A bunch of us were discussing general stupidiity the other day and started talking about that show, Jackass, and what a controversy it caused when kids started to try and recreate the stunts.

At first, we were all righteously indignant that we'd never do anything just because we saw it on tv. Then we realized that that wasn't exactly true. I've never doused myself with gasoline and set myself on fire, but I watch cooking shows and the 'how-to' shows all the time and do or buy things just because I saw someone on tv do it. This explains my expensive chef's knife and my insistence on trying my own home repairs.

And of course, commercials and Infomercials get me to buy things all the time I probably don't need and never use *cough*juicer*cough*.

I will admit that the sole reason that I wanted an I-Pod was because of that U2 commerical. I even knew that was the reason I wanted it - but I didn't care, it sucked me in. Mr. murphsully got me one, and I do love it. But I had no interest in the I-pod before and if wasn't for that commerical, I may not have one today.

There was a newspaper report of an American doctor who told one patient she was so fat that only black men would be attracted to her, and told another patient to buy a pistol and shoot herself. When confronted he vigorously defended himself, citing statistics. I can't help wondering whether he ever watched House...

I bought a racing road bike just because my mom got me hooked on watching Tour de France on OLN. I always give myself excuses not to exercise, so I thought the bike will force me into a healthier lifestyle. The bike was terribly expensive, 2 years later, it's still in my basement and I've only ridden it once.

I dressed up as Sydney Bristow twice for Halloween. Last year I got an orange wig and dressed all in black to be covert op!Syd from the series premeire. The year before that, I wore a black pantsuit and a special CIA ID tag I made for myself and went as professional!Syd. Oh, and I also dyed my hair to match the shade of brown hers was that year. Totally pathetic, but TV made me do it.

ETA: Thanks, Jeebus Cripes for reminding me about "the Rachel" haircut. Yet another depressing memory from my high school days ;)

Also, thanks to Lost I had to order one of those friggin' expensive Oceanic sweatshirts from abc's merchandise site. People's reactions to it are funny sometimes, though. When my mom saw me wearing it, she laughed and told me "don't sit at the back of the plane." Heh.

Oh god, how many poor souls got that wretched Rachael-cut back when it was all the rage? Thousands of brainwashed women, walking around with football helmets on their heads. All because of Friends.

Pearls and pretty sweaters have become quite prominent in my wardrobe. That can be figured out pretty easily.

I can admit to making sure I buy a box of Drake's Coffee Cakes every time I visit my in-laws in NY, just because of an episode of Seinfeld. It may be sad, but it's true.

**coughs and shuffles feet awkwardly**

The number of things I could list for this topic would be really funny. Yeah, okay, and probably sad too. Funny, sad, po-tay-to, po-tah-to...

iPod: Began to desperately desire one after the brightlycolored commercials featuring dancing silhouettes. Purchased. Upgraded. Am now hooked. And still do not dance around like the silhouettes. I blame inaccurate advertising.

Crimson Glow: Back when Claire Danes in My So-Called Life was My So-Called Metaphor for my Real Life, I simply HAD to have her hair. So I got a box of color at the store, and with the help of my real-life counterpart to Rayanne Graff, I was a crimson-glow gal.

90210: How many of those hairstyles and fashions did I meticulously copy? Sigh. At least I know darn well I'm not alone there!

The Magic Bullet: Sounds like something found in an adult-only catalog, but the cheesy infomercial has convinced me my life is incomplete without it. Mine arrives in approximately one week.

The Apprentice (Martha Stewart's version): The Tassimo hot beverage maker task aired shortly before my standard old-school coffeemaker expired (RIP, old friend). Now I have the equivalent of a mini-starbucks on my kitchen counter, and I love it.

Legally Blonde: I know it's a movie, but I had to include it because after a particularly hard and aggravating day at the office as a legal secretary, I was watching the movie, decided the LSATs can't be that hard if Elle Woods can pull a 179, and registered that very evening. I'm graduating in a semester... at the top of my class. Hee. Who says we get nothing good from television & cinema? (Ahem, 90210 hairstyles aside. Ahem.)

Many a girlfriend, many boyfriends shook their heads in disgust after their men got the George Clooney "Caesar" cut.

My dad got that cut... and while I don't think it really looked "bad" on him, I do think he was slightly shocked when my mom and I didn't immediately identify the celebrity he thought he strongly resembled right after getting it done. He just looked like same ol' Daddio (who does not resemble Clooney), but with shorter hair.

(And I should talk; me, Ms. "Hey, I'm Angela Chase now with my Crimson Glow Hair!") haha

I took self defense classes because of Buffy.

I dyed my hair dark brown to look like Audrey Horne from Twin Peaks (I already had almost the same cut, and I just love her!).

I no longer buy Revlon make-up because they screwed over Adrianne from the first season of Top Model (not that I ever did in the first place, but now I actively don't buy it).

::looks around:: Okay, I'll admit to falling victim to a few fashion trends because of 90210. Oh, and I used to fix my hair exactly like Kelly Kapowski's on Saved by the Bell. Zack made me do it!

I must be alone in the world when I say that I liked, and still do like, the George Clooney "Caesar" cut. Some guys can pull that look off, I swear.

Nickelodeon (and the Disney Channel) ruled my young life. How so?

1. Surely there are other girls out there (besides me) who watched Clarissa Explains it All and longed to have her wardrobe.

2. Also, I became addicted to hats because of Alex Mack. She used to wear these beanies that I thought were so cool, and I begged and begged my mom for one, and then one of her friends gave me a black one with daisies on it. I loved it until I realized that it looked really bad on me. I also used to pretend I had powers like Alex. I was kind of a strange kid.

3. I wanted to go to camp because of Salute Your Shorts (and later, the kids on Disney's Bug Juice).

At first I glanced at this thread title and sniffed "My God, I would never allow myself to be influenced by television to any great degree" Then I realized that a sizeable portion of my personal and political philosophies were inspired in whole or in part by Star Trek: Don't mess with others unless they're messing with you, Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, and so on. Damn.

I remember trying to get the Farrah Fawcet look in high school, but my wavy hair would look more frizzy instead.

...and tried to convince her Mums & Daddio that putting a ladder outside her bedroom window so that her best friend could climb in and out at will a-la Sam, was a great idea?

Nah. Not me. Nope. *lie detector goes crazy*



You aren't alone! I agree that there are some guys out there (well, Clooney included, IMO) who look smokin' hot in that cut. The downside is that many of the guys in non-tv-land who tried it, weren't those guys.

Speaking of short haircuts--there were a significant number of women in my surrounding community who thought that maybe Susan Powter (remember her from her Stop The Isanity! informericals heyday?) was onto something and got Powter-ized haircuts. *shiver* That makes the Clooney copycuts look sensible.

I worked with one of those guys. He was tall, broad, and kind of pot-bellied, but was convinced that because he had kind of droopy ("bedroomy", to him) eyes that he looked like Clooney. He got the haircut and wound up looking like Frankenstein. It wasn't pretty.



Ooh, that's not good. Not good at all.

TV kept me in the closet. Seriously. At age 13, I realize that my feelings for a certain male teaching assistant go beyond friendship. Unfortunately, at this time, the following have been my main influences when it comes to homosexuality:

-The John Waters episode of The Simpsons (leading me to believe that all gay men were fabulous sissies)
-The Big Gay Al episode of South Park (ditto)
-A 60 Minutes piece on Exodus International (leading me to believe gayness could be changed)

The funny part is, TWoP helped me come out of the closet. After I was shocked directly into homophobia by reading some of the "humor" of Bruce Vilanch (yeah, handing a kid who's trying to come to grips with his sexuality a book full of jokes about campiness and promiscuity is not a good idea), I posted some of my "enlightened" views on this board and got pimpslapped into the next millenium. I quickly apologized, and soon realized that y'know, it's not that bad.

I have wanted a pair of converse ever since I saw them on one of those Nickelodeon shows years ago.

I got me some Keds sneakers because Kelly wore them on Saved by the Bell. I also got me some red glasses like Kelly Martin on Life Goes on.

I've bought a couple of kitchen gadgets because they looked cool on the infomercials. I use my George Foreman grill, but the other stuff sits collecting dust in the cabinet above the fridge.

I confessed this awhile ago on the Little House thread, but after having a fight on the playground with my friends in first grade, I pulled a 'turn and run away' that happens so often on that show. I'd seen Laura do it and thought it would make my exit more dramatic.

On a more positive note, Joan of Arcadia got me to read more about stuff I normally wouldn't have. I loved how the show would raise questions, and there were many episodes that had me trekking to the library the following week to pick up a book about something I'd seen on the show.

Thanks to The Cosby Show, I put french fries inside my burgers.

Thanks to 90210, I had sideburns.

Thanks to Friends, I bought those supersize coffee mugs. Except I use them to drink my diet coke.

Thanks to Dynasty and saw my first onscreen death (Blake killed his son's lover), I am a strong proponent of gay rights.

Thanks to Roseanne, I tried loosemeat sandwiches (nasty!).

You mean it actually exists?

Do you also put potato chips on your pizza?

I was always a backpack kind of girl, but Veronica Mars made me switch messenger(-ish) bags. Curses to the inexistence of American Eagle here in NZ.

I'm still trying to do my hair like Lorelai Gilmore. Still failing miserably.

And I don't know what show I saw this in, cause I was pretty young (around 5), but I started dipping my french fries on ice cream after watching someone do the same thing. Didn't taste half bad actually.

My mother tells me that when I was 2 and my brother an infant, I would constantly poke my brother if he was napping, as well as pick his arm up and let it fall, thus waking him up. Imagine my mother's horror as we watched Sesame Street together and she saw Ernie do the same thing to Bert.

On the same token, there was another Bert and Ernie skit where Ernie was going to share his licorice, but one piece was larger than the other. To even them out, he took a bite of the larger piece, making that the smaller piece. He continued until he ate the entire piece of licorice. I would torture my brother by doing that all the time. Pook kid.

Thanks to Law and Order I took two and a half years worth of criminal and civil law classes and nearly entered the law program at an out-of-state college.

My haircut was inspired by S1 Veronica Mars. My hairdresser and I spent a half-hour adapting it for my naturally curly hair.

Thanks to House's Lisa Cuddy and her magnificant breasts, I have a newly discovered affection for my own. Loose fitting shirts be damned.

I should introduce your George Foreman grill to my Showtime Rotisserie and Barbecue.

Also, inspired by Miss Parker from The Pretender, I used to storm around my office, scowling and making snide remarks to underlings because I thought it made me look tough and cool. In reality, everyone just hated me.

Thanks to The L Word and South of Nowhere, I've come to terms with the fact that I've never been attracted to boys and have been suppressing my feelings for girls since junior high because I was raised in an EXTREMELY homophobic family. The majority of the men in my family are Southern Baptist ministers.

I started wearing Seven Jeans For All Mankind about 4-5 years ago because on every TV show no matter how rich or poor the character, the female lead(s) would have on a pair. I loved the wash and how they fit and I happened upon a display at Atrium on Broadway. I tried them on and it was like little magical fairies ran up to me and sewed them onto my body. They fit perfectly. I almost cried and thus started my love affair with high end jeans. One of the characters on Girlfriends had on a pair of Citizens of Humanity so about 2 years ago, I started wearing those too. And then I saw a pair of True Religions...

And I also found the designer, James Perse because Oprah had on one of his tops and I waited until the very end to see who styled her. His shirts are so soft, they feel like a hug.

So yeah, I get my fashion cues from the TV.

I'm the opposite. I ended up coming out to my friends/family almost directly because of Willow & Tara (this was during their happy period) inspiring me to, which I still find kind of odd considering I'm a guy and in retrospect would have expected a male gay couple to inspire me to. Not that it mattered to anyway since almost everyone I outed myself to said they already knew, but it was still inspired by a TV couple nonetheless.

This is embarrassing but... does anyone else have a narration in their head sometimes, like The Wonder Years. I do that when I'm bored like waiting for a bus. Or I do the 24 clock ticking down. Hee. And whenever I come home, I have to get my keys out and open the door fast like murderers were chasing me, like in that episode of Seinfeld.

I haven't used my George Foreman grill in over a year, but my Miracle Blade Knives? Each and every day!

Thanks to Food Network, my cooking skills have greatly improved.

But ironically, no matter how many home improvement shows I watch, my decorating skills seem to be getting worse.

Isn't a loose meat sandwich actually just a sloppy joe? Or is it strips of beef instead of groundmeat? Jesus, why do I care so much...?


Heee! ::raises hand::


I do that all the time! Of course, I also live in a dodgy neighborhood and probably should be afraid of murderers chasing me. And if I'm with someone who's opening their door, I always tell them to be swift about it, as if their life depended on it. All because of Seinfeld. Heh.

I only eat the brown M&Ms because Matthew McConaughey was so convincing in "Wedding Planner" when he explained that he only ate those because there was less artificial colouring in their frosting.
Now every time we'd buy a bag of M&Ms, The Prince Consort would fish out the brown ones for me and have the rest. We're both very happy with this arrangement.

Me. I was in late elementary school at the time (and thus too young to watch Friends), but my aunt convinced me it was a wonderful idea. Since my hair is horribly curly, coarse, and frizzy...it did not end well. I looked like a puffy mushroom for a few months, but was convinced I looked fabulous.



No, but when I get bored, I start practicing in my head for if I'm ever interviewed by Leno or Conan. You know, on the off chance I become famous without having any acting or musical talent whatsoever.

I bought one of the hand held blender things after watching the Infomercial for it so many times. (It lives in the closet never being used.)

I still to this day speak in Buffy speak.

I curse in Klingon.

I trust that if I navigate the waters of the Great Material Continuum with skill I will be swimming in profit.

And I now have a fear that if I ever need on MRI (of DOOOM!) something horrible will happen to me. And I can't thinking that about every TV character (or animal if it's on The Animal Planet) that has one.

I work as a costume designer, and whenever I have loose fabric or scarves while doing fittings, I tie them around my knee a la Punky Brewster. Despite the fact that I could easily put them on the floor or on a table.

And my new expression of frustration? "Quack, damn you!" Thank you, Mythbusters!

In junior high, I wore pigtails and gingham a lot, because I wanted to be Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island." There weren't a lot of young brunette female role models on TV back then. I was also a huge Professor/Mary Ann shipper (before I knew that word) and I've got the fanfic to prove it.

I do both of these things often.



But this is what I am most guilty of. I have been asked if I was a Buffy fan just from the way that I talk.

No Rachel cut or Powter cut for me - nope, I had the Dorothy Hamill! I am oooooold.....

I also got a big wooden "E" to hang in my apartment, like the "M" Mary Richards had in hers.

My mom had a wooden R, directly influenced by Mary.

And I have been known to mutter in my house, while very frustrated, "phxchic want big boom" a la Jamie from Mythbusters.


Oh, man, I wanted to be Audrey so badly, I tried fruitlessly to tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue. I couldn't do it, but my friend could. And I hate cherries.

Several years ago, after being told I kind of looked like Scully, I decided my hair should be Scully red. My natural color is Coca Cola. Two boxes of Clairol bleach and a box of Nice n' Easy later, I had the right color, but the bleach fried my hair so badly that it was limp, frizzy, and broke easily. That was a long year waiting for it to grow out long enough to chop off the damage--walking around with my two-tone hair, resembling Floyd Pepper more than Scully.

As soon as flippy cell phones came out I coveted one. When I finally got one I took great delight in flipping it open and shut. Finally it dawned on me, that all that original Star Trek I watched as a kid had infiltrated my brain, and I only wanted a flip phone because it reminded me of Trek communicators.



Buffy started when I was about thirteen, and I watched it all through my teens. As a result I now talk in Buffy speak all the time, I don't even notice it.

Me too. I couldn't wear pink shirts for 2 years!

Every time I am about to lose my temper, I really start muttering to myself, "Serenity now, serenity now", a la Seinfeld. I seem to have forgotten the addendum to that, "Serenity now...sanity later".

The people in an office I used to work in were notorious for taking on eerie TV-like qualities. The worst of it was in the copy room after a certain SNL skit aired: "The Stan-man! Makin' copies!" That was several weeks of hell, people.

Thanks to CSI, I'm always suspicious of small foreign fibers I find on my carpet. Though I do manage to refrain from picking them up with tweezers, inspecting them carefully, and putting them in little envelopes.

After watching CSI and seeing that they always found the DNA of the killer under the victims fingernails(from trying to defend themselves) my friend accidentally scratched me. I made her write a note saying I hadn't killed her, just in case she was murdered. :P

I may have once totally orchestrated a MSCL scene in real life with my then boyfriend.

me "Why are you like this?"
him "Like how?"
me "Like... The way you are!"

What else. I speak Buffy Speak too. The last great move of my household was scheduled for the day of DOOOM! on all our calenders.

And I may have named one of my kittens after Willow's kitten. (Miss Kitty Fantastico. RIP)