TVSquad

Via the AOL viral video site This Just In (AOL also owns TV Squad) comes a video featuring a very young-looking Mike Rowe (currently the host of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel) selling a cat toy on QVC. Rowe was a presenter on the channel in the early '90s.

Give Rowe credit, because he's trying his best to sell a product that is, for all intents and purposes, a glorified grocery bag, but how enthusiastic can the poor guy get about a bag that even QVC's resident cat doesn't seem to care about? I suppose he could have got inside the bag himself . . . oh wait, he did.

Check out the picture on the right. It just looks like a plastic bust of Homer Simpson, but it's actually a radio. The eyeballs are the tuning and volume knobs, which I guess means that while listening to the radio Homer takes on the appearance of "incredibly brain damaged Homer" complete with wandering eyes. I also found this SpongeBob SquarePants shower radio, this Tweety Bird combination phone and clock radio on eBay, and this Garfield radio (did you know he's coming back to TV?) which is very similar to one my brother had when we were younger, except his was a clock radio and the alarm was Garfield's voice saying, "time to wake up, sleepy head." If you pressed his nose / snooze button, Garfield would say, "Nah, don't get up. Stay in bed, sleep longer."

Now I'm curious: does anyone out there have any unique promotional toys for old (or new) TV shows that stand out from the usual plastic crap you can find in large chain stores? Let loose in the comments, this is your chance to break out your awesome toys and make everyone else jealous. Yes, it's childish, but what's the point of having these collectibles if not to make other people jealous?

Anyone who had a collection of action figures growing up knows you can't have an action figure without the proper weapon. Chewbacca had his crossbow, Cobra Commander had his laser pistol, and the Battlestar Galactica action figures had all kinds of cool weapons. But what about MacGyver? What's the accessory of choice for his mass-produced toy lookalike? The answer, you'll find, is quite obvious. Sure, it may just look like a paper clip, but it's a MacGyver paper clip, which means you can use it for anything. You can open doors, blow up tanks, impregnate spider monkeys, improve your bowling score, go back in time, drill for oil, slice pineapple, raise the dead and many other things. That's power at your fingertips, boys and girls.

Oh yeah, and if you haven't figured it out, the "toy" isn't real.

[via Digg]

I could have sworn someone had already made a Steve Irwin action figure, but I guess I was wrong. A quick search on Amazon resulted in Crocodile Hunter trading cards and a Crocodile Hunter boardgame, but no figures of action. The new action figure is based on the late Steve Irwin who died last September after being stung in the heart by a stingray. The twenty-two dollar toy is decked out in Irwin's signature khaki garb and says various phrases, including "Crikey!" a phrase I still attribute more to Danger Mouse than Irwin, but what can you do? The toy will make its debut next month at the International Toy Fair in New York. Now, through the magic of imagination he'll be able to do what he could never do while alive: fight Skeletor and make out with Barbie. Or vice versa.

If you're like me, and I know I am, you grew up watching Knight Rider on TV. Or, if you're a bit older, you probably listened to the old Knight Rider radio program featuring Orson Welles.* Anyway, if you enjoyed the adventures of Michael and his car pal KITT but always wished that KITT were much smaller and much, much slower, I invite you to check out an old toy commercial for the "Knight Rider Impossibles" race set. Between this, America's Got Talent, and reruns of Baywatch, I think your Hasselhoff quota should be met for the day. That's why I'm here, to make those things happen. Check out the video after the jump.

*(said radio program may not have actually existed)