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As Seen on TV: Way or No Way?

Ever bought or received any of those gadgets/appliances? Were you pleased as punch with your purchase or filled with shame at the $ you wasted?

Have you ever watched an entire infomercial?

I had one ASOTV gadget that was supposed to easily cut a potato into perfect fries. It broke on first attempt. Recently had the battery operated can opener - put in new batteries. It went a couple of inches and died. I had to throw out the opener with the tuna.

I wouldn't mind having the Ronco rotisserie or the Aerogarden - at least from what I've heard.

If you haven't and would never consider it, you're No Way.

I'm no way, since my personal experience has been disastrous and I'll probably never have counter space for the two I covet.

You???

35 Comments:

WAY. That's how I got my authentic genuwyne hand hammered wok - which I use to this day. The irony of it was that the commercial featured a man with an Australian accent. At that time, Crocodile Dundee was big and I guess the marketing people thought a light skinned, blue eyed, non-Asian man could do a better job of selling woks because he had an Aussie accent.

I've seen ASOTV stuff and thought it was incredibly stupid but every now and then something good comes along. Caveat Emptor.

My parents got the the showtime rotisserie. I was surprised to see how well it actually worked. I myself have never bought anything off the TV and have no future plans to.

I think I've finally learned my lesson and am VERY careful about such purchases.

Well, my very stupidest purchase was Wolfgang Puck's rice cooker, which they had on QVC/HSN (not sure which) for, like, $30. Right then and there I should have known. It makes white rice sort of okay, though burns the bottom a tiny bit. Brown Rice is uncookable in it. That's not exactly true, but it takes forever and requires constant fiddling. The only reason I haven't tossed it is that it helps as a reminder whenever I see some groovy seeming cooking appliance for way too little money on the tube.

That said, the ginzu knives I bought, like 25 years ago are still sharp as hell. Do not mock me :-) ! They are amazing for slicing tomatoes and such.

So does anyone have a good recommendation for a real rice cooker with a smaller capacity than the standard? I am a single person and have no need to make 6 cups of rice at a time.

Well, I'm not sure. I really want the Aerogarden! Also, while I've never ordered anything myself, we do have a couple of things I've seen in infomercials that we got as gifts - Magic Bullet and whatever-its-name is Sonic Cleaner. I'm actually rather pleased with both (especially, the cleaner thingy, it's actually quite a gem, considering that my right wrist can't do much real scrubbing). Oh, and I have a boix with ginzu knives taht I've never opened (@chisai - now I just might!) So there, while I'll never actually buy one, I've received a couple and don't mind them. So I guess it's "way" with reservations.

And yes, I've actually watched an infomercial or two (or three) from the beginning till the end - sometimes you just can't find anything else to watch at 5 am (nobody said that being an insomniac is a joy). Kitchen product infomercials are the only ones I can tolerate though, and strangely, I never ended up thinking, "hmm, I really need this thing!" although my swollen brain has been slightly intrigued a couple of times.

I received "the clapper" as a joke one year. My BF thought it was the best thing in the world.

I'll admit it, I have a George foreman grill. It's awesome.

We bought a George Foreman grill, and we love it, too! We can make everything from paninis to steaks, and it really works!

I love my magic bullet!

i was gifted a george foreman grill a few years ago & still dig it.

my sister and i always coveted the ronco electric food dehydrator, but were denied our turkey jerky.

i don't even have cable or watch tv much, so i miss out on a lot of the infomercials.
(the one for the magic bullet did always amuse me tho with it's weird, fake party setup...this link is a pretty funny breakdown of it:)
http://www.infomercial-hell.com/magic-bullet/

I was gifted 3-4 gadgets and they all broke in shipment or while putting them together. These were years ago, so I don't recall specifically what I got. The one that stands out was the no-oil frying pan with chopper included. I remember this mainly becuase my husband took the pan lid away from me to show me how to do it. He screwed on the knob for the lid and stripped it w/o even trying that hard. I laughed for the longest time.

I've always wanted to get a food dehydrator to make jerky and fruit roll-ups. There's no room in the kitchen that we have to even store it in a cabinet.

So I'm in the middle -- I can't say Way or No Way, since I've yet to get one that works for me to say it is awful; although, not being able to get one to work or having it broken before trying should say a lot. I'm still not overly pessimistic to the pt that I'll shun them...yet.

@chisai: I really like Zojirushi for cooking rice from when I was a kid. My father uses a 3-cup one now, since my step-mother spends most of the year in Japan, so if he eats at home, he eats alone most of the year and doesn't prep too much rice.

I'd have a Zojirushi rice cooker now but I have an excellent bread machine/rice cooker/jam maker by Hitachi that I bought 15 years ago that works perfectly. I won't throw it out until it goes kaput. Target.com has several 3-cup rice cookers by Zojirushi and other companies.

