The worst person on television isn't starring on a show, or appearing in a Lifetime movie. No, the worst person on television, or at least one of them, is the toothbrushing husband from the DirecTV commercial who doesn't get to see his wife naked.
If you've watched an NFL football game this season, you've probably seen the ad. A woman strolls out of the shower to be greeted by a giant floating screen telling her that her DVR has a recording conflict. It's not explained how the recording conflict screen has apparently become sentient.
Her snotty husband then yells at her for having cable, not DirecTV. It's not explained why this is her fault and not a shared marital choice.
She stays calm, commenting only that she feels as if the floating screen is "watching me walk around naked."
"Well, at least somebody gets to," snarks the robe-clad jerkasaurus, who then delivers the most-talked-about image of the ad by angrily brushing his teeth REAL HARD.
VH1 not only
declared TV Toothbrusher the worst person in America, but dissed his fashion sense as well, noting that he "wears flimsy bathrobes purchased from the clearance rack at an outlet mall." The site also snarked, "We can’t help but feel like a DirectTV Divorce is on the horizon for these two. Conflict boxes, indeed."
Other commercials this year divided their audiences. Does this sound familiar? "One, two, Kalamazoo. Three, four, Jersey Shore." T-Mobile's ad featuring a sexy woman riding a hot pink motorcycle across a deserted America (was this filmed post-zombie apocalypse?) has a catchy tune that mentions a bunch of locales, but not all the residents of those areas appreciate it.
"Kalamazoo doesn't have mountains," complained a YouTube viewer.
"I like how (in) the Puget Sound shot you can't even tell where it is," wrote another.
Yet some commercials earn more fans than foes. The Mayhem series of ads for Allstate insurance isn't new in 2012 (it debuted in 2010) but it's still earning comments. Actor Dean Winters plays "Mayhem," who in one ad portrays the blind spot on a woman's car, telling her "You're good!" as she merges straight into the side of a truck.
The New York Times calls Mayhem a "throwback to a kind of ad character that was once hugely popular: the bad guy who causes problems that the product being advertised solves," mentioning the Domino's Pizza Noid as another example.
"I am so in love with the Mayhem guy!" wrote one viewer.
Another commercial that earned high regards this year was a Dick's Sporting Goods ad dubbed "The Glove." In it, two brothers share a baseball glove and a childhood of memories. The ad's message and the catchy song "Stubborn Love" by Colorado folk-rockers The Lumineers work perfectly together.
"Dang, that younger kid put some zip on it there at the end," wrote one viewer.
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