When bad infomercials happen to marginally-crappy stars

I have this fascination with infomercials. I have since I was little. I watch QVC and HSN as white noise while working in the computer at home. I would love to meet Ron Popeil in person. Jewelry Television might be the best G-rated post-bar activity I can think of. The Millenium Knife Collection is a gift I hope to give to someone in the future. You get the picture.

As my fascination with my new cable progressed this move-in weekend, I found myself up until 3 a.m. Friday watching perhaps one of the more depressing TimeLife infomercials of recent: Peter Fonda and the "Flower Power" collection. Yikes. Poor Peter. Lots of references to "Easy Rider" (there was a motorcycle that kinda looked a movie prop in the background).  Here's how it was described:

It started in San Francisco, came of age at Woodstock, and changed us and the world forever. Time Life presents Flower Power: Music of the Love Generation. You will hear hits from the most impressionable artists of the '60s and '70s including: The Mamas and the Papas, The Byrds, The Youngbloods, Jefferson Airplane, and many more.

Includes 3 FREE Bonus CDs: Summer of Love (2CDs) and The Best of Woodstock plus a groovy collector's box.

Per usual, Peter was paired with some no-name hostess who MIGHT be famous in the infomercial world, but that's a stretch. The two waxed ecstatic over the Summer of Love, hippies, and the "bands you just don't hear anymore that you should," such as Canned Heat, Oliver and Brewer & Shipley... I know, tragedies.

I felt bad for Peter Fonda just long enough to get roped into another TimeLife production, "Classic Soft Rock," brought to me by stadium-fillers Air Supply. I know, I was hooked.

In the early '70s, everyone was mellowing out to soft rock music. Singer-songwriters, acoustic guitars, and sun-soaked melodies took over the airwaves and the sound of soft rock was born. Get 168 original soft rock hits on 11 CDs, one FREE!

Now, Air Supply wanted me to buy this album because I JUST DON'T hear artists like Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Kenny Loggins, Phil Collins, and the Doobie Brothers. Hmm. Now, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I hear those no-talent ass clowns ALL THE TIME on local Detroit radio. Perhaps it's a regional thing... I just enjoyed the idea that REO Speedwagon needs more love and perhaps an updated "Behind the Music" episode.

The no-name hostess for this installment spoke of Air Supply like they were the first band inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. If you ask me, Air Supply's biggest achievement in life was having "All Out of Love" become a poorly picked wedding song during the 1980s.

All Out of Love on YouTube

Fear not. Watching the soft rock infomercial made me long for an epsidoe of "Yacht Rock" and a cold Bartles & James beverage.