Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Annoying Commercials

 Sometimes watching television becomes a chore, in that commercials seem to pop up more and more often. A ninety-minute movie can stretch out to four hours due to so much commercial time. And most of the time the ads are very annoying with the exception of the "Mean Joe" Green commercial that first aired in September 1979 in which a young fan offers him a coke. 

In the commercial, the kid offers Mean Joe a coke prompting him to smile and toss the kid his team jersey. When the kid catches the jersey and says "Gee thanks, Mean Joe," I always feel that lump in my throat. The human kindness of this simple gesture made it the top commercial of all time according to TV Guide magazine. There are some commercials, however, that make you want to pull an Elvis Presley and blast the TV to smithereens, especially those about medical malpractice and medicines.

One ad in particular asks people to call the number if they have suffered death from taking a certain medicine. This would mean that a dead person would call that number! Do they really want to talk to a dead person? Go figure.

I smell a John Grisham novel when I see an ‘ambulance chasers’ (read lawyers) ad that fill the commercial time when they advertise they can file your lawsuit against employers’ who are responsible for providing unsafe working conditions which resulted in your becoming sick with Mesothelioma (asbestos related.) No wonder  doctors’ malpractice insurance is so high. I’m just saying… 

There are some tasteless commercials that are shown about personal subjects when it’s family time for watching TV. This prompts me to remind the program directors to screen the ads out of respect for the viewer who is repulsed and embarrassed by the ill-timed commercial.

"Hi, Billy Mays here for Oxiclean!" Do you love him or loathe him? If you watch any basic cable TV, it’s nearly impossible to avoid seeing (and hearing) Billy’s commercials. He has represented a wide range of products that are mainly used around the house. His high pitched voice (about three decibels too high) would trigger an earthquake.

I’m sorry to say that the pitchman of all pitchmen died this week at the age of fifty.  But Billy’s ads will go on and on and on. The TV channels have a stash of his tapes that will last to the end of this millennium.

And so it goes.

This recipe is refreshingly cool and delicious.

Strawberry Pretzel Squares

2 cups finely crushed pretzels

1/2 cup  sugar, divided

2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

1-1/2 pkg.  (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA 

Cream Cheese, softened

2 Tbsp. milk

1 cup  thawed COOL WHIP Whipped 

Topping

2 cups boiling water

1 pkg.  (6 oz.) JELL-O Strawberry 

Flavor Gelatin

1-1/2 cups cold water

1 qt.  (4 cups) strawberries, sliced

HEAT oven to 350°F.

MIX pretzel crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and butter. Press onto bottom of 13×9-inch pan. Bake 10 min. Cool.

BEAT cream cheese, remaining sugar and milk until blended. Stir in COOL WHIP; spread over crust. Refrigerate.

ADD boiling water to gelatin mix in large bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in cold water. Refrigerate 1-1/2 hours or until thickened (spoon drawn through leaves definite impression). Stir in strawberries; spoon over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.