The Return

Out of all of our blog posts for this class, this is the one I was most anticipating. I love sitcoms, and have watched every episode of both The Office and Parks and Recreation. For this assignment, I chose to watch an episode of The Office in season 3, episode 13 titled, "The Return". I have seen this episode a few times, so I know the content very well and can even recite a few pieces of dialogue. However, I have never noticed just how prominent product placement is in the show, even though I have watched every season at least 3 times (and there are 9 seasons!). 

The stars of The Office

I chose this episode on purpose, because in it, one of the main characters leaves his job at the office to work at Staples. This is very significant, because that is huge product placement for Staples. There are multiple scenes filmed there, showing the outside of the building as well as the inside and the products they sell there. Staples is mentioned by name in the episode, and it is openly discussed between the characters. This is, by far, the most notable piece of product placement in the entire episode. 

Andy punches a wall out of anger in this episode. 

The rest of the product placement in this episode is far more subtle, and not quite as 'in your face' as Staples is. The only products mentioned by name is a Sebring car, a Lexus, and Swanson brand chimichangas. The rest of the episode goes by without anyone mentioning specific brands, so all other product placement is seen and not heard. For example, in the office, the characters are all using HP computers to do their work, with the logo clearly shown. Also, a Cingular cell phone (boy, that's a throwback! Is Cingular even a thing anymore?) is held by a character, with the logo shown on the front.  

Other small product placements include; Cisco systems (shown on the office landline phones), Aquafina water bottle, Clif bars, Herr's chips, Poland Spring giant water cooler, Morton's salt, Panasonic TV, a Battlestar Gallactica sweatshirt, and, in Staples, the brands Kodak, Epson, Canon, and HP are clearly visible. Keep in mind, I had to search a little for some of these products to get an accurate representation as to just how much placement is contained in this episode, but they are all easily visible.

Apple's product placement in Modern Family

After researching the content of this episode, I have a firm belief that the rest of the episodes of The Office have just as much product placement, if not more so. Even just watching other sitcoms, like Parks and Recreation and Modern Family (another one of my favorites!), I have seen product placement without even really paying much attention to the episode. It amazes me how company's can sneak their products into a 20 minute show.

After this assignment, I will definitely try to take more notice of product placement not only in TV shows, but in all different types of media as well.

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah

For this assignment, we were told to watch an episode of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart/Trevor Noah. I found it easiest to access the most recent episodes aired on Hulu. The episode I watched aired on March 17, 2016, and the special guest for this episode was actor Theo James, from the Divergent movie series.
To start this off, I would like to be completely honest in saying two things that I feel are important to add for this specific post. First, I have never watched the Daily Show in my life. This is a personal choice, as I just have never been interested in watching it. Second, I do not find myself entertained by politics/current news. I know I should stay up to date on current news and politics, and I do to a fair extent, but I also don't go out of my way to watch Fox News or CNN every single day. I know what's going on in the world, but not enough to fully appreciate the Daily Show and the content that was discussed in this episode.

New Supreme Court Nominee Merrick Garland.

To start off the episode, Trevor Noah talks about St. Patrick's Day (since St. Patrick's Day is the 17th) and makes a few jokes about everyone who drinks, which I found to be quite funny. For the big story of the night, he discusses President Obama's choice of a new Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. Trevor Noah makes a few jokes about the announcements. He also discuss "The Biden Rule" and makes fun of that, which I personally have never heard of. The issue that I have with watching news channels and politically-infused TV shows is that I normally do not follow what the host is talking about, and that's why I feel that this post is doing the Daily Show an injustice, because I do think it's very funny, but I can't comment on the content of it.
Noah then has a segment about March Madness, but for his show he is doing a game called Third Month Mania, which is similar to March Madness but has to do with what type of thing is the most annoying. For example, one of them is Trump vs. Trump supporters. I found this segment very funny and enjoyable as well. I actually considered going on his website and filling out a Third Month Mania bracket.
Trevor Noah brought in Theo James for his special guest, and they discussed his upcoming movie, Allegiant. Bringing on a popular guest star helps to counter-balance all of the political talk in the earlier part of the episode, which I found to be a good idea. It's a sneaky way to get more of an audience, because some people will watch an episode just to watch the segment with the guest star. Putting news/politics in the very beginning is a smart idea to keep more people informed about what's going on in the news before bringing in the guest.
I believe that this type of format to deliver the news is comedic as well as informative, because it does get people to become involved in what's happening in the world in a way that is not just straight talk and facts. Admittedly, I do not stay tuned to these kinds of shows, but I appreciate the comedic standpoint that the Daily Show takes on delivering news and discussing politics.

Trevor Noah, current host of the Daily Show.