TVSquad

Muppet fans know that some characters evolve while others just spring up from out of nowhere. Cookie Monster, for example, began life as somewhat more ferocious-looking monster (the row of sharp teeth helped) in several commercials before being toned down and brought to Sesame Street.

In the clip below, a pre-Sesame Street Cookie Monster devours a machine while the machine describes how it works and what its many functions are. Actually, it only has one main function, but you'll have to watch the clip for that.

I was pokin' around NBC's YouTube channel the other day when I came across this video of Leno interviewing celebrity lookalikes on the street.

The bit isn't all that funny, but check out the first guy Jay interviews. That's right, it's Sammy Stephens, owner of Flea Market Montgomery in Montgomery, Alabama. Stephens' commercial, which features him both rapping and dancing has made him a minor celebrity both online and on TV (Ellen DeGeneres loved his commercial and invited him on to her show).

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.

Last night I did the unthinkable. I actually stopped and watched a commercial on my Tivo. Correction: I stopped and actually hit rewind on my remote so I could watch a commercial. Why did I do this? Two words: Bruce Campbell. If you don't know that name, then you're obviously not a fan of that classic horror trilogy consisting of The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness. Evil Dead II is the best one of the three, and I'm willing to fight anyone who says different. You might also know Bruce as the titular lead in the TV series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., or from such series as Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules and Jack of All Trades. Bruce often works with his childhood friend Sam Raimi, and has appeared in all of Raimi's Spider-Man films. Raimi also directed the Evil Dead films and executive produced Xena, Hercules and Jack of All Trades.

I would love to see the young versions of Mary Tyler Moore and Marlo Thomas put in a cage together and have a battle of cute. I'm not exactly sure how that would work, I'm guessing they would just emit cuteness until one of them was overcome and their head exploded. This violates several laws of physics, but I'm convinced it would work because their cuteness is almost supernatural. What I can't explain is why I would express my admiration for an actress by imagining a scenario in which they might be violently killed. I really need to think these things through better.

I loves myself some Twilight Zone, but when I watch repeats of the classic series I can't help but notice that the dialogue in Rod Serling's scripts was somewhat overwrought. I sometimes have trouble watching certain episodes and not imagining Serling hunched over his typewriter, giggling to himself at how clever he's being. That's not necessarily a criticism -- if anything, it's that mix of segments that made you roll your eyes and ones that truly gripped you that kept the series interesting and still makes it stand out even today.

Genndy Tartakovsky, the mind behind cartoons such as Dexter's Lab, Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars has created this animated commercial for Nicorette. If you have trouble seeing the movie, right click on the link and "Save Target As." The animation has Tartakovsky's signature style, or I guess you could call it the "Cartoon Network" style. Either way, you have to appreciate the scientific accuracy of the ad: every one of us has tiny little screaming blobs inside our brain that get angry when we stop smoking. I've named all of mine after presidents.

The spot was created through The Orphanage, a video effects company that has also worked on the films Superman Returns and Sin City, among others.

[via Cartoon Brew]