David Cooper

0393 - Shopping Channel Presenter

Added 2024-11-28 09:00:01 +0000 UTC

These are the moments we live for here on "Every Simpsons Character Ever".

All we hear from this lady is that "...the clown is a treasure that will last a lifetime!", but she has a line and an appearance, so she qualifies for a spot in the hallowed halls on Simpsons characterdom, meaning I have to make up 95% of her appearance. Is this what the animators and actress (I think it's Tress MacNeille) had in mind when they conjured her up? Have we already put more thought into her existence than they ever did? The answer to both questions is definitely yes.

I have no idea how much this kind of shopping channel exists in 2024, but I know I watched far too much of it in its heyday ("too much of it" being anything over 30 seconds). In the early days of cable and satellite TV, the weird novelty of QVC and other shopping channels was alluring, like peeking into another dimension. Who would want this junk? Why are these people so enthusiastic about it? TV airtime was a valuable commodity, and here these hucksters were just...wasting it. I feel compelled to tell you I never bought anything from these infomercials, but even watching it seems shameful now. A large part of current media consumption is learning how to avoid being advertised at, so these shopping channels seem like a million years ago.

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.