Wow, it's unusual that a new Apple TV ad catches us by surprise; ever since the very first "Think Different" ad premiered, Apple's been announcing the arrival of new commercials by issuing press releases at least a few hours before they first hit the airwaves. So imagine our surprise when Jeff Goldblum's familiar face appeared in a break during Dharma and Greg-- and instead of discussing the email revolution or the color beige, he talked about how you can now get an iMac for the cost of three pizzas a month. If you missed it, Apple has posted a QuickTime version of the new commercial.

Now, we think this latest ad premiered tonight-- Apple seems to like to run new commercials on ABC during the Wednesday night prime-time lineup, but we suppose it could have popped up earlier on some show we don't watch. Regardless, for those of you who have lost count, that makes a grand total of seven different TV commercials for the iMac-- the four that showed only the iMac's futuristic industrial design onscreen ("Traffic," "Two Roads," "Three Steps," and "Un-PC"), the first two that showed Goldblum in front of the camera instead of doing a voiceover from behind it ("Email" and "Beige"), and now this new one. Whew! When Apple said that the iMac would be advertised heavily, they meant it. QuickTime versions of all of these (and more!) are available from the iMac Theater page.

So between several viewings of the new "Three Pizzas" commercial, the iMac on Mimi Bobeck's desk on Drew Carey, and the iMac in the office on NBC's News Radio, we may have hit "iMac saturation" in one night's viewing. It's entirely likely that Apple's Aquafresh-colored consumer system is the most visible computer on the tube these days. Apple's doing a lot of things right as far as the iMac goes: it's a kick-ass machine that looks the part, it's showing up all over the airwaves, it sells at a competitive price (though we'd love to see a price drop soon to pull some eyes off those $600 PC's), its availability is still very strong, it's being sold by (among other outfits) a huge national consumer electronics chain, and people can take one home with no money down, no payments for four months, and monthly payments of less than a dollar a day afterwards. Now we're just waiting for the holiday sales numbers to see if it all pays off...