Well that was an interesting way to make $35

[thistlechaser]

One way to make miles on my credit card is to fill out surveys. It's not really worth it at all (time:miles ratio is really off), but if I'm doing nothing else, I'll fill one out. I did one about TV, and at the end it asked me if I would be interested in being contacted to watch a new show and talk about what I thought of it. Hey, seeing a new show ahead of everyone else and get paid for it? Sign me up!

Silly me forgot how awful most TV is. This was a sitcom I assume was targeted at 20-somethings. The humor in it was so painfully bad, not at all a match for me. That being said, it would be cool if this show ended up on TV and I had gotten to see it ahead of time. (I'm not permitted to talk about the show itself, so unfortunately I can't mention the title or details about it here.)

Within eight weeks we get paid (a $35 gift card that can supposedly be used anywhere).

The most interesting part was the final 'question'. The host said thanks, and all of our replies to that showed to the rest of the group (none of our other answers showed up to each other, only the company/host/show producers saw them). It was interesting to see the nicknames people picked for themselves (people who pick a name like "[name]'s mommy" always make me roll my eyes -- do you really have no identity other than who you gave birth to?), and how well people could type/write.

While I didn't like the show at all and said that in my answers, I hope, since I seemed to be one of the people most able to write, that they ask me to do more of these.

Comments

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

Those folks used to try and get me to do that.
I did one. That was enough.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

It took too long for the money they were paying, but it was interesting to see the process. I wish the whole thing had been faster, but I guess they had to wait for slow people to answer each time...

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

omg, I really don't like it when people call themselves X's mum or dad, either! I have a few relatives who do that, and omg!!! Especially when their kids are already in primary or secondary school!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's fine good to be proud of your kid and love them, but you really should be something for YOU too, not just "kid's mother"...

[mayanas.livejournal.com]

I am more annoyed by 'X's grandma' for some reason... But I can't think why it bothers me more than 'mother'. Maybe because I can understand the new-mom excitement thing to some degree but I don't associate the same thing with grandparents? I don't know!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Luckily I haven't seen Name's Grandmother yet, but I agree with you, I think it would annoy me even more...

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

Every little giftcard helps!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Agreed!

[twissie.livejournal.com]

Wow now I feel ripped off! I did a rather involved taste test focus group thing once, the only thing I got was the free sample of the soda I got to try!! This tv focus group thing sounds fun. I'd love to do that sometime, I'd even do it for free xD

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Wow, really?? I've worked in market research for close to 30 years, and I've never heard of respondents not being paid at least *something* for participating. Free samples only?? You should feel ripped off!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Free samples are nice, but I'd expect money/gift card/something else as well.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that's messed up!

I just did a two hour long music one (I had to listen to more than 650 8 second song clips!!), but I got (supposedly) $50 for it. I'll believe it when I have the check in hand.

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

That sounds better than the drug industry surveys I get! I can usually get about $100 for them, but they're too much work!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I just did a two hour long one for $50, but while it was way, way too long, it wasn't unenjoyable. I had to listen to 653 8 second long song clips and rate how I liked them. It was almost all songs of a style I liked, so I really didn't mind too much even though it felt like it took forever.

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

$25 an hour is pushing the value for the time limit...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Luckily this wasn't an unenjoyable thing. If it had been, I would have bailed out of it before I got far into it.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Either they will want more from you or they will deem you "too smart" and therefore not the target demographic (seriously, sometimes I watch these shows and I'm like "WTF how is this funny? WHY IS THIS POPULAR?!?")

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's true, I might have classed myself out of this. I mentioned things like "I don't like humor based on 'aren't differences between these two racial groups funny!' and 'I don't fund drunk people acting stupid to be amusing'" when 'drunk person acting amusing' was the biggest (so-called) humor part of the show.

I also mentioned not being amused by stupid characters doing stupid things (like this show had one character who was unrealistically stupid -- he was so stupid, he wouldn't have been able to function in the real world), which is a pretty general thing in sitcoms. :P

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

That's kind of cool! I'd do it too if we had something like that here. Most TV shows are pretty damn awful, but for $35, how bored could I possibly be for an hour? LOL

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Exactly! It was a really bad show, but I had fun rating it (you had a little slide thing, so you could change it to more/less enjoying it second by second if you wanted). Made me feel like I had power to tell them just how bad it was. :P