# Worst "As Seen On TV" Products **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2017, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309 "2017-09-14T11:45:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/101 "2017-09-19T12:02:26Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > There’s an ad for one now called Miracle Hair. Here’s a pretty funny review by MikeJ. > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA13pjj9T\_k&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA13pjj9T_k&feature=youtu.be) Jeff Bridges uses an identical product on Beau Bridges in the movie **The Fabulous Baker Boys** (1989). > **[The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) ⭐ 6.9 | Comedy, Drama, Music](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097322/)** > > 1h 54m | R It’s even in the trailer! (about 1:25 in) [https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Fabulous+Baker+Boys&view=detail&mid=C24528E96859A5D0120FC24528E96859A5D0120F&FORM=VIRE0&mmscn=tpvh&ru=%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DFabulous%2BBaker%2BBoys%26form%3DPRDLR1%26pc%3DDCTE%26mkt%3Den-us%26httpsmsn%3D1%26refig%3Dcd12ec5e7ef24a41a296edc3d184ada5%26sp%3D-1%26ghc%3D1%26pq%3Dfabulous%2Bbaker%2Bboys%26sc%3D9-19%26qs%3Dn%26sk%3D%26cvid%3Dcd12ec5e7ef24a41a296edc3d184ada5](https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Fabulous+Baker+Boys&view=detail&mid=C24528E96859A5D0120FC24528E96859A5D0120F&FORM=VIRE0&mmscn=tpvh&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dFabulous%2bBaker%2bBoys%26form%3dPRDLR1%26pc%3dDCTE%26mkt%3den-us%26httpsmsn%3d1%26refig%3dcd12ec5e7ef24a41a296edc3d184ada5%26sp%3d-1%26ghc%3d1%26pq%3dfabulous%2bbaker%2bboys%26sc%3d9-19%26qs%3dn%26sk%3d%26cvid%3dcd12ec5e7ef24a41a296edc3d184ada5) ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/102 "2017-09-19T13:25:10Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Huh. > > I’ve had mine for a couple of years, with no signs of deterioration. Of course, after each use, I disconnect it from the faucet and store it in an enclosed bin, out of the elements. The first one had plastic connectors, and one of the connectors broke. The second one developed a bulge in the middle, which burst. I bought a third one (different brand) that had brass connectors, but it started leaking around the connector. I also stored them in a container out of the sun. I gave up and am using a regular hose that I’ve had for years. It’s heavier and harder to move around, but it delivers a lot more water and lasts a lot longer. ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/103 "2017-09-20T01:12:05Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The thing that’s funny about so many of these “As Seen On TV” products is how contrived the ads are showing how hard it is to do the thing that these things are the solution to. Like the pasta pot that has the strainer built in, because it’s just so damn difficult to pour a boiling pot of pasta into a colander in your sink. I’m surprised the Slap Chop ad didn’t have someone losing a finger trying to use an ordinary knife and cutting board. The thing about many of these products is that they were invented for use by people who physically can’t do those things: people with severe arthritis, missing limbs, brace/wheelchair users, etc. The problem is that the intended market is so small, it would be impossible for the makers to ever turn a profit just on selling to them, especially if they advertised. So these products need to be marketed in some way to the general public. In the ads, if they showed the products being used in the way they were originally intended (i.e., by people with disabilities who really need them), the average able-bodied viewer would immediately tune out and dismiss the product as not for them. So the ads have to use an able-bodied model pretending to have the same difficulty completing everyday tasks that disabled people have. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/104 "2017-09-20T01:56:22Z")
> [@Annoying\_Buzz](#): > > The thing about many of these products is that they were invented for use by people who physically can’t do those things: people with severe arthritis, missing limbs, brace/wheelchair users, etc. > > The problem is that the intended market is so small, it would be impossible for the makers to ever turn a profit just on selling to them, especially if they advertised. So these products need to be marketed in some way to the general public. > > In the ads, if they showed the products being used in the way they were originally intended (i.e., by people with disabilities who really need them), the average able-bodied viewer would immediately tune out and dismiss the product as not for them. So the ads have to use an able-bodied model pretending to have the same difficulty completing everyday tasks that disabled people have. Cite? I’ve seen glurge on facebook to this effect. I’ve yet to see any evidence for it, and the only evidence I’ve seen went against it. The Snuggie creator said he invented it in college when he cut a hole in his sleeping bag so he could use the remote control, for example. I don’t buy it. If the intended market were “too small”, they just wouldn’t make the things in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/105 "2017-09-21T01:35:52Z")
My favorite at the moment is an ad that is all about this great product that lets you stick it to those greedy cable and satellite companies by getting TV for free. Because FEDERAL LAW MANDATES broadcast channels become available over the air. Their product is so good that if you happen to have a TV on your boat and go offshore, you can still watch TV! Yeah, they’re advertising a digital antenna. I mean, as far as I know the product works, but the whole spiel implying that it’s a new idea is just amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/106 "2017-09-21T01:40:03Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > My favorite at the moment is an ad that is all about this great product that lets you stick it to those greedy cable and satellite companies by getting TV for free. Because FEDERAL LAW MANDATES broadcast channels become available over the air. Their product is so good that if you happen to have a TV on your boat and go offshore, you can still watch TV! > > Yeah, they’re advertising a digital antenna. I mean, as far as I know the product works, but the whole spiel implying that it’s a new idea is just amazing. Is that the one that comes with an app that connects the antenna to your wifi? ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/107 "2017-09-21T02:03:11Z")
