"Ross" Moments

When watching television, at times, I have what I'd like to call "Ross" Moments. Let me explain. On the show Friends, Ross - at some point - went from the 'straight man' to a guy that was blundering. Sometimes, he would do things that I could see coming from a mile away and I just could not bring my self to watch because he was going to embarrass himself so badly. For instance - there was an episode where Denise Richards guest starred as Ross' cousin. She started off staying with Chandler and Monica, but since Chandler could not help ogling her - she decided to stay with Ross. Near the end Ross puts a move on her. This girl who is supposed to be his cousin. Ugh. I could not watch. Then there was the time when he was wearing leather pants on a date and started sweating in them. He goes to the bathroom to cool off by pulling them down. Then - with Joey's advice - proceeds to put lotion, and baby powder on his legs to try to get the pants back on. Ack.

So... from now on when I feel sooo embarrassed for someone on TV that I can't watch, I refer to it as a "Ross" Moment.

I had one the other night while watching The Apprentice. The two teams were tasked with creating a commercial for a body wash. One team decided to have a homosexual innuendo. Now, the portion I had a promblem with was not the homosexual portion, but the overtness of the innuendo itself - involving a guy and a woman with a cucumber. For a national TV add, this was embarrassing. The other team had a decent concept but the execution of it was embarrassing. They had marathoners and one - te get refreshed - uses the body wash. Everything from the set to the actors were over-the-top cheesy. And not close to nathional advertising standards, and therefore embarrassing to me when they went to present. I could not watch either of them. I hid my eyes, and shyed away. They made me uncomfortable and, really, embarrassed for them.

As the evaluator pointed out, both commercials sucked and both teams were brought into the board room when the Trumpmeister was not a happy camper. He watched the commercials (again I averted my eyes) and concurred that both of them were horrible. The best way I can describe how I felt is this: It's like when you are younger and staying at a friend's house. During the course of that stay, the friend gets in trouble by their parents. They begin to get yelled at for whatever reason and you are left to watch, not knowing what to do. Should you leave? Pretend it's nothing? Watch? Look away? Very uncomfortable.

And that's how a "Ross" Moment makes me feel. Embarrassing people on TV is more commonplace anymore. Especially on 'reality' shows. And that makes it worse for me, because it's not scripted.

But I will tune in next week.