It's good to know that in times of economic uncertainty and the impending collapse of our infrastructure that our leaders are taking the time to combat the true faces of evil in our world -- penis pill ads.

U.S. Rep Jim Moran of Virginia recently sent letters to three major drug manufacturing companies (Pfizer, Eli Lily, and GlaxoSmithKline) asking them to "tone down" the nature and material of their erectile dysfunction ads on TV.

Moran's beef (ahem) with the companies are how they affect the children, stating, "Parents should be able to watch a football game with their kids without having to either mute the television or explain the side effects of a life enhancement drug." The issue seems to be a personal one for the representative. I mean with the television ads, not ED, although I can't say that with any certainty, or maybe I just don't want to.

Let's talk (again) about commercials we hate.

Or maybe I should say commercials I hate, though I think you'll agree with me on some of these. They run the gamut from silly to ineffective, from dumb to just plain jaw-dropping. Let's start with jaw-dropping.

1. DirecTV's Poltergeist ad. This is...creepy and tasteless. Do the makers of this ad really not know that young Poltergeist star Heather O'Rourke died at a really young age? Even if they didn't (I'm kidding, of course they did), the star of the ad, Craig T. Nelson, is aware of it. So why use footage of her in the ad? It's just bizarre to me. Then again I'm not a DirecTV exec. They must know that what they're doing by using footage of a deceased child star (and a stand-in) to sell satellite TV service.

Look, we all want old men to have sex, no one's arguing that point, but couldn't Viagra use a different approach with its commercials?

There's one airing right now that shows an older gentleman (not ancient, but probably in his 60s) washing his car. His wife sashays past him, gives him the "I want sex now" look over her shoulder, and steps into the house.

It's starting. Bob Barker's got less than a month's worth of The Price is Right tapings left, and his tribute special is supposed to air on May 17. So now we're starting to see Barker pop up in magazines and newspapers, doing what are essentially exit interviews. In this month's Esquire, for instance, Bob is the subject of the magazine's "What I Learned" page (no link yet), giving his recipe for a vegan enchilada bake and saying, "I'm still sexually active. Just not as active as I once was. I think Viagra does help. You should try it. It might surprise you. And your friend."

Ooookaaay then. A little tamer is The Washington Post's examination of 'The Cult of Bob Barker,' written by the paper's pop culture expert, Hank Stuever.

(S03E13) Well, it seems that setting Mike free had a symbolic meaning for Susan as well as a literal one. When Susan was embracing a distraught Ian at the end of the episode, she had her eyes closed. There was no lingering glance, no eye rolling, nothing to indicate that she was anything less than sincere in her love for Ian.

Oh, I'm not buying it for one second. But there it was. And now that Susan isn't flinging herself in his direction, of course Mike seems interested.

It only makes sense that the theme song for a series about a dysfunctional family is "God Only Knows," recorded by another dysfunctional family, The Beach Boys. (If you want details, read Heroes and Villains: The True Story of the Beach Boys.) Watching this latest episode with that song playing in my head definitely made it an interesting experience.

You certainly get the impression that a man with three wives may have a fantasy life in one respect, but for those moments of pleasure, he certainly has to deal with more tension in his house (or in Bill's case, three houses) than any other married man or woman would need to deal with. However, I don't feel any kind of sympathy for Bill's plight--he put himself in this position. No one said polygamy was going to be easy!

Let's review what was on Bill's plate this week. His youngest wife Margene, who is a bit loud in intimate situations, is begging Bill for a car so she can run errands. Barb and Nicki also continue to compete for Bill's attention, and he pops Viagra like Tic-Tacs to keep pace. (Is it too much to ask for less shots of Bill Paxton's bare behind?)