At Least Caliendo Knows He's Insufferable

Ratings for this year’s MLB playoffs are already down 20% from last season, so really, people don’t need another reason not to watch. But Frank Caliendo is continuing to make it difficult to stomach tuning into the postseason on TBS. If you watched any portion of the division series, this year or last, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Alas, Caliendo himself has the solution to make the torture of his Frank TV commercials stop:

"I say to those people, ‘I’m sorry, but watch the show and maybe TBS wouldn’t have to promote it as much,’" said the impressionist, whose sketch-comedy show’s second season - with an expanded cast - premieres Oct. 21.

"I think I have to go into hiding soon," laughed Caliendo, who appears on the TV spots as a blogging President Bush and NFL loud mouth John Madden.

So, in order to stop seeing Caliendo’s completely unfunny impersonations, I have to watch an entire half-hour of him doing his completely unfunny impersonations? That doesn’t seem like a fair deal. Not to mention Frank TV doesn’t premiere until the 21st -- the first night of the World Series, which is on FOX. It will be too late by then to make the commercials stop.

Really though, what is TBS thinking with this bombardment strategy? They annoy us with the same, tired clips of Caliendo to the point where we can’t take it anymore, then expect us to tune in for the full program when it premieres? That’s like US Airways beating us over the head with 30-second spots of planes going down in fiery wrecks, then expecting us to hop aboard and experience the real deal. Uh, no thanks. I already know this ends in disaster.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.