LOL … that’s too funny, Jet! I couldn’t remember what the show was but now I do – it was Dads, starring Rue McClanahan!! I remember making a joke about My Two Dads when she told me about it. That’s hilarious that they just keep on using the same old fake pilot to get commercial reactions. I would assume they change commercials at least though.
As for the free product samples, she said the guy hung up before she could ask him which ones she was “eligible” for. Apparently her questions about not being able to reuse the tape flustered him and he never got that info. No biggie since as you say they never send them out to begin with.
Besides, she treated it just like a real TV show – pay attention to the show itself (extra attention since she was really trying to evaluate it) and do other things during the commercials. lol.
According to this link it seems “Dads” was an actual unsold pilot done in 2001. I guess they were still trying to sell the show when I saw it because the phone interviewer asked lots of specific questions about the show before watching the commercials. What did you like about this character, what didn’t you like about that character, stuff like that. Sounds like they’ve abandoned the show and are now just using it as a vehicle for the commercials. I don’t remember the commercials I saw but I believe one of them was for a razor or shaving gel or something.
Anyway, when I get home I’ll see what the label on the tape says, if anything.
Does anyone know if such a tape also includes copy-protection (e.g. Macrovision)? If I were given a tape or a DVD and was told I could only watch it once I’d just duplicate it onto another tape (or recordable DVD if I had the equipment) that way I’d have a permanent, re-watchable copy.
I once received a similar tape from a marketing outfit, with what they said was a potential sitcom pilot. Unlike you folks, I didn’t get “Dads”; it was something else, a horrible show about a small-time morning talk show with all the pathetic stereotyped characters you’d expect out of such an endeavor.
Anyway, they too told me that the videotape would be unwatchable after being played once. Because I wanted to see what was up with that, I disassembled the tape after I watched it. Unlike Jet Jaguar, however, I didn’t see anything special inside the cassette. And, since I couldn’t get the dang tape back together, I just tossed it. So, I can’t share it with y’all, unfortunately.
Okay, I have the tape here in my hands but unfortunately it has no useful information to speak of. The label reads: “Please Read Instructions Before Watching, SPECIAL TAPE DO NOT REWIND” and has the serial number “XY01161D4” in the lower left, and “Tape#3707” to the lower right. I thought it at least had the name of the marketing company on it or something, but it doesn’t. The box that holds it is plain white with no markings.
The magnet itself is rectangular and measures 1/8" square by 9/16" long. It’s black in color and feels about 4 times stronger than you would expect a magnet of it’s size to be. I still have the piece of electrical tape that held it in, too. Used it to cover up the write-protect hole.
Yep, that’s it exactly Jet. I talked with my girlfriend last night and had her take apart the tape, and she found that same magnet in there (although it’s roughly 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch, she said … close enough. lol).
I didn’t get any of the label info from her, and she ended up breaking the tape as she opened it, so she just threw it out. Ah well.
Max, that sounds familiar … I did a similar survey a few years back, but rather than with a video tape they put the show on an unused channel on my cable system at a specific time. I’m in a populous enough area that they probably figured that was the easiest way to do it. I think it was that show, though.
I betcha she was contacted by the same people I did.
Was it some lameass show about 3 fathers trying to be good dads and Rue McClanahan is one of them’s bitchy boss or something?
Swiffer commercials? Some whiny commercial about a vitamin weight loss supplement for women?
Pissed me off when I did it. Spent all that time watching the show and they wanted to know if I was more likely to buy a damn Swiffer. If they wanted me to watch commercials why didn’t they just TELL me?
small hijack - The questions they ask you about the show are just ‘control’ type questions. The research is being done for the commercials, not the show. You are not told this because they want to see if you will watch commercials and how much you remember them if you are not told to specifically pay attention to them, like in a regular viewing scenario.
There is another type of program like this where you are invited to see a screening at a local hotel, or some such place, then you go and see 1 or 2 shows and then answer questions about it and the commercials. A week later they call you to find out what product information you have retained. If anything, the questions about the show might help find out if you are more likely to watch or remember commercials run during a show you say you enjoy.
If you are invited to one of these, don’t go. It is stupid and the ‘prizes’ are a waste of time. I don’t think I ever got any free product or coupons, either.
I do remember that a good portion of the commercials were for prescription drugs.
My younger brother was the one unfortuante enough to answer the phone one day, and the end result was that he and I ended up watching this lame-ass show, too. And we also tried to figure out what was going on with the tape - I’m sure magnets were the answer. He did some of the survey junk (as I recall, he had to answer some questions before getting the tape as well)… I wasn’t there, but I remember him bitching about being on the phone a LONG time with these people. Good to know that I was right about it just being commercial research and having nothing to do with the TV show, though.
If the tape is indeed encoded with MacroVision (see www.wdln.tv/Info.htm), there are ways to bypass it with relatively cheap equipment. Or, if you knew it was a single-watch tape, you could take the tape apart before you watch it and remove the magnet. If you destroy the shell in the process, you can sacrifice a new tape (a shell held together with screws) and put the old reels inside it. Takes a little careful surgery but it’s not very hard. I’ve done this for broken and smashed tapes dozens of times.
This is intriguing, though… I’ve never heard of these watch-once tapes.
Welcome to the Board, wdln. Please note that posting or linking to information which can be used to violate a copyright, or other illegal activity is frowned upon here.
A) Because they want to see what commericals you remember without being told to remember.
B) Because people are more willing (intrigued) to think they are taking part in a TV show study, if they told you commercials, most people would probably just say no.
LOL my wife got the exact same tape with “Dads” as the fake show. Some of the ads on our tape were obviously fake: they were still or panning shots of a roughly animated story board. The big product they were obviously testing for was some new birth control pill.
I too, took the tape apart and found the small magnet. We have also never heard anything else about the free products we were supposed to get.
“Dads” was possibly one of the dumbest shows I have ever seen.
Oh, I can figure out that one. Certain explosives/incendiaries (which I will not name) can be painted on when wet (and unreactive), but when they dry, any friction or change of shape will cause them to go off. So you wind up the end of the tape on the reel, pain on this stuff, and then wrap up the rest of the tape as usual. It then dries in the “spooled up” shape, and when that bit of tape is unspooled and straightened out, poof. Or more likely, boom, but I’m sure you could find a gentler chemical.
