25 Infomercial Products That Don't Suck

Infomercials are notoriously annoying. The products that the hucksters hawk on these long-form TV ads are well-known to be worthless. There are those times, however, when the products beaming from your TV screen late at night, grabbing the attention of that tired space between your ears, aren't actually that bad.

We like to remember the Shake Weight and the Hawaii Chair for their sheer ridiculousness, but there have been some solid "As Seen on TV" deals over the years. From hardware to kitchenware, all the way to cleaning and preening solutions, these are 25 Infomercial Products That Don't Suck and need to be in your house. So whip out your credit card and get before limited supplies run out!

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Written by Brenden Gallagher (@muddycreekU)

The people behind the Hercules Hook claim that you can hang anything on a wall without worrying about finding a stud. Popular Mechanics put the hardcore hook to the test, as they are wont to do. The results were impressive. A 41-pound book bag hung from the hook with no problem. A 68-pound lawn mower would have been just fine as well, except the dry wall itself couldn't handle the pressure.

We recommend the Hercules Hook up to the point that you'd have to consider buying heavier-duty drywall to keep whatever crazy stuff you want to hang on your wall supported, you freaky home decorators, you.

We were skeptical at first. Without leading you to dirty places, let's just say that this is a small rod. But, as a great and generous woman once said, "It's not the size of the rod, it's what you do with it."

Customer reviewers of the Popeil Pocket Fisherman are extremely favorable and even accomplished fishermen say it will do in a pinch. There aren't a lot of expert anglers in the Complex offices, so it's appreciated that we have an option other than forking over way too much money at Dick's Sporting Goods. However, there is always the chance that we'll get invited to join a friend's fishing trip and there'll be no excuse to get out of it.

Don't lie, you still long for your glory days participating in high school athletics. The NFL playoffs are heating up and that means it's that time of year when you try to relive those teenage years during commercial breaks. The only problem is that, since you're a degenerate gambler and kind of a dick to begin with, you take the games so seriously that no one wants to watch them with you.

In the midst of drinking yourself into oblivion and contemplating what you did to end up all alone for the big game, you'll be able to work out some of that frustration by throwing this ball against a wall repeatedly. Here's what it will look like, except imagine a depressed, grown man instead of the wide-eyed, innocent children pictured.

It's such a struggle to peel potatoes. On second thought, we'll stop right there. You probably don't even peel potatoes all that often, and if you do, you don't mind using a knife, but, admit that these are pretty cool.

Long story short, these textured gloves let you peel potatoes, carrots, or apples in seconds. Who knows, maybe you'll make mashed potatoes more often now. OK, probably not, but your parents might like them.

We know, we know: You don't bake. Look, bro, your ass spends way too much money on Entenmann's already, so if you don't have the discipline to improve your body, at least improve that bank account.

This pan renders the making and serving of brownies so easy that you don't even have to take them out of the pan. The base pops out to a serving tray. What you put in your brownies is none of our business, but whether they're narcotic-laced or just like grandma made them, use this pan to step up that brownie game.

In a world where plastic is taking the place of cash, you probably don't need one of those thick wallets anyway. Think about it this way: With the Magic Wallet, if you get a business card, a receipt, or a phone number scrawled drunkenly on a piece of paper, you can place it inside your wallet without worrying about losing it in your pockets or having it fall into the abyss of a cab's back seat.

The only drawback, however, is that now you'll have to remember to take that stuff out of your wallet. Otherwise, the wallet will quickly feel far less magical. If our Magic Wallet love doesn't do it for you, you can watch this review video posted by the least interesting video personality of all time.

Those of you who were lucky enough to not need the full dermatologist treatment, but were not blessed with naturally clear skin, probably spent some time with Proactiv.

Proactiv doesn't seem to work for everyone (apparently, almost no acne treatment does), but there are those out there who swear by it. Previous over-the-counter acne medications were spot solutions, meant for dabbing on the offending zits rather than a long-term system. Proactiv changed the game, and even though there have been improvements since, many of the blemished still believe in the power of Proactiv.

A quick heads-up for would-be Proactiv customers, though: Many customers are happy with the product, but there are equal numbers of people embittered by terrible customer service experiences.

These commercials feature one of the most annoying pitchmen in infomercial history, but he's right: We don't eat enough vegetables and chopping food is a pain. Though it might seem ridiculous, the Slap Chop is actually be a good investment. The gentleman in the video said it best: "Boring tuna, boring life."

Just in case you were curious, the guy's name is Vince Shlomi, and he was once arrested for battering a hooker after she tried to bite his tongue off. We imagine a boring life and the accompanying boring tuna aren't looking too bad right now to Mr. Shlomi.