I am surprised this thread got so much traction, sweet. If only there was some method of keeping score lol. I actually bought one of those digital antennas, it was on sale at Menards for like $2. They actually work really well, despite the fact that they are trying to reinvent it as a new technology. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/108 "2017-09-21T02:10:30Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Is that the one that comes with an app that connects the antenna to your wifi? No, no wifi. It’s just a flat indoor antenna that screws into your TV’s coax connector. It’s no better than a cheap pair of rabbit ears you can pick up at Wal-Mart. They just hype the shit out of the fact that you can pick up TV over the air just like people have been doing for the past 70 years. [Clear TV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqhNx0GTv6I&app=desktop) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/109 "2017-09-21T02:12:40Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > I am surprised this thread got so much traction, sweet. If only there was some method of keeping score lol. > > I actually bought one of those digital antennas, it was on sale at Menards for like $2. They actually work really well, despite the fact that they are trying to reinvent it as a new technology. They market them as “digital,” but there’s nothing special about them. It’s the same antenna people were using for analog broadcasts. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/110 "2017-09-21T10:47:54Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > My favorite at the moment is an ad that is all about this great product that lets you stick it to those greedy cable and satellite companies by getting TV for free. Because FEDERAL LAW MANDATES broadcast channels become available over the air. Their product is so good that if you happen to have a TV on your boat and go offshore, you can still watch TV! And there is the darkened silhouette and disguised voice of a TV industry insider telling this, as if the existence of broadcast television is a closely-held secret that he could be whacked for revealing. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/111 "2017-09-21T12:21:25Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Here are some excellent infomercial product reviews by funny puppets. > > [Shamwow and SlapChop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ThkJRXs_VY) > [Rollie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxaSnVVV-QU). > I agree with their conclusions. “I don’t want to be this close to it.” Snerk. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/112 "2017-09-21T19:00:07Z")
I thought of another one - this is going back a ways, but it’s the [Listen Up](https://youtu.be/1OoGZbK-c9M), the personal hearing device. Watch TV without bothering your partner, listen to birds chirping on your nature walk, eavesdrop on neighbors across the street and see if they’re talking about you, etc. My favorite part in the commercial is when a guy at a football game acts like he can actually hear what they’re saying in the huddle. Of course they do not mention how this things zeroes in on specific sounds and cancels out others instead of just blasting you deaf. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/113 "2017-09-21T20:18:44Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > For some reason these crossed my mind just a few weeks ago and I googled to see if they were still being made. I remember one of them in my house during my childhood (but I don’t remember if I or anyone else tried to use it in that time.) They have been [on the market for 45 years](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujW3qf9fyXk) and (I think) have cost $19.95 the whole time. (Which means that it [cost the equivalent](http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/) of over $100 in 1972.) The new ones are cheap, Chinese knockoffs. I have an original that still works pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/114 "2017-09-23T01:55:36Z")
Maybe not an As-Seen-On-TV item, but allow me to present [Pizza Scizzors](https://shop.tastemade.com/products/scizza-pizza-scissors/). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/115 "2017-09-23T03:46:31Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > I thought of another one - this is going back a ways, but it’s the [Listen Up](https://youtu.be/1OoGZbK-c9M), the personal hearing device. Watch TV without bothering your partner, listen to birds chirping on your nature walk, eavesdrop on neighbors across the street and see if they’re talking about you, etc. My favorite part in the commercial is when a guy at a football game acts like he can actually hear what they’re saying in the huddle. > > Of course they do not mention how this things zeroes in on specific sounds and cancels out others instead of just blasting you deaf. Then there’s the [Lee Majors Bionic Ear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPtqe2yhi5o&app=desktop). What, Lindsay Wagner wasn’t available? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/116 "2017-09-23T04:01:35Z")
Hers malfunctioned and made funny noises. In an ep I saw, anyways ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/117 "2017-09-23T04:08:31Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Maybe not an As-Seen-On-TV item, but allow me to present [Pizza Scizzors](https://shop.tastemade.com/products/scizza-pizza-scissors/). They’re just modified food shears. One of the most popular local pizza places in my area cuts their pizza with scissors. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/118 "2017-09-23T04:12:50Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Then there’s the [Lee Majors Bionic Ear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPtqe2yhi5o&app=desktop). > > What, Lindsay Wagner wasn’t available? She had scruples. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/119 "2017-09-23T11:37:49Z")
That’s strange. The Six Million Dollar Man didn’t have a bionic ear. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309/120 "2017-09-23T11:41:42Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > She had scruples. She was also cute, so the gummint wasn’t trying to make her pay off the six million dollars, they way they did Lee. Long and short of it, she could afford scruples. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-as-seen-on-tv-products/796309.md?page=7)