Last week was a big week for Zune on NBC. It started off with a mention on Chuck.

And ended with an endorsement from Al-Qaida on Conan O'Brien's Late Night show.

Thoughts? Rough week of pop culture bashing or great way to start bringing Zune into the vernacular?

Over at Got Zune, Adam Stafford wondered almost the same thing. I have mixed feelings on this one. I think the TV media is behind the curve in realizing that bashing the Zune isn't cool any more. If some in the print media are seeing Zune as a respectable player, it's time for TV to get with it. And if this is somehