Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 09:36 pm
Anyway. Anyone watch The Gruen Transfer? It was..interesting. A mix of commentary, humour, and offensively smarmy ad execs.

I think where it's going to suffer compared to, say "Spicks and Specks" or "The New inventors" is that unlike inventors and musicians, nobody likes ad executives. This may be an insurmountable flaw in the "watch ad executives talk for 30 minutes" format, although I did get some joy from watching them prove just how smarmy they really were (the two dumpy guys anyway, the other two weren't so bad)
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Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 01:50 pm (UTC)
I agree with that assessment entirely
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 01:34 am (UTC)
I do have to wonder what they were thinking
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 01:52 pm (UTC)
Needs far less Wil Anderson. He could ruin free bars of gold for me.
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 01:22 am (UTC)
So you'd enjoy it more if it was just ad executives patting each ohter on the back about how awesome they are? (Of course, enjoying it more doesn't mean you'd like it)
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 09:12 am (UTC)
I was internetting while watching, so I wasn't bothered by the boring bits.

I really like the beef of the sea bit, so I think I'll keep watching to see what they come up with each week.
Friday, May 30th, 2008 01:27 am (UTC)
Mm, I'm curious to see where it goes.
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 02:05 pm (UTC)
The guy immediately to Wil's right was such an arse. I liked the folks to his left far, far more.
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 12:55 am (UTC)
That comment was unintentionally funnier than the whole show, which struck me as being overly smug at stating the obvious with commentary and humour not dissimilar to the quality I would expect from a Fark.com thread.
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 01:43 am (UTC)
Well, yes, but most satirical comedy is like that.
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 01:37 am (UTC)
I know! But the guy on the far left was imo a prat too, just quieter and so easier to ignore.
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 02:21 pm (UTC)
I could see myself pinching parts of this for use in my class room.

I'm also glad that they pointed out the link between so-called woman-friendly Dove and not so woman-friendly Lynx.
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 01:48 am (UTC)
Mmm, I don't think they were anywhere near as critical and thinky as they could have been, but they did bring up some good points.

And this being the ABC, I'm sure they'd be totally cool with it being used for educational purposes :)
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 11:53 pm (UTC)
Yet another ABC panel show, what a big surprise. But it feels like a John Safran idea made to sell the advertising industry. I will admit I was surprised by some of the stuff that came out of their discussion and they hit on some excellent points. But like with all panel shows, you're never sure how it's going to turn out due to the guests. it's obvious that the left were supposed to be funny and right were meant to be smart, but he wasn't quite getting it.

And will isn't confortable yet, stypid glasshouse.

give it a little settling in time for them to find their niche and it'll work, and i'll quite happily watch smarmy execs for half a hour, this is something that has little focus.
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 01:49 am (UTC)
I think it does have potential, but I'm not as confident that potential will be reached. Still, I'm curious to see where it goes from here.

And yes, they do like panel shows don't they?
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 02:19 am (UTC)
What TV exec wouldn't like panel shows? They're cheap to run, without spreading the stain of reality television. All you need is a good presenter and a group of people with a sense of humour, and it's instant success.
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 05:30 am (UTC)
Absolutely :)
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 12:30 am (UTC)
This reminds me of Bill Hicks taking a moment in his stand-up routine to say "By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself." :)
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 01:49 am (UTC)
:)
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 04:00 am (UTC)
no, and argh no podcast!
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 05:11 am (UTC)
Doesn't the link I gave have a download?
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 09:00 am (UTC)
From what I've heard in the last few weeks I was expecting more "this is how they make that one hamburger that nobody ever actually bites and that looks nothing like a Big Mac". I thought that was coming up when they got into how to make beer have a big head, but they only talked about that a little bit.
Friday, May 30th, 2008 01:30 am (UTC)
Yeah, I wasn't quite sure what to expect but it definitely wasn't what I got.