Shotgun Tony

From 1988 to the Present, every Republican presidential nominee has had the same name as a major food conglomerate: Bush (like the baked beans) in 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2004; Dole (like the bananas & other fruit products) in 1996 and McCain (like the frozen French fries) in 2008.

Given this trend (and any desire the GOP might have to nominate a black candidate against Obama in the next election), what do you think are the chances that in 2012, the Republicans might nominate Tyson?

She asks me to pose questions on her behalf every now and then; the question I posed about the origin of Airwick's name was her idea.

Now she'd like to know why computers are called computers.

For her sake, please try to keep all responses kid-friendly.

The dumbest one I can recall is the time the Quaker Oats Company decided to make Popeye their spokesman.

The commercial started off with him singing a revised version of his famous song; the new version went...

"I'm Popeye the Quaker man, I eats all the oats I can..."

I still cringe when I think about that commercial! Thankfully, it went as quickly as it came (probably because the very idea of Popeye deciding to eat oats instead of spinach was so jarringly preposterous that it likely had an immediate adverse impact on Quaker's sales).

Can you top "Popeye the Quaker man" for dumbest TV commercial? Give it your best shot.

(If possible, please stick to spots that aired at least regionally and try not to give obvious examples like Burger King's disastrous "Herb" spots. And remember: NO commercials with Billy Mays!!!)

Believe it or not, this question has been asked of me by my niece.

These days, with so many entertainment outlets controlled by so few companies, the problem of media companies conditioning young people to ignore/avoid "old" movies, music and TV shows is worse than ever.

It seems like the big Media conglomerates are now conditioning young people to regard any entertainment made more than six months ago as "old" and reject it (the better to make them think the newest crap they're offering them is the greatest thing ever).

I'm immunising my nephew and nieces against this by showing them classic TV shows and listening to classic-rock music with them. I even used the "Addams Family" theme to teach them how to snap their fingers!

My older niece recently watched an episode of "Drake and Josh" in which the boys get a job at a sushi bar - and she recognised a scene as derivative of the "I Love Lucy" chocolate-factory scene.

Do YOU do this too? Do you show the youngsters in your lives how the "old" stuff is better?

If you remember the show, please give your opinion on whether or not you liked it - along with whether you preferred Series 1 or Series 2.

I thank you ;->

Anyone remember these programmes:

- Bread & Butterflies

- Images and Things

- L4

- Ripples

how about a civics show called By The People (not to be confused with the project PBS started in 2002). In the show I'M referring to, a class of high-school students gets involved in the democratic process by running (or pretending to run) a campaign for a County Council seat.