insurance .... ads on TV

Oh, hi Jan, I know it's been tough on you since your husband died.

Yes it has, Lillian, we were together for so many years, living alone is not easy. Oh, look, my insurance check is   here already, it will come in handy.

That was sure fast, have you had the policy long?

No, Ken just got it a few months ago, then I found out he had been going out with his secretary, and he had another policy with the same company that all went to her....... This crummy check is only for one thousand dollars, his love life there gets over fifty thousand, and the bitch even gets the house.

Why is that, Jan?

I guess they have been going together for quite some time, Lillian, and he had three children with her, and I have heard that he had policies on all of them, to pay for their college and all. Ken was so thoughtful, and she just loved this house.

What company is that, Jan, I am going right home and give them a call, I want to see if Harry has any other policies with them. Does it cost much.

Less than a postage stamp a day Lillian, of course that only gets you four hundred bucks, but you can have a nice night out with that. Good by Lillian, I'll let you know where I move to.

Who won the Super Bowl ...

What a world-wide event it has become, around 116 million viewers. chickens lost though, 1.25 billion chicken wings eaten Super Bowl weekend. The players made money, the owners, the league, ad agencies, the networks, TV stations. One guy plopped down $1000 on a first score being a safety, I think he won $50,000, the list of  "happenings" goes on and on.

I remember the first one, and have watched all or part of all of them since. I did not like the "strike" situation this year, and as a result, my own "silent protest" consisted of watching no NFL games this year. During the game, I was channel hopping and did see Brady throw that pass that cost them two points, and I watched the last two minutes of the game, which really was all that was needed. 

I am not clairvoyant, but I did predict a Giants victory. I am skeptical and have been for quite some time. TV is the reason for the games, so I think TV has a lot to do with outcomes. Welker rarely drops passes, but if he had held on to that one, the outcome might have been different, so he dropped it. Maybe a coincidence.

TV loves close halftime scores to lure people back for the second half. You don't see him, and I have not been to a game in a while, so it could be different, but on the sideline, near the end zone, is a guy with a brightly colored sleeve. When his arm goes up, no football, when it comes down, they play. He lets them know when it is OK to play. He is the TV guy on the field, not the refs or the line judges, the guy with the colored sleeve tells them when to play, controlled from up above by the guys on TV.

Both the losing team and the winning team players will be able to relax in their million dollar homes, work out the kinks in their Jacuzzi s, maybe take the trophy wife and the kids to Disneyland, or Nassau or some exotic place to unwind, been a grueling season. "Hey hon, I'm going to take the Bentley and get some steaks and lobsters for dinner tonight."

Everyone is happy, the fans, the networks, owners, teams,  all the stores who sold the goodies. Well, maybe some who are homeless, out or work, hungry, maybe some right there in Indianapolis, not far from the game, maybe they felt better knowing everyone was having a good time, maybe.

When and How?

Years ago, we paid the electric company, the water department, the gas company, had a small phone bill, and that was it. Now, we pay more for the TV, Internet and Telephone, that we paid for all of the others. When did we start paying for TV?

We had an antenna on the house, some were even electric and could be turned a full 360 degrees to get the best "signal." There was no Internet to pay, no TV to pay, what happened?

I can listen to the radio for nothing. I think our first house payment was $75 or something like that. We moved in for "nothing down," and had just that small payment, and our "utilities" were very little. Now we pay as much rent in our apartment, as I used to make a month.

Why do we pay for TV, I forget?

Times are a-changin .......... Part One

I received this in an email today, and there is some good food for thought contained herein. It is lengthy, so I am going to put up a few items at a time. I am not sure of the origin or the validity, but it contains some interesting thoughts..............

CHANGES ARE COMING ---- Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come!


1. The Post Office. Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.

2. The Check. Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.

3. The Newspaper. The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.

4. The Book. You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.

5. The Land Line Telephone. Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes

Sunday Morning Reflections

Sunday, November 7, 2010, 0800, been up since 0700 because of time change and Caleb, our dog. (Previous entry)

Obama is in China. He says he is creating jobs. IF the manufacture EVERYTHING and we have OUTSOURCED all of our manufacturing to them, and then BUY all their products, that does not register with me, just makes it look like he is up to some BS to justify his being there and to blow a little more smoke up our collective butts.  Golly, would a politician do that?

