If, like me, you grew up in the 90s and 00s, you'll no doubt be familiar with ‘As Seen On TV' home gadgets. Products whose main selling point was that they'd been demonstrated on TV sales networks or infomercials — because as we all know, that's a guaranteed marque of quality.
Recently, I got thinking about whether or not any of that tech is still knocking around, and whether it still holds up. Turns out the answer is yes! There are still loads of ‘As Seen On TV' gadgets you can buy, some of which you can still get new. Surely, that means they're actually pretty good, right? After all, why else would they still be being made?
So, I used up some of the Tom's Guide testing budget (sorry Editors In Chief) to buy a few familiar infomercial fads from the last 20 years. Here's whether they're still worth buying.
1. George Foreman grill
Tagline: “The Lean, Mean, Fat-Reducin' Grillin' Machine”
I mean, come on: there had to be a George Foreman on the list! These grills are an absolute classic infomercial product in the 90s and 00s, and a huge success (reputed to have sold over 100 million units).
These grills were absolutely everywhere when I was growing up in the mid 90s. My parents got one in the late 90s, as they took a little while to blow up in the U.K. (where I live) after initial success in the States. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, you can still buy George Foreman grills new in 2026!
How it holds up in 2026
Back in 1998, I remember our family George Foreman grill felt like a serious piece of cooking gear. Maybe that was because I was 6 years old — I never actually cooked on the George, and wouldn't have known the difference between good and bad kitchen tech anyway.
Still, I was a little disappointed on picking up the 2026 model. It feels rather cheap and flimsy. At $39 (or £49 in the U.K.), our 2026 George Foreman cost $10 less than it would've in the late 90s…