TVSquad

Have you seen the Brooke Shields' commercial for Latisse? Were you as confused by it as I was? It sounded like a cosmetics commercial, which I think was the idea. They soft-sold the whole pharmaceutical angle because of the side effects. After all, getting longer eyelashes is worth risking red and itchy eyes, or "eyelid skin darkening," isn't it?

Generally speaking, I like Brooke. I watched Suddenly Susan. I even watched Lipstick Jungle. But I don't like this commercial, even if she's endorsing the best eyelash growing stuff in the world. The way it's put together is deceptive. It looks and sounds like she's selling eye makeup, which she's not.

Does it seem like every other month there's some talk about the proposed Arrested Development movie? Perhaps that's because it's an idea that simply won't go away until the film is actually in theaters and fans of the Emmy-winning Fox series will finally be satisfied. Well, satisfaction may be just around the corner. The Arrested Development movie is really developing now. Creator Mitchell Hurwitz is at work on the screenplay -- working with co-executive producer James Vallely -- and the Bluths are creeping closer to big screen reality.

Arrested Development was a critical darling that managed three seasons of low ratings before FOX pulled the plug. Creator Mitch Hurwitz reunited with AD star Will Arnett for this past season's animated disaster Sit Down, Shut Up.

Now, they're reuniting with AD co-executive producer Jim Vallely for a third shot. This one's a live-action single camera comedy on FOX starring Arnett as a jackass. It's off to a good start; Arnett plays jackass very well.

The premise: Arnett is rich Beverly Hills stock and falls in love with a tree-hugger who hates him and every shallow thing he stands for. Just for being live-action, I think this one has potential. Arnett is waiting for the right vehicle to make him a star, and we already know what Hurwitz is capable of. Could this be their pot of ratings gold?

With a three million dollar price per thirty seconds along with an extremely down economy, many of the regular supporters are bowing out of their standard Super Bowl spots. But apparently Hollywood is stepping up to fill in the gaps.

Since its origins, television has always been supported by the movie industry. It makes sense since they're so interconnected (television is mostly an ad-based revenue stream and I've heard that the marketing budget of a lot of studio films is something like 40% of its total cost).

I'm sort of sorry to hear this. I'm not a sports fan but have always tried to catch the Super Bowl because of the clever commercials. It's not likely that Star Trek or X-Men Origins: Wolverine is going to do a Bowl-specific ad. On the other hand, if they did get Hugh Jackman to dress in costume and puncture a football with his claw, or Chris Pine to vaporize it with a phaser, it would be the talk of the water cooler the next day.

There is definitely a generational gap with this presidential election, with the elderly favoring McCain and the youth favoring Obama. I'm generalizing of course, but it certainly seems like the campaign advertising is geared that way. One piece of evidence is two cast members of Gossip Girl appearing in an anti-McCain ad.

Granted, since the elderly isn't exactly the target demographic of Gossip Girl, I doubt anyone's grandma is going to stop voting for McCain because Blake Lively asked her to. I doubt said grandma even knows who Blake Lively is. At least the ad acknowledges that most of the demographic for the show aren't old enough to vote and therefore have to convince their parents. When have parents ever listened to their children with regards to their voting preferences?

The campaign is kind of reminiscent of Sarah Silverman's "Great Schlep" Obama ad. That one garnered a response by comedian Jackie Mason. I wonder if this advertisement will get a similar response. If so, will the response be done by the cast of Matlock?

John McCain's presidential campaign included images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in a television attack ad against opponent Barack Obama. Now, one-half of that duo strikes back and the result is posted on Funny or Die.

At first, I was thinking that it was nice to see Paris Hilton able to take the piss out of herself like this. Then I realized that she was probably serious. I also realized that since was on this site, someone else wrote the sketch for her and she just had to speak the words. Her reference to John McCain as "the wrinkly white-haired guy" was funny, but not nearly as funny as her attempt at intellectual debate toward the end.

Video is after the jump.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

I will admit, I was super late to the Arrested Development game. It had been canceled and I'm pretty sure everything was on DVD. Actually, I remember the first time I watched an episode, it was on G4. There was that guy from Teen Wolf Too and he was talking to David Cross, who was painted like a Smurf for some reason. And then he did some things that didn't really make sense, and I laughed nervously because I was worried I had become too stupid to keep up with sitcoms. I gave up after another ten minutes of confusion and switched over to Flavor of Love or something equally brain-numbing to make myself feel better.

Now I know how Apple manages to pump up iTunes sales; they play an iPod ad with a certain song so many times that millions of people have no other option but to log on and download that song, just in an effort to get it out of their heads before they snap.

