What're You Doing Selling Cable, Mr. Hummel?

Yes the new spokesman for Time Warner cable may look awfully familiar to some of us. Its actor Mike O'Malley; famous notably for his role on the television sitcom "Yes, Dear" and, more recently, as Burt Hummel on Fox's new comedy Glee.

While O'Malley displays a more serious side on Glee (quite well, we may add), he's sticking to his comedic roots in these commercials. The cable giant has chosen not to focus so much on the services provided as on creating an atmosphere of congeniality with light humor and mischievous digs at Verizon, Time Warner's main competitor.

In order to bring that feeling to their tv spots, Time Warner successfully picked a spokesperson with an "everyman" feel to him; O'Malley skillfully sells himself as a relatable guy you'd probably like to hang out and have a beer with some afternoon. When he empirically proves that Verizon hates puppies in a particularly funny ad, one is inclined to believe him.

All in all, these promotions seem to do a good job of projecting a harmless and congenial image and connecting that image to their product. Whether or not the product actually lives up to that image is in question, if the raging YouTube debate between Time Warner and Fios customers with nothing better to do is any indication.

As making up one's own mind is often the best course, one of the ads is posted below for your purview and analysis. Get a dictionary, we'll wait.