Not to poke Modern Family fans with a stick or anything, but after the jump, here's a WalMart commercial that achieves in thirty seconds what the "Fizbo" episode couldn't do in thirty minutes.
As an online friend noted, creativity is subtraction. Here's the "birthday party with clown gone horribly wrong," boiled down to the essentials. Even though you're prepared for every element in advance, it still manages to surprise in the execution.
Moreover, it has the "documentary" feel. It has as much character building as you can get in half a minute. You empathize with each of the parents in turn. And the payoff is beautiful.
The most amazing part to me isn't that WalMart approved this ad, but that WalMart has an ad that's genuinely entertaining.
Don't Bring Me Clown
Posted:
24 January 2010 |
posted by
David J. Loehr
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who I am
David J. Loehr is a writer, designer and director. He doesn't like hyphens.
He is the artist-in-residence with the Riverrun Theatre Company in southern Indiana, which covers a multitude of sins.
His work has appeared at the Capital Fringe Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Hanover College Theatre and more. He is a member of the Playwrights' Center.
He has one wife, two sons and three cats. He's afraid to think of what four might bring.
5 comments:
Can't agree about Modern Family. That show is #1 in my book.
The commercial is just loud.
On behalf of my dad, Newton Minow, and our whole family, many thanks for including that charming photo of him on your blog's banner. We all appreciate it. (And give Modern Family another try -- it's not bad.)
Wow! Thanks for visiting. I did have to do a little Photoshop magic to make the banner work, but I've always like his writing and appreciated his work. I'm so glad you like it.
As for Modern Family, I'm still watching. It's still not doing anything for me, but now it's a matter of curiosity...
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