The only thing I have ever had off of a info commercial was the Magic Bullet. It was only alright for a little while but then broke and went into the trash. The bottom would not catch the blade to turn it...so it was not workable.

I didnt buy it off tv but I do have a magic bullet and for me its a life saver, I have a very small kitchen and not enough room for a standard blender base, with this I can make my protein shakes etc and it works pretty well. I had a foreman grill and to be honest I hated it, too difficult to clean and just not worth the space.

I am a HUGE fan of asotv stuff. I want it ALL - it may be a sickness!!! I have lots of items and desire even more. I saw a multi cooker that uses some sort of light and cook a turkey in 1/2 the time and that is my current lust item that i don't have. Some items are totally crap but I have been happier then I expected with most. and by the way hsn/qvc cooking shows ROCK i had no idea i needed it till I saw it and then ...... :)

I have never, and probably would neve,r buy anything--especially related to my kitchen--from a TV infomercial. My SIL bought a rotisserie off one of those ads and loves it. She's had it for years and uses it at least once a week--usually on the weekend to prepare a large hunk of meat that carries her through a work week. It comes in real handy for preparing for a large family affair too. Still I need to hold and pet anything before it enters my abode.

About 25 years ago, I bought a Boerner V-Slicer from an early infomercial. I still use it regularly and have never had a problem with it. Oh yeah, I did cut off the top of my finger a couple of times, but other than that.......
Never have gotten as good as that TV guy who demonstrated it though.

@love2cook~Hilarious. It got to a point where we had to hide my credit card late at night! We love to "Formanize" our chicken. Some of the choppers were great for the kids to use to help with dinner. A microwave egg poacher. Some of them are jokes, like the boiled egg peeler. My dad got that one.
I love the aisle at walgreen's and CVS for ASOTV. Fun, fun, fun.
It's not just the gadgets though. The skin care and excercise stuff suck me in too.
Advertising victim, right here.

P.S. My husband is an advertising exec. I should know better.

I think I'll get my daughter (23, recently moved to NYC from Austin) a clapper for her birthday in February. Wouldn't that be cool? I would've loved that.

I'm a *Way* because I'd consider it I guess
I have yet to try my green-bags or whatever it is. They're under my tree :)

I use Proactiv®, does this count? LOL haha wrong blog

I'd have to say way - but carefully. We bought the Thunderstick immersion blender with all the attachments. The Thunderstick works great - but all of the attachments have broken. Darn fine immersion blender though, but not worth the price.

We had a very dear friend who had been a chef. I gather that he was quite the gadget and gizmo for the kitchen collector. I recall his SO didn't refer to it so nicely. After he passed away the SO was cleaning out all of the stuff and brought me the Flavor Wave oven. Our friend had wanted me to have it. Danged thing worked for some things - but not everything.

I love my steam mop! What a cool thing that is. But now I am intrigued by the "Big City Slider Station" for making mini burgers, etc. I don't really need it, but I want it. Oh, we have two G.Foreman Grills - a little one that my ex gave me years ago and a big G5 that we got ourselves for Christmas last year - LOVE IT!

My local NBC TV station tests those ASOTV things, I even tested the "SHAMWOW" for them and it really worked and I was a 3 minute TV star!!!! you can find the As Seen on TV section on www.wgrz.com. There is video clips of the testing.

I didn't buy it from TV, but the Magic Bullet is the best gimmicky kitchen item I've ever bought. It gets daily use in the summer for smoothie breakfasts-to-go, just slap the solid lid on the mixing cup and I'm off.

@chisai: The $15 Rival rice cooker I bought at Target last year is going strong weekly with both white and brown rice. It took a little fiddling with water/rice ratios to turn out perfect rice every time, but once I had it down it hasn't disappointed me.

I'll admit that I have, indeed, pruchased kitchen stuff from tv; however, I have learned to do my homework first.
Always read the customer reviews on QVC/HSN! For example, I was saved lots of $$ by not purchasing the Aerogarden based on the many, many very negative reviews! Same for the "Earth Pans".
I, too, suffer from insomnia from time to time, and the info-mercials usually put me to sleep. I do, however, admit to watching a few all the way to the end. The Cindy Crawford skin care line was particularly fascinating, and yet I was able to restrain myself! OK, OK ... I got the Jack LaLanne juicer ... but it works just fine.

Thirty years ago bought a food dehydrator. Works great and is still working. The actually sent me 2 for the price of one. So I've got a back up when this one dies.

Great timing on this question! My son gave me a "Big City Slider Station", a griddle like devise that cooks 5 mini burgers at once. We've had a blast making these burgers since Christmas. They cook fast and taste great, and everyone loves the little bite sized burgers served on mini dinner rolls and topped with anything you like. I've already had $20 worth of fun out of this thing in one week.

