Changing Channels

The TV viewers most in need of an actual life

The folks at Nielsen Media Research, who now officially have the entire universe wired and can actually count how many times you gag during the average episode of CSI, have revealed that the viewers of The Office are the most inclined to watch commercials, even when they've got TiVo or another digital recorder. So apparently NBC has not only the smallest audience, but the dumbest.

I love you, despite your faint odor of tuna

XM satellite radio listeners chose Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers as their favorite Valentine's Day love song, just edging out At Last by Etta James. These are a couple of great examples of an afterlife fueled by movies and TV. Unchained Melody was a pretty big hit when the Righteous Brothers released it in 1965 -- it made it to No. 4 on the Billboard charts -- but over the years, it slipped out of the public consciousness. Oldies stations didn't play it, and when I interviewed the Righteous Brothers' Bobby Hatfield in the mid-'80s, he said they kept in their act mainly because it was his favorite solo. Then, in 1990, Demi Moore danced with the ghost of Patrick Swayze to the record in Ghost, and bang, Unchained Melody was all over the place again, even hitting the Billboard charts again twice that year. Now oldies-radio listeners routinely vote it the greatest record of all time.

The tale of At Last is even more peculiar. The record didn't even make the Top 40 when it was released in 1961 and was virtually unknown until it was used in a Jaguar television commercial in the early 1990s. Now it's Etta James' signature song, the one that brings the crowd to its feet at her concerts. A couple of years ago it resurfaced on TV again in ads for Purina cat food. If only XM radio performed better in the Felines 24-45 demo, At Last probably would have finished first.

What stupid people watched Sunday night

TiVo says the most-viewed of the ads that ran during the Super Bowl was the Bud Light commercial with Carlos Mencia. My theory: TiVo users couldn't believe how boring the ad was and kept rewinding it to see if they'd missed something. Interesting TiVo tidbit: There were no plays during the Super Bowl that caused a big spike in TiVo usage, apparently a sign that there were no really controversial calls on the field.

Here's TiVo's list of the 10 most-viewed ads:

1. Bud Light: Language Course with Carlos Mencia

2. Bud Light: Rock Paper Scissors

3. FedEx: Don’t Judge

4. Nationwide: Kevin Federline Rollin’ VIP (that's him in the picture at left, in case you can't remember what he looks like without Britney)

5. Doritos Crash the Super Bowl

6. CareerBuilder: Office Jungle

7. Blockbuster: Mouse

8. Doritos Crash The Super Bowl: Checkout Girl

9. Chevrolet: Everybody Loves a Chevy

10. Schick: Quarto Science