The Commercials are Better Than the Latest Episode of Grey’s Anatomy

Thursday Evening:

As soon as the singing started on Grey’s Anatomy, Gary recoiled. “What is this? Why are they singing?”

“It’s a gimmick.” I said. “They must have jumped the shark.”

(Wouldn’t it be awful to be the writer who wrote the infamous episode of Happy Days that coined that phrase? Ah, the Internet. Here’s Google Hit #2, in which the writer of that episode defends it.)

He held on until the Hunt character began to sing, and then cracked. “Ahhh! I can’t watch this!” Click goes the remote. He allowed the tiVo to continue recording.

Saturday Evening:

We tried it again. Evidently the producers of Grey’s recognize the problem they have with the music drowning out the dialog, so they just replaced the dialog with music. That would work if the songs had something to do with the plot, other than containing trigger words like “breathe” and “heart” and “lie down.”

It was SO bad we watched the commercials for entertainment. We could have tiVoed over them but we needed a brain palate cleanser.

Check out these two commercials:

“If you buy into the idea that shopping should be a source of pleasure rather than frustration … If you buy into the notion that shopping should be exhilarating, not exasperating … If you buy into the belief that a store should give you hassle free returns, rewards without restrictions, and affordable style, you’re obviously one of the forty-two million women who buy into Kohls.”

“If you endorse the radical theory that investors who spend less time playing the market and more time understanding it … If you buy the crazy notion that your Financial Advisor should actually return your call … If you reject knee-jerk investing, join the nearly seven million investors who think like you. Face time and think time make a difference. At Edward Jones it’s how we make sense of investing.”

(What? It was on CNN non-stop this morning.)

Soon to come:

“If you are impudent enough to feel a man’s birthday dinner merits cheese popcorn, champagne, and fried chicken … If you have self-worth independent of your pants size … If you buy in to the belief that anyone who says ‘buy in’ should have her mouth washed out with salty brown gravy … join the millions and millions who buy in to KFC.”

But, the commercials would come to an end, then we’d have to watch more Grey’s Anatomy. I can imagine the writers of “How to Save a Life” cursed the day they used that phrase in their song, which is evidently about the writer’s interaction as a counselor with a troubled teen. Not about heart surgery. At all.

Then, then they piled gimmick upon gimmick with the cross-over casting of Kate Walsh.

I know these actors can sing, for God’s sake they can act and they’re gorgeous. If they went fishing on a live episode, would we be surprised if they caught a fish? No. They are blessed. “Look, I can sing too!” Let up already.

Unsatisfying. I know the feedback I saw on Twitter was negative. It’s not just me.