Products that say they get stains out are always suspicious. Often, they either don't work or they work too well, fading the color out of your clothes. Proving to be an exception to that rule, OxiClean is trusted by millions of people, and the company is clearly enjoying success. It's expanded its original laundry aide to a line of 10 products applying OxiClean technology to clothes, dishes, or on-the-go messes.

Just remember, if you do pick up some OxiClean, pour some out for late infomercial O.G. Billy Mays.

Many people have a tendency to try to look tough when moving (e.g. manhandling boxes and furniture). Those of you who have tried that enough times know this behavior will lead to a tendency to throw out your back.

Although they don't look glamorous, and you may not want to use them when helping the cute neighbor-lady load up her U-Haul, the Forearm Forklift might save both your back and sanity, especially if you ever work as a mover or you're just the kind of person who moves around a lot.

This ladder is quite incredible. Most ladders that you've seen are either A-Frame (triangle with bracket in the middle) or extension (the ones you lean against a roof). This ladder, however, offers a simple yet ingenious innovation, as it dispenses with brackets in favor of a hinge. This makes for a versatile ladder that can be used as an extension ladder, an A-frame, at a 90-degree angle, or even as scaffolding.

With ever-shrinking available space in homes and garages, you can combine three or more ladders into just one. Little Giant claims this is the last ladder you will ever own and they may just be right.

Being the second greatest of all time is still pretty good. While the infomercial food cooker everyone knows and loves is a little higher on our list, you can't sleep on the Ronco Showtime Rotisserie. With a product that takes up little more space than a toaster oven, you can cook two chickens, seven lobster tails, nine burgers, or an entire leg of lamb at once.

We generally prefer to stick to a full-size grill for at-home meat preparation, but, still, we could be persuaded to keep our meat game inside once in a while with a dope machine like this.

You can't go wrong with a good set of knives. Everybody knows that. Furthermore, you really can't go wrong with a good set of knives that can cut through tin cans, nails, and pipes.

It seems that, back in the day, there was a great knife surplus, because every time you watched one of these commericals, they tried to give you a dozen extra knives for free. We don't mind, though. These extra cutting utensils will just motivate us to try to slice more adventurous things and push the Ginsu to its limit.

If you doubt this product's widespread cultural influence, check out this montage of the Ginsu in pop culture past.

Regular house plants are boring. Now, a house plant shaped like an animal or a dude's beard? That's revolutionary.

Love for the Chia brand stretches far and wide. In its 30-year history, Chia has released 14 different "waves" of Chia Pets, and, as of 2007, the company was selling half a million Chias yearly. In this amazing multi-decade journey from Chia Mr. T to Chia Sponge Bob, the Chia company has put many mini-topiaries in dorm room windows and implanted the "Ch-Ch-Chia" line into innumerable potential customers' heads. Here's hoping for the continued success of these quirky plant products.

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. It's a blanket and it's clothes, which begs the question: Where has the Snuggie been all our lives?

At the Complex offices, we often work for entire days wearing nothing but a Snuggie (and yes, we mean nothing) to stimulate creativity. Sure, you can't leave the office for the entire day, lest you be mistaken for a wizard or a Hare Krishna on the mean streets, but why would you want to go anywhere ever again when you are wrapped in the sweet comfort of a Snuggie?

There's a reason why every basement you entered as a child had one of these gathering dust in the corner. The Bowflex's polymer rod-based weight system allows you to train utilizing dozens of workouts in very small spaces. Rather than trying to cram an entire gym into your basement, you can just pick up one of these and call it a day.

Whether or not people actually used them is a different matter entirely, as we remember seeing the machine most often used to store cardboard boxes or as an unauthorized child's plaything. Good news for aspiring entrepreneurs (and bad news for Bowflex): The patent on that unique "power rod" design expired in 2004, so feel free to try to design your own multi-million dollar workout machine whenever there's spare time.

After we stumbled upon the Clapper in our research, we spent the rest of the day resenting the fact that, in the 21st century, we still have to flip our light switches on and off like savages. How did this not catch on? And how are we not using a variety of distinct clapping patterns to turn on lights, summon elevators, activate ovens, and power cars?

This is supposed to be the future, damn it!

Damn near everybody has owned one of these at one point or another. The George Foreman Grill is the ideal tool for bridging the gap between mom and dad preparing meals and getting that full-on big boy grill.

For those of you who have little to no kitchen space, or just aren't in to spending hours a night slaving over the stove, this might even be a great long-term solution. Regardless of your involvement with the Foreman Grill franchise, you have to respect this product as the undisputed king of the infomercial game. Since the grill's introduction in 1994, 15 million units have been sold, spawning numerous copycat grilling machines and netting Foreman several hundred millions of dollars.

Fun fact: Hulk Hogan claims he was first on the list for the endorsement, but missed the call from his agent. Damn.