Not all of us are getting that Denton money for blogging, anonymous author of Defamer! (A form of address I use not as a criticism, but just because I'm not sure if he or she actually answers to "Defamer." I don't think I'd like somebody addressing me as "Defamer," but in many ways I'm old-fashioned.)
I agree with AAoD's point about David Cross, though. Which segues into the other thing I wanted to blog about today but couldn't think of an excuse for. Check out this message board thread where Patton Oswalt defends himself and Bob Odenkirk against charges that they're "sellouts" for doing commercials. Besides the fact that the person doing the accusing is really dumb, it seems like those guys should get more slack than, say, Cross and his various crappy movies. Odenkirk in particular (he's doing those new "President of Beers" ads for Miller), because he's been trying to get another TV project off the ground ever since Mr. Show, with no luck. He's got like 4 or 5 unaired pilots floating around out there. So if he wants to do some beer ads that are actually pretty clever, I say good for him. It probably wasn't a decision he took lightly, and he's obviously put a lot of thought into the ads. And you know he drinks beer. It does seem kind of backwards when you're fast-forwarding through Andy Dick on the Letterman show and then stop to watch an Odenkirk commercial, but I guess that's show bidness.
Plus, have you seen those embarrassing new Budweiser response ads, where they've brought back those stupid talking lizards from a few years ago to basically call Odenkirk a washed-up hack? They're not mocking the character he's playing, but bashing him as an actor. That's probably a first in the various TV ad wars, isn't it? You never saw Ronald McDonald going, "Clara Peller is a stupid old twat!" At least not in public. Well, I can't wait to see how Odenkirk responds. This could be the best thing to happen to his career since the "Manson" sketch.
Posted by Jim Treacher at June 2, 2004 04:43 PM