Local TV commercials you love to hate

They're cheesy, they're annoying, they're ubiquitous. They're your least favorite local TV commercials. We asked R-J readers to name the local offenders who most make them want to draw a gun and Elvis-ize their flat screens.

GLEN LERNER and ASSOCIATES

Personal-injury attorney Glen Lerner -- who used to refer to himself as "the Heavy Hitter" until the Nevada State Bar objected to the term in 2006 -- took by far the heaviest hits in our unscientific survey. Respondents repeatedly bristled at Lerner's forward demeanor, his "In a wreck, need a check?" slogan, and the jingle containing his phone number.

"I just absolutely despise him," said retired schoolteacher Vic Kieser. "That smarmy smile and that Bayonne, New Jersey, accent." (For the record, Lerner hails from Boston.)

Whenever he sees the commercials, cover-band manager Evan Savar says he hits heavily on his fast-forward button. Savar takes particular offense at Lerner's jingle.

"It's so annoying!" Savar said.

When asked to sing it, Savar reproduced the jingle perfectly: "Glen Lerner is the way to go./Call 877-1500."

"That's hilarious!" Savar said. "I guess it works!"

(See for yourself at www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI4V2A0JX-w&feature=related)

GOLIGHTLY & ASSOCIATES

R-J readers didn't go lightly on personal-injury attorney Chad Golightly, either.

"There's no movement on his face," said Jeff Hobbs, a biology teacher at Desert Rose Adult High School and Career Center, who expressed particular displeasure at Golightly's lack of discernible blinking.

"Blinking should be mandatory for an attorney," Hobbs said.

ATTORNEY FRANK SORRENTINO

Another local attorney charged in our survey with multiple counts of creative negligence is bankruptcy specialist Frank Sorrentino, whose commercials feature people reading prepared statements that end in "Thanks, Frank."

Retired ad agency owner Rich Newman is reminded of the videos that kidnap victims are forced to make by their captors.

"They're all looking at the camera, their eyes wide open, mouthing somebody else's words," Newman said. "They look like they're in a state of shock."

BROWN HAND CENTER

R-J readers also handed it to Dr. Michael Brown of the Brown Hand Center, who ends one commercial by having his toddler daughter squeak: "Daddy's baby girl!"

"I just can't stand it," said homemaker Elizabeth Stahl. "The voice is very annoying and I think it's very condescending to the audience.

"Who cares if she's daddy's little girl?"

(Watch it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=odn1-sN_9Zo&feature=related)

TOWBIN DODGE

Josh "The Chopper" Towbin's A&E reality show, "King of Cars," was chopped in 2007. And some R-J readers feel the commercials for his Towbin Dodge dealership should be, too. Chop-chop, in fact.

"They annoy the crap out of me," said Mona Van Joseph, who earns her living as Mystic Mona the psychic.

Towbin's ads feature The Chopper raising his voice to describe lowering his prices.

Joseph said she changes the station whenever the yelling starts, then waits two full minutes before changing it back -- just to be sure it's over.

"I am so not into whatever he has to sell me," she said.

See it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwfEgm2rPec&feature=related

TICKET BUSTERS

The only thing some R-J readers found more annoying than this company's bright pink house at Rainbow Boulevard and Flamingo Road is its TV ads, which feature the same cartoon of a finger-pointing highway patrol officer.

"He's got five knuckles plus the outstretched finger," noted food service worker Paul Stefani. "I count his knuckles every time.

"That just creeps me out."

Contact reporter Corey Levitan at clevitan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0456.