Category Archives: TV

It’s easy to laugh at the Food Network, if you know where to look




The Next Food Network Star
The Next Food Network Star

Web Watch is a fan of Food Network.

We like to cook.  We like to eat.  We like to learn about new places to eat, new cooking techniques, and maybe have some fun along the way.  

We’ve eaten at a number of Food Network-related restaurants: Guy Fieri’s JOHNNY GARLIC’s, Keegan Gerhard’s D BAR DESSERTS, Robert Irving’s EAT, and at any number of Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse, and Wolfgang Puck locations across the country.  Sometimes the food at the celebrity restaurants is merely adequate; other times it’s been phenomenal and has lived up to the hype.  But the journeys to eat at each location are always worth the trips.

Web Watch is not alone in our enjoyment of Food Network.  Over the years, Food Network has developed so much cooking- and food-related programming that they were able to program a second cable offering, Cooking Channel.  Obviously, there’s a demand for Food TV.

But with the growth that Food Network has had, there had to be some speedbumps along the way to trip them up. 

Continue reading "It’s easy to laugh at the Food Network, if you know where to look" »

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Also posted in Funny, Websites, food | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Video Fun: Travelogue Parodies of PURE MICHIGAN tourism campaign



Backroads and Byways of Michigan

Video and filmmaker John Kerfoot knows funny when he sees it.

And when John first saw the PURE MICHIGAN ads that were put together to promote travel throughout the lovely state of Michigan (as voiced by Tim Allen), it was just a matter of time before John was able to put his own spoof videos together.

NOT SO PURE MICHIGAN is a collection of those parody spots, highlighting… or low-lighting, if you will… some of the not-so-pleasant sides of visiting Michigan’s tourist destinations.

Continue reading "Video Fun: Travelogue Parodies of PURE MICHIGAN tourism campaign" »

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Also posted in Travel, Video, Websites | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Got at least $12,000? Book THE DAN BAND for your next party. GREEN DAY will cost you a little more




More Gigs Now: Concert Booking Secrets of Successful Musicians
More Gigs Now: Concert Booking Secrets of Successful Musicians

Web Watch last covered how much money it would take to book an artist for a private party many years ago.

Since then, the list of available artists has changed… as have the prices that they’ve charged.

So we felt that now was just as good a time as any to revisit the topic and present a selection of booking information we’ve found that can help you BUDGET AN ARTIST BOOKING FOR A PRIVATE EVENT.

Here is a sampling of approximate costs that you can expect to pay at a minimum if you decide to throw an exclusive private party and want a big-name artist or speaker to come and perform for you and your drunk friends at your house:

Continue reading "Got at least $12,000? Book THE DAN BAND for your next party. GREEN DAY will cost you a little more" »

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Also posted in How To, Music, Websites, sports | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Confirmation that TiVo Doesn’t Hurt TV Advertising




TiVo 4.0 Premiere XL DVR
TiVo Premiere XL DVR

Longtime readers should recall when Web Watch shared TiVo Viewing Statistics that listed what types of programs TiVo users were watching when skipping through commercials.  Those metrics indicated which were the most common shows to be watched live (such as American Idol) vs those shows that viewers would store up on their TiVo to watch later (such as Grey’s Anatomy).

There has been a long-standing debate among broadcasters and advertisers as to whether TiVo, DVRs, and the ability to skip commercials hurts advertising.  The belief was that if the viewer didn’t watch the commercial, then why bother to buy the advertising in the first place?

In the past year, we’ve seen more creative advertising pieces be put together, in an attempt to “TiVo-proof” the commercial.  Some movie trailers, for example, display static content in a black bar above the trailer being played — so even if the commercial is being fast-forwarded through, the viewer can still see the name of the film being advertised.

