TVSquad

One of the most physically painful TV moments in our lifetime was having to watch poor Montel Williams sell the last remainder of his soul for worthless Barack Obama commemorative coins.

It seemed just yesterday that the talk show host with the Yul Brenner scalp was chumming it up on the daytime talk show circuit, interviewing women who love too much or husbands who love way too much with people other than their wives. It was like watching the rock-bottom moment of a man's life in the wake of his waning glory days without it airing on VH1.

Now a local action news station has blown the lid off these coins that Montel has reduced himself to hawking: they are a bigger gyp than Baywatch Nights.

I always had mixed feelings about Montel Williams and his now-defunct talk show. Sure, the show had its sleazy moments, but overall, he seemed to proceed in a more dignified way than most of his daytime talk brethren. I also admired him for his very public battle with MS and his advocacy to raise awareness of the disease. It seemed like Montel was set to transition to a post-show career that was at the very least not going to be embarrassing.

Then I saw him on an ad promoting one of those awful coins that commemorate Barack Obama's inauguration. You know which ones I'm talking about: they take a real (or semi-real) coin, dip it in gold, paint Obama's image on it, and claim that they're "rare" keepsakes that "comemorate" his historic inauguration, and will increase in value. So you basically pay some joint ten bucks plus shipping and handling to get a dollar or half-dollar coin that's worth... a dollar or half-dollar.