I’ve never had much use for the “idiot box” (TV), ‘cept for Jeopardy, “Wheel” and the news and weather, especially when Channel 9’s Evelyn Taft is doing the prognosticating. Evelyn reminds me of a gal I used to know back in the day. Her name was McGill and she called herself Lil, but everyone knew her as Nancy. (“Rocky Raccoon” – The Beatles – 1968). I do believe she was a friend of Paul and Ringo.

Anyway, I’ve little use for mindless sitcoms; I won’t mention the names, but you know the ones, unless they are well-written and have something intelligent and socially redeeming to say, like M*A*S*H and Hogan’s Heroes, which are still being shown on Channel 54, the ME Channel.  With the writer’s strike in progress, you can expect to see a lot of reruns of mindless sitcoms. If I can stay awake long enough, I do like watching Colbert and Seth Meyers, neither of which need no stinkin’ writers, since they are already skilled writers.

What’s really annoying are those commercials for pharmaceuticals, where the announcer speeds up the tape so you don’t know what the heck they are saying because they don’t want you to know that you could die if you take their pills. What gets me is when they say don’t take this medication if you are allergic to it… Uh, how are you supposed to know whether you are allergic if you’ve never used it before?

Speaking of drugs, they have some pretty strange names lately, like Warfarin… me thinks Putin (or “Puttie” as George Dubya Bush calls him) has been ingesting way too much Warfarin of late. And, what about Skyrizi? Well, now that the most recent winter storm has passed, I stepped outside this morning, looked up at the sky and discovered a beautiful Skyrizi blue sky.

Many of the automobile dealers use the same tactic because they don’t want you to know about all the strings that are attached to the deal, like the one you want is not available or it’s going to cost more. Then there’s the guy that says, “I’m Joe Schmoe and I want to buy your house.” This guy is going to rip you off, for sure.

Another irritating commercial is the one from an insurance company where you hear a car beeping its horn like a car alarm as though it was getting broken into and you have to look out the window to see if it’s yours. It definitely gets your attention. Do I sound angry or what? Well, yeah, because all of these shysters prey on folks who are desperate. Sometimes, I feel like blowing up my TV.

Blow up your TV, throw away your paper, go to the country, build you a home, plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches, try and find Jesus on your own. (“Blow Up Your TV” – John Prine – 2010)

Keep it flyin’,

Uncle Mott