SWEEPING CHANGES in the political picture, OPTIMISM abounds ..... probably for a little while and then everything will be back to normal. Now Conservative pockets will get heavy with coin, unemployment will continue to soar, foreclosures will continue to climb, and we will have a lot of families hungry and cold this winter. In Columbus, Ohio, the food pantry is bare. TV stations are trying to generate food donations. Saw them doing that Saturday, not the lines of cars like there once were.

FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL AND NASCAR are still the two hot topics on television, along with pawn shops ..... that's interesting. The economy is bad, people need money, and pawn shop shows become popular on television. I wonder why that is?

POKER is still abundant on TV. I watched a little of a truck race the other night, the stands were almost empty (which they tried not to show) I wonder if TV is supporting NASCAR and all the races?

PICKERS are getting a lot of exposure. People who turn JUNK into cash. A few TV show now on that. I wonder if they are just training the unemployed on one possible means of income ..... BECOME A PICKER.

Years ago, many hears ago, I had a little "crystal set" radio, which I built. At night after getting into bed, I would get that little radio out, adjust the "cat whisker" and listen to WLW out of Cincinnati, Ohio, on the headphones. GLORIOUS to hear Peter Grant and music on those old headphones. We had a Philco and some other radios, but the crystal set, just something about it.

Then, the radio progressed to HI-FI,  a radio just wasn't good enough anymore, you needed HI-FI. I know, because the ADS told me. Then ....... STEREO ...... well, what they did was take the old radio signal and split it, so HI-FI died out, and STEREO was the only thing to have. It was like being in the Concert Hall, sitting right down front. Marketing and advertising told us all of that.

Then, the little black and white TV, gigantic set, ten-inch picture, but it was marvelous. Could not wait till the TV came on. WLW out of Cincinnati was still there  (we lived in Dayton, Ohio at the time) that was out best station. Still Peter Grant doing the news, but Ruth Lyons and Paul Baby, forget his last name, the  Barn Dance, Lulubell and Scotty, we lived by the old black and white TV.

THEN, OMG as the texters say, COLORED TELEVISION in LIVING color, didn't get any better than than that. They TV with SURROUND SOUND .... You had to have it .... four speakers instead of two, great marketing scam.

Now ....... TV in 3D, sitting in our living rooms, wearing the same glasses we wore back in the 50's at some of the movies, I guess that is progress.

NEXT, touring groups of entertainers, sponsored by the TV networks, who will travel around the country, and come to your home, and put on a LIVE SHOW in YOUR living room. The TODAY SHOW may be done right in your dining room. Tom Brokaw may do live news in your den. Or, maybe they will figure out some way to do a 3-D  projection in your room, to make it look like they are actually in your room.

Progress, it makes the world go round .......

Random Thoughts on a Monday

Helen Thoreau fell off of a chair, and layed on the floor for six hours ... if she had Lifeline, she would have been notified and help would have been on the way almost immediately.

When Mrs. Thoreau was asked about the experience, she replied, "Best rest I've had in years."

Politicians are getting lazy. TV ads, telephone calls, they make one recording and thousands of calls are made. I must admit, I'm getting a little sick and tired of them. I tune out the TV ads, can't tell who they are for anyway. In Ohio, Kasich mentions Strickland, his opponent, more  than he mentions his own name, and vice versa.

I honestly believe that certain races are "targeted" and outcomes are pre-determined, i.e., Reid will win in Nevada and Kasich will lose in Ohio. Obama wants Ohio, looking ahead to 2012. So, I would be shocked if Strickland loses, Obama and his band of merry supporters have worked too hard. Joe and Billy and Michelle and the president himself have made many trips to Ohio. Rumor has it that there is a temporary Oval Office set up in Columbus so BO can get some work done.

Charlie Sheen, that's another story. Two bottles of booze, $6500 each, porn star, wife, ex-wife, trash an expensive hotel room, re-hab time for old Charlie, runs in the family.

The press tried to reach the rest of the cast for comment, but no one knew their names or who they were or where they lived. No listing for Charlie's Mom, Charlie's Brother, Charlie's Brother's Kid, Charlie's Housekeeper, the girl who climbs up Charlie's porch, Charlie's Brothers ex-wife, or the tall guy who is married to Charlie's Brother's ex-wife.

Hey, what's in a name?

I Spy

Remember "I Spy" ..... Robert Culp and Bill Cosby, Culp is a tennis pro. I am watching reruns on RTV. He only carries two racquet's with him, and he smokes and drinks. A lot different than pros today.