What do you mean, you're still counting Mac sightings in movies and TV shows? Geez, folks, given the near-omnipresence of Apple's hardware on the tube and the silver screen, you'd be better off listing which productions don't have Macs onscreen-- it'd save you an awful lot of time. Either that, or maybe you could tweak your criteria a little, just to keep from aggravating your carpal tunnel syndrome to the point where your wrists burst into flame because you've been trying to type in the names of 99% of all films and television programs to issue forth from the boundless cornucopia of Hollywood over the past four years.

Seriously, we're concerned for your physical well-being. How about this: instead of just spotting Macs in these productions, why not spot Mac commercials, instead? And we're not talking about ads shown by the networks during Will & Grace or the movie of the week; we're talking about Apple commercials spotted in the background of the shows and movies themselves.

Okay, you're wondering what in Steve's name we're talking about. Here's the skinny: AtAT's resident fact-checker and Goddess of Minutiae Katie was, as usual, assimilating every single new development in the entertainment industry to be reported on the 'net in the past twenty-four hours, when her speed-reading eyes snapped into focus on the last bit of Roger Ebert's review of Showtime, the new buddy cop flick starring Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro. The movie itself sounds a shade less than compelling, but Mac fan Ebert makes it a point to note that "this is the first movie in which an entire iMac commercial runs on TV in the background of a shot."

So there you have it-- the first entry for your new list. We're willing to bet that maintaining it will be a lot less stressful on the ol' tendons. As for whether you're the type of Mac fanatic so devoted to the platform that you'd rush out and see a movie just because there's an iMac commercial on a TV in one shot, well, that's between you and the little voices in your head. Work it out.

This scene was taken from the 3/15/2002 episode:

		Friday, 6:17 PM: A Virginia Mac reseller goes under due to Apple's unfair policies-- or does it? Meanwhile, Gateway appears to be remaking its less-than-successful retail stores in the image of Apple's own boutiques, and Apple product placement in the movies hits a new high (or low)...

Other scenes from this episode include:

Trouble With a Capitol "T": So there's been a lot of blustering lately about how Apple has been keeping what few G4 iMacs that dribble off the assembly lines primarily to itself instead of playing nice and sharing the goodies with the rest of the class... Scene

The Appleizing Of Gateway: Hey, speaking of those Apple retail stores, they may not have finished out the year in the black, but it looks like most observers admit that they've been a positive move for Apple overall. We base this on nothing but a gut feeling, but it seems to us that the number of industry analysts and pundits bad-mouthing Apple's decision to open its own stores has dropped dramatically since the company first announced its intentions back in May of last year... Scene

Click on one to see it. Or perhaps you'd like to see the whole episode as originally broadcast?

Bored? Take a trip down memory lane and see what happened One Year Ago, Two Years Ago, Three Years Ago, Four Years Ago, Five Years Ago, or even Six Years Ago today! Or leave your entertainment up to the fates, and see a Random Episode...

What disappoints you most about the video iPod 1.0?
	It doesn't get Cinemax
	It requires far too much physical effort to cram a DVD into the Dock connector
	You can't stick your face in the screen like with the TV in Videodrome
	Showing home movies on the iPod makes it too easy for viewers to escape
	I can fit 140 hours of TV in my pocket, but it sure is a hassle lugging this couch everywhere I go
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