Case in point: The current ad for the new iPod Nano plays the song "1234" by Feist. I guess they used the song so Apple could show the different colors of Nano while Ms. Feist counts off in a sing-songy fashion. Also I think they want to show how great a video with a large number of people in it (she uses a large backing chorus on the song) looks on the Nano's itty-bitty screen (though I can barely see it on the ad, but whatever).

Jimmy Kimmel has taken his Matt Damon joke to the next level, by actually placing a full-page advertisement in Variety congratulating Damon on his star on Hollywood Boulevard. Kimmel has an on-going joke on his show where he pretends that he ran out of time and had to bump Matt Damon from the schedule-- he frequently apologizes to Damon at the end of his show. Damon even played along when he appeared on Kimmel last year, pretending to be annoyed at always getting bumped.

The ad says: "Congratulations on the star and sorry we ran out of time. We'll try to squeeze you in soon." And, at the bottom, it says, "This ad cost me $8,512". That's an expensive joke. Do you think he can write it off as a business expense?

An awesome lady named Martha Fischer sent me a link to a BMW commercial featuring Kermit the Frog. The commercial is in "not English," so if you understand what's being said, you'll be able to appreciate it more than someone like me who can barely grasp the English language, much less an entirely new one. Although, I'm pretty sure he says something like, "I have no time to talk, I'm on my way to have sexual congress with a pig."

That's also how Hillary Clinton ends all her campaign speeches. Thank you! You've been a great audience!

Heinz ketchup is running a contest where it is asking regular folks to make a Heinz commercial for the chance of winning $57,000. Only, it's not going very well.

According to an article in The New York Times, running the contest takes about as much time and energy as it would just to come up with their own damn ad campaign. So far, Heinz has rejected more than 300 submissions because they're too long, pointless, or gross. You can see many of the horrible submissions on YouTube, including this one of a guy brushing his teeth and shaving with ketchup. Ew.

Heinz has also become the target of angry commenters who accuse the company of being "lazy" and "cheap" for asking people to do advertising for free. I have to admit that I bristled when I saw ads for the contest. Even though it turns out Heinz is still paying a lot for the advertising, I'm still annoyed that it is asking people to essentially create a viral video for them.

How do you feel about companies like Doritos, Heinz and Dodge holding this user-generated advertising contests?

Deadpan and hysterically self-aware B-movie icon Bruce "Don't Call Me Ash" Campbell appeared in an ad for Old Spice back in January, but if you thought he was done pitching the manly fragrance, then you've got another thing coming, you primitive screwheads.

In this new spot (see it below, along with another behind-the-scenes clip) a suave and debonair Bruce woos a group of lovely ladies with a lounge rendition of Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf." I can't imagine Bill Murray would have done it any better.

These ads, along with the Mac/PC ads from Apple, hold the special distinction of being commercials I will actually stop and watch while skipping past other commercials with my Tivo. What can I say, I've been a fan of Bruce from the moment he first strapped that chainsaw to his arm.

See Bruce croon after the jump.

[via Pop Candy]

I thought I had seen everything Mr. T has done, but this commercial is completely new to me. You should skip to the bottom of this post and watch it, then come back here for my analyzation. Okay, then.

So, the commercial starts off with a soccer game, and one player overplaying his injury a little too much. We cut to a scene of Mr. T driving a tank toward the soccer field. He smashes two cars along the way: did those cars have people in them? Mr. T does not care. Mr. T has bigger things on his mind: big, nutty chocolaty things.

Okay, I want anyone out there who makes commercials to listen up.

Times are tough these days now that so many people have Tivos and DVRs, so when you make a commercial, it has to be something truly groundbreaking, something so amazing that viewers actually want to stop and watch it.

If you need an example of what I'm talking about, check out the video at the end of this post, because VCast has created a commercial that speaks directly to our desires not only as consumers, but as human beings.

Courtesy of Boing Boing comes this local commercial for a flea market in Montgomery, Alabama (see it below). Yes, it's silly, lame, and goes on a little too long, but for a locally-produced ad, it's really not that bad. I'm not expecting high quality from local advertising, anyway.

The man in the video is the owner of Flea Market Montgomery, Sammy Stephens. In case the video isn't enough, I would like to remind you that his store is just like a mini ... mall. Stephens has already gained some notoriety, most notably on The Ellen Show when host Ellen DeGeneres asked him to appear because she found his commercial so funny.

Click ahead, crank up your computer speakers, and get down with what is most likely the greatest rap song ever written about a flea market.