Mental Engineering is a weekly roundtable discussion about TV commercials and our commercial culture. It airs exclusively on public television.

Each week host John Forde is joined by four panelists. Panelists are selected on the basis of mental agility, heart and an instinct for fun. They usually include both academics and comedians.

A typical half hour episode screens four or five prominent national television commercials. Each commercial is then 'dissected' for four to five minutes.

The conversation usually begins with the way the commercial uses the mechanisms of social psychology, then wanders through history, technology, sex roles, spirituality and humor.

Mental Engineering is alternately funny and meaningful. 

The show is neither pro-consumer nor anti-consumption. The show's goal is to get the viewer to transcend consumerism and think of themselves as citizens and even spiritual beings.

Mental Engineering teaches using the most vivid and pervasive examples of our modern culture, TV commercials. By modeling the art of asking good questions, the show gives viewer's the tools to own themselves.

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Last modified: January 22, 2002