Continue reading "Confirmation that TiVo Doesn’t Hurt TV Advertising" »

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Also posted in Gadgets, News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Today’s Fun Fact: By the time a child finishes elementary school, they will have witnessed over 8,000 murders




Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill
Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill

According to a STUDY ON TELEVISION VIEWING HABITS by A.C. Nielsen, by the time a child fnishes elementary school, they would have watched over 8,000 murders on TV.  By the time they reach 18, that number grows to over 200,000 violent acts.

If it helps, the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV every day.  If that person lives 65 years, they would have spent at least nine years – about 13% of their life – simply watching TV.

Continue reading "Today’s Fun Fact: By the time a child finishes elementary school, they will have witnessed over 8,000 murders" »

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Also posted in News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“50 things that every person should learn in life” can be applied to reality TV




Esquire's A Man's Guide to Life: The Rules
Esquire’s A Man’s Guide to Life: The Rules

Esquire’s book, A MAN’S GUIDE TO LIFE is just like THE MODERN MAN’S GUIDE TO LIFE or Denis Boyle‘s A MAN’S LIFE: THE COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS - books filled with rules and helpful instructions to let any man prove that he is, in fact, A Man.  Web Watch highly recommends offering any of these three books to graduating high school seniors (or even as bar mitzvah gifts, since that is when A Boy Becomes a Man).

Continue reading "“50 things that every person should learn in life” can be applied to reality TV" »

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Also posted in 10 Things, Websites | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Can You Name the Top Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Characters of All Time?



The Gay Cookbook

Web Watch admits that we watch a lot of TV.  And frankly, we’re willing to watch practically anything that the networks and various cable channels decide to fill our TiVo automatically-recorded suggestions queue with.

Which is why we don’t understand what all the kerfuffle is that some have about the types of characters that TV anf film writers and producers decide to use on their scripted shows.  Web Watch doesn’t care about the sexual orientation of the characters on the shows or films we watch – we just want what we’re watching to be good in the first place.

Continue reading "Can You Name the Top Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Characters of All Time?" »

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Also posted in 10 Things, Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Update to our Discovery Channel “Boom de ya da” Post



Earlier this month, Web Watch posted about parodies of the Discovery Channel’s BOOM DE YA DA commercial.

How could we not include THIS TRIBUTE TO WEB COMIC xkcd featuring online favs like Cory Doctorow and Wil Wheaton, which was based on THIS xkcd cartoon, based on the Discovery Channel commercial (shown below).  Whew!

xkcd loves Discovery Channel

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Also posted in Internet, Video | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Have an embarrassing medical question? Check out EMBARRASSING BODIES (yup, it’s NSFW)




Embarrassing Medical Problems

Web Watch knows that it’s wrong to laugh at other people’s medical situations. 

However, Web Watch can recommend laughing at the questions that can arise from some of the more unusual medical issues that can crop up from time to time.

Because let’s face it – some folks have either some amusing medical problems or they don’t mind asking in public what are normally private conversations that one should have with their personal physician.

The UK’s Channel 4 embraces this philosophy wholeheartedly, to the point of making an Internet television program that serves just that purpose.  EMBARRASSING BODIES and EMBARRASSING BODIES LIVE are a TV program and companion website that allows viewers of all shapes and sizes and of all ages and educational backgrounds a platform to ask just those questions — anonymously — that they just feel uncomfortable asking a doctor, family, or friend about.

Continue reading "Have an embarrassing medical question? Check out EMBARRASSING BODIES (yup, it’s NSFW)" »

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Also posted in Funny, Video | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How to win at SURVIVOR or succeed in the real world – it’s all about game theory



Introduction to Game Theory

In a previous post, Web Watch mentioned how GAME THEORY plays an important part in the reality TV show SURVIVOR.

The key to understanding what that means is to know what GAME THEORY is all about.  Luckily, Web Watch has found a way to boil it down into some bite-sized chunks for our faithful Web Watch readers.

Continue reading "How to win at SURVIVOR or succeed in the real world – it’s all about game theory" »

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Also posted in Games, How To | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment