Things I Hate About TV: Senior TV Stars on Insurance Commercials

One of the hazards of being home from work is the minefield that is daytime TV. It's pretty scary when you think about it; ads for denture cream, diabetes testers, and insurance to take care of your "final expenses" abound, mainly because a major component of the audience that time of the day is retirees. However, for an almost-middle-aged person like myself, seeing those commercials is a scary harbinger of what is to come, especially if I don't take care of myself like, say, Wilford Brimley.

But there is also a sad component to the daytime fascination with mortality: the disappointment you feel when you see your favorite TV legend selling Medicare supplemental insurance or life insurance on TV. 
Yes, folks, it's not just Ed McMahon trying to sell your parents (or grandparents) insurance for "just a dollar a day" anymore. Recently, I've seen insurance commercials with Barney Miller's Hal Linden, The Love Boat's Bernie Koppell, Jeopardy!'s Alex Trebek and -- saddest of all -- comedy legend Carol Burnett. All of them are reassuring seniors that they "will not be turned down for any reason." The commercials don't seem to be well-made; they seem to use the same grainy videotape and crappy production techniques seen on those Lifecall ads (remember "I've fallen and I can't get up!"?).

So, why do these stars tarnish their careers by doing these ads? In the cases of Koppell and Linden, neither of whom have worked a heck of a lot lately, it might simply be for money. But what are Trebek and Burnett doing peddling this stuff? They both still have very viable careers (Burnett was just in Once Upon A Mattress, remember). Are they doing this as a public service to their age group, who may need to get life insurance or figure out how to deal with the new Medicare perscription regulations? Or are they, too, just grabbing the money?

It's hard to fathom why these stars would do these cheesy ads, considering how low of an opinion most people have of them. Think I'm kidding? Check out this SNL parody of these insurance ads. I know they're not making fun of robots here.