Oleg

Warning: I'm going to throw down some personal opinions in a second.

Did you watch Fox last night? American Idol, House, pick your poison. If you did, you may have had a brush with Oleg the Taxi Man.

Now, I will admit Oleg roused my curiosity... but it wasn't in the "ooh, what is THIS bit of intrigue?" so much as "what... is Fox... doing."

I've been enlightened (thanks, Jeff)-- a large part of this effort is geared toward the populace that TiVos their shows, and skips through the commercials. These uber-quick snippets of content are meant to be a reason to watch the ads... after all, they're too brief to accurately skip to with your remote. (More information at Ad Age.)

The idea is great, and I commend Fox for taking such innovative steps where they need to be taken. However-- and here's where my opinion comes in-- Oleg is not interesting! In a matter of seconds, I can't guess that he is Greek-- I initially thought he was a new take on the ever-so-popular cavemen. I don't find myself wanting to hear his next tidbit of broken English, I don't particularly care about his family and background (all laid out in Fox's microsite), he isn't funny... the bottom line for me is that Oleg just isn't compelling.

Was he a misfire for you too, or was I alone in finding him irrelevant?