In the last few years, the television channel originally called The Learning Channel, now just TLC, has taken some very scholarly steps towards serving as an epicenter for post-ironic television.

Once upon a time, back in the late 2000’s, this process started with a someone endearing intent a la Little People, Big World and Jon & Kate Plus 8 (when the show actually served as an in-depth look at how to raise a big family, not as a way to demonstrate the perilous nature of being fame-obsessed in America).

But that was then, and this is now.

And now we are treated to some of the most you’ve-got-to-be-kidding this-is-clearly-a-joke-but-I’m-kinda-down-to-support-it programming that exists on television.
From Toddlers & Tiaras (“Toddlers and Tiaras follows families on their quest for sparkly crowns, big titles, and lots of cash”), to My Strange Addiction… From Sister Wives (which if you haven’t seen the former Art of Mod post on, you should really click here right now seriously do it it’s horrific and unbeatable) to I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant (“Could you be pregnant and not know until you gave birth? It happened to these women.”), it offers a selection that can’t really be beat in terms of its post-ironic value.

So to share in the beauty of TLC tv shows, we here at the Museum are pleased to introduce you to the latest addition to the TLC family: EXTREME COUPONING.

Enjoy the following description and clips from the tv show coming this Spring to TLC:

Each of the series’ 12 half-hour episodes introduces viewers to America’s most extreme “super couponers,” sharing why they are so driven by the deals and witnessing their amazing couponing ways firsthand. From seeing their shocking stockpiles of merchandise they rack up to demonstrating their dramatic shopping skills, EXTREME COUPONING shares the world of everyday people in pursuit of extraordinary deals.

“This is pretty damn scholarly” footage part one:

This kinda makes me uncomfortable because it’s so compulsive/cheap footage part 2:

News, Art, an Educational Resource, and Humor via the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s product labeling all come crashing into one great display of what this Comcast buyout of NBC-Universal means in terms of everything beyond that TV show we referenced earlier.

via marktheshark

“After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, finally reached an agreement on Thursday to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric Company.

The deal valued NBC Universal at about $30 billion.

The agreement will create a joint venture, with Comcast owning 51 percent and G.E. owning 49 percent. Comcast will contribute to the joint venture its stable of cable channels, which includes Versus, the Golf Channel and E Entertainment, worth about $7.25 billion, and will pay G.E. about $6.5 billion in cash, for a total of $13.75 billion. For now, the network will remain NBC Universal, but ultimately Comcast could decide to change the name.

Almost immediately, the transaction reshapes the nation’s entertainment industry, giving a cable provider a huge portfolio of new content, even as it raises the sector’s anxieties about the future.” - NY Times

So this means Comcast, the largest cable operator in the country, will now operate many of the television channels you watch as you get your Comcast cable streamed to you.

But what if you don’t have Comcast?  What if Comcast doesn’t want you to get ads or info about other cable companies and thus removes this from all its NBC-Universal-owned content?

What if Comcast ultimately decides that they want to relocate NBC-Universal into their own corporate headquarters in Philadelphia? (although they announced they wouldn’t for now)  Goodbye NBC Studios at Rockefeller Plaza?

What if The Today Show becomes merely a forum for Comcast to advertise exactly what they want and tell you only what they want you to hear (aka Fox News)?  What if Matt Lauer becomes a puppet for Comcast?

What if Comcast continues this takeover trend and becomes the next News Corp. by taking over the CBS Corporation?

What if Comcast and News Corp eventually merge to allow nearly all the media to be owned by one central force?

Etc. etc. etc. »>

But ultimately, none of this even matters or compares to the scariest, most terrifying, life-altering plausible question of all….  what will be the outcome of this on 30 Rock?

No more General Electric jokes?  No more GE Microwave Oven Programming for Jack?  Will Liz be forced back to her Philadelphia-suburb roots?  Is it no longer even an option for Jack to take over Don Geiss’s position now that Jack will be working for Comcast and not GE?  Or will Jack leave Comcast to continue at GE?

So many questions, so much frustration, so much loss.

And where’s the Sheinhardt Wig Co. in this whole Comcast-GE dealing?  Haven’t heard anything about that yet.

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Gawker has more on why 30 Rock (aka Tina Fey) and others are screwed because of this deal:

Tina Fey Is Screwed:
The primary comic engine of 30 Rock is the notion of a television network being run by a cultish global microwave conglomerate. Brian Roberts, the CEO of Comcast, is a mild-mannered squash champion who lives in Philadelphia. They could get a good story arc out of the sale, but in the end, what’s so funny about a show-runner clashing with cable executive? We suppose they could just pretend it didn’t happen, but it’s been funny because it’s been true!

Bill O’Reilly is Screwed:

Ruh-roh. The hysterical crusade against GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt for personally helping Iran build a nuclear warhead sort of lacks urgency when it’s not a proxy war against Keith Olbermann and MSNBC. If GE fully divests and Comcast takes over, O’Reilly loses his favorite target to lie about. Maybe Comcast gives free cable to ACORN, or something?

Jeff Zucker is Probably Not Screwed Because He Always Gets Away With It
Jeff Zucker, who personally oversaw the dismantling of one of the greatest television brands in history from the home of Seinfeld and Friends to the home of the Jay Leno Comedy Hour, should have been fired, repeatedly, years ago. But he somehow persists, and even though we’d like to speculate that Comcast’s new management would seek a shake-up in order to more closely integrate NBC Universal’s content into Comcast’s delivery system, we won’t because the guy always wins.

The show described here had the working title “Veggin’ Out”, and while FOX may not have picked it up (and while the legitimacy of this article may or may not be questionable), all hope is not lost.  This could be Cinemax’s big break; they haven’t had much of anything going for them in a while besides soft core porn, and Showtime has been killin’ it with Weeds, Californication and that other show about the killer dad.

It’s time to bring PVS (persistent vegitative state) victims into the spotlight again, and this is the perfect avenue to do so.

Here’s the latest pseudo-celebrity to add to the list of people who’ve been personally handed cases of bulimia by The Hills.

This officially makes The Hills the third biggest bulimia-enduser in America after American Apparel and Jonbenet Ramsey.  Congratulations on the prestigious honor MTV.