PETER SAGAL, HOST:
We want to remind everybody that next week, we will be back in our home theater at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago, Illinois. You can come see us there. For tickets or more information, go to wbez.org. And you can find a link at our website, waitwait.npr.org. Right now, panel, it is time, once again, for you guys to answer some questions about the week's news. We have some for you here. Adam, do you remember those famous Life Alert adds that everybody used to make fun of?
ADAM FELBER: I've fallen, and I can't get up.
SAGAL: Right. Well, you know, there's this grandmother with great hair. And she's lying there, and she's like, oh, I've fallen, and I can't get up. And we've been making fun of that.
FELBER: Did you say grey hair or great hair?
SAGAL: Great. Really good hair, particularly for a woman who's fallen to the floor. She looks good is what I'm saying. Well, they've updated the ads. But now viewers are complaining, they're even demanding the TV stations stop broadcasting the new Life Alert ads. Why?
FELBER: I'm guessing - because I've seen the new Life Alert ads - because they're so scary.
SAGAL: That's exactly right.
FELBER: They are terrifying.
SAGAL: They are terrifying.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
FELBER: You watch this woman tumble down the staircase, and then a shark eats her or something. It's just terrible.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: It's terrifying. So in this new ad, which I cannot recommend you watch 'cause it will haunt your dreams.
FELBER: No, do not Google this.
SAGAL: The camera wanders through this empty house while you hear the plaintiff, horrible cries of a woman who has, in fact, fallen and cannot get up.
FELBER: And the camera is at the top of the stairs, and she's a the bottom.
SAGAL: And it points down. And it kind of, like, the camera fades out on her crumpled, weeping form just as you hear the wolves approaching.
(LAUGHTER)
FELBER: I don't think there are wolves.
SAGAL: You think I imagined the wolves?
FELBER: You might've imagined the wolves.
SAGAL: The wolves are pretty terrifying.
FELBER: The way I imagined the clown there in the corner.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: This, I mean, this is the trend now. Instead of an actor obviously faking it, we're going to get ads with this stark truth of what awful thing the product they're selling is supposed to prevent. If this becomes a trend, Viagra ads are going to be awful.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Coming up, extra, extra. It's a newspaper Bluff the Listener. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play. Support for NPR comes from NPR stations and Arizona State University, with more than 70 campus degrees now available 100 percent online at online.asu.edu. Source America, its pathways to careers program matches skills with employment options for people with significant disabilities, sourceamerica.org. And Angie's List, offering consumer reviews for more than 19 years and providing online shopping and scheduling for local services at angieslist.com. We'll be back in a minute with more of WAIT WAIT ...DON'T TELL ME from NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.