This is a Joke -- Right?

On some odd cable channel this weekend I saw a commercial featuring Lee Majors, best known as The Six Million Dollar Man. The product was the Lee Majors Rechargeable Bionic Hearing Aid. Yes, you read that right -- Bionic Hearing Aid! "It won't cost you $6 Million, but you'll think it is worth it!"

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this. Should I be surprised that Steve Austin is old enough to need hearing aids? (He did have enhanced hearing, by the way.) Is it meant to be funny, like the William Shatner commercials where he makes light fun of himself? Is it just sad?

Growing up I loved both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. In the mid-70s when the show aired, I was about 14 years old. My friends and I would pretend to run in slow-motion and make the "bionic noise" -- you know the one. (Being that I had almost no athletic ability, the only way I ran was in slow motion.)

Even though Austin was just a TV character, he was a hero. He was cool! He saved the world! He was indestructible!

And now he is hawking hearing aids. What's next -- dentures?

I feel old.