OMG i just saw the commercial for the slider station and it looked so good--so glad to hear it actually works!!

what about the flowbee? anyone a victim of that?

I have a Showtime Rotisserie (see my post for Thanksgiving work potlucks). Makes killer chickens..it's at work and we use it at least once a week.

I have an Aerogarden, now growing salad greens after the summer herb mix...2 different kinds of basil..we had basil, tomato, goat cheese flatbreads, basil pizza, basil and cheese monkey bread. It was a blast.

Also, have a George Foreman Grill. Used it yesterday to make tri-tip steaks. Only problem I had with it is all that "disgusting fat, and juice" that went into the little tray underneath...made it dry. I saved all the juices...skimmed off the fat and made a jus. I'm a terrible person!!!

Worst thing...was these battery operated tornado drink mixers. Had to send them back..wouldn't even break up the protein powder drinks I had to force down at the time.

My mother used to buy some of those things, like this whole set of pot and pans and they were absolute junk. She also bought these little tinker toys for my nephew when he was little, from the picture it looked like you got alot for the price and when he got it you would need a microscope to see the pieces. Nope.

My mom got me that tube that you put boiling water and pasta in and it cooks the pasta when I went off to college. I've tried to use it, and never gotten cooked pasta out of the deal, much less decent good pasta. My little sister is a sucker for all the ads, I just pass em by.

Late last night I watched the Jack LaLanne juicer infomercial. Since I have a juicer packed away somewhere, I wasn't interested in the product, but in seeing Jack. I remember him on TV when I was a kid, and he is amazing for a man his age.

I must check out the shopping channels reviews - I wasn't aware that they sold ASOTV infomercial stuff. I bought my stuff at CVS. I ordered a vcr math made easy tape directly from the tv a long, long time ago, and was sent Victoria Jackson cosmetics. Huh? Never did get that mess sorted out, but I ended up on a sucker list and everybody and his brother were sending me junk mail and calling every evening. Never again.

Interesting post, I purchased some marinating container sold on QVC, you press a button and it 'seals' in all the juices and spices, etc. Ended up being a plastic bowl with a lid on top, a little button to help 'seal' it on, but could have just used one of my own plastic containers, a duh moment for me. Anyway, Foreman grill are not bad if you don't mind it being a bit dry. Ended up giving that away to Good Will.

Way, although I don't think I've actually ordered off an informercial. I watch the stupid things (have even DVR'd a couple to save the web address), read up on them and then if I like the reviews, I buy the product elsewhere.

I've had the GT Express 101 (two compartment indoor grill) - I never got to use it before my ex dropped it on the floor and broke it but he loved it. I'd get another if I found it again for cheap in a local store. I have to admit that I'm a sucker for that infomercial.

I currently have three (yes, you read that right) Foreman grills. One is so huge that it needs it's own zip code (got it when the ex, a wannabe bodybuilder, was making a zillion slabs of meat a day.) Another Foreman hasn't even been taken out the box since I got it for xmas a couple years ago (that's the one with the removable grill plates, but it's too big for just me.) The third grill is actually a Foreman ripoff and is just the right size when I want to make a quick burger.

I also have two Aerogardens - just planted the first one in November but my sister has had them for years and has never had problems so I snagged them on sale when I had the opportunity.

I've never ordered off an infomercial either, but also have a George Foreman grill, which I use often. Additionally, I wouldn't rule out buying a Magic Bullet or an Aerogarden at some point in the future.

On the other hand, I also bought a Juiceman juicer several years ago... loved it at first (and got quite a bit of use out of it at the time), but it broke down after only a few months. Although I miss having a juicer, I still don't want to take the chance on spending the money for another one.

My FlavorWave oven got me through college. It's how I got around not using a hot plate to cook things. Worked great on chicken tenders and fries (pretty much was my staple)

@Steen: Next time you're in the market for a juicer, consider a used Champion.

I bought some big folding colanders – no, thank God, I can't remember the brand. It was such a great idea, big enough to hold 5 lb. of potatoes, but it folded flat.

And it broke after about a month.

And we ended up paying about twice what the infomercial said.

So, yeah, No Way.

i use my ronco rotisserie all of the time, it's great .... set it and forget it.
chickens, leg of lamb is great, pork roasts.....

my OH cuts his hair with FLOBEE - remember from the 70's... it's a thing that cuts hair while the vacumm sucks it up.... he hasn't paid for a haircut in over 30-some odd years.....

most things today are pretty flimsy. i always check out the reviews on the internet..... you get the real dirt on these products. they usually get you on the shipping anyway.

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