Having learned a lot of lessons producing the F1 Info program, I decided to give it another go. I wanted to exploit the good chemistry I had with my co-star, but in a lighter format that was easier to prepare for and would have broader appeal. I had the idea to do a Siskel & Ebert style review show, but instead of movies we would review television commercials. It was rather genius, if I do say so myself.

Preparation for this show was much lighter. It was still a hassle to arrange the studio lighting every time, but beyond that not much more was needed. By this time I had a Tivo at home, so I was able to pause, rewind, and replay things. Whenever I saw a commercial that I thought was interesting or otherwise provide good fodder for conversation, I would make a note of it. I would then go back through and record a handful of them to VCR to be used in the next episode of our show. The only real hassle was I had to sneaker-net the tape over to my co-star so that he could watch them beforehand and have some discussion points ready when we got into the studio.

The show was great. It was a clever idea, and it was an effective way to exploit the chemistry we shared. We always had spirited things to say about each commercial, and our interactions were very entertaining. We got to the point where we were doing theme shows with commercials from a specific genre or type of product. We even did a double-episode of Super Bowl commercials. It was going along great, and there was no end in sight.

We even started building an audience. People out there began watching the show regularly. But unfortunately therein lay the problem. When my co-star was out in public people would occasionally come up to him and say that they saw him on TV. Sometimes it was someone he knew and sometimes it was total strangers. For me this was what it was all about. I would be flattered to be recognized. However my counterpart didn't feel the same way. It actually freaked him out. Just as we were really starting to find our stride he said he didn't want to do the show anymore.

I was totally gutted. I thought this could be my ticket to stardom. I had aspirations of sending out demo tapes to get picked up by a network or syndication firm. I assumed my co-star would want to come along for the ride, but it turned out he didn't have the appetite for publicity that I did. I didn't have anyone else to take his place. There wasn't anyone I had the same kind of chemistry with. I had no choice but to shut down production. To this day I think that it was a huge opportunity lost.