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Dude, You're Getting A Job! (7/19/04)
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We finish on a happy note, as faithful viewer Prachi Gauriar informs us of the most amazing comeback of a fallen marketing idol since the Pets.com sock puppet got hired to shill for auto-loans-for-deadbeats pioneers 1-800-BAR-NONE ("Everyone Deserves a Second Chance"). You know who we're talking about, right? Our own beloved Steven, that modern Eddie Haskell who shmoozed soulless Wintels for all his friends by grinning ingratiatingly at their befuddled parents. "Dude, you're getting something resembling work!"
You have to remember, folks, Steven (or Ben Curtis, as he's known in the biz) watched his career prospects swirl lazily down the toilet when he managed to get himself busted for possession of marijuana about a year and a half ago, just when Dell was on the fence about de-emphasizing the "Dude" campaign. Needless to say, the zillion-and-a-half news outlets that each independently ran stories with the headline "DUDE, YOU'RE GETTING A CELL" (to this day, we're still proud that our variant-- "Dude, You're Getting Deloused"-- was seemingly unique) made Dell's decision a whole lot easier. Not that playing Steven for another three or four years would have exactly opened many doors for Mr. Curtis, but at least he'd have been rolling in dough.
But he's working again! No, it's not Shakespeare in the Park (more's the pity; we hear his portrayal of Lear is sublime), but an official press release announces that "Ben Curtis, the high-profile, nationally recognized talent"-- sshhh, this is serious!-- "previously featured as 'The Dell Dude'" is going to be starring in a series of commercials this summer for GameZnFlix, an apparent rip-off of Netflix that undercuts them on price and mixes console game rentals in with the whole DVDs-by-mail thing. Ben's three commercials will reportedly focus more on the games side of the business and is targeted at the "young people between the ages of 12 and 25" market.
So it sounds like Ben's probably going to be playing a slack-jawed surfer-type with hip lingo who doesn't take life too seriously. It's good that he'll have a chance to stretch dramatically like this.
Anyway, best wishes to Ben; it's nice to hear he's not going to starve. Wow, first the sock puppet, and now "Dude"-- will it be a marketing icon rebirth hat trick? If you spot Ellen Feiss in a commercial as the new spokeswoman for Visine or something, let us know, okay?
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SceneLink (4828)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 7/19/04 episode: July 19, 2004: Apple introduces fourth-generation iPods, with Click Wheels and longer battery life. Meanwhile, Duke University aims to give iPods to its entire incoming freshman class, and Steve the Dell Dude gets a new lease on life...
Other scenes from that episode: 4826: And Then There Were Two (7/19/04) Ain't it always the way? Every time we get caught up in something non-AtATy that sucks up all of our time so we don't even know what day it is anymore, that's when Apple chooses to pull all sorts of interesting stunts... 4827: Back To School Supplies (7/19/04) It's entirely possible you were so busy drooling over the new iPods that you missed an interesting little role the devices are playing at one particular institution of higher learning. Faithful viewer Jeff Wiley forwarded us a CNET article which is mostly about the new 'Pod launch, but which mentions a deal with Duke University that has us almost wanting to go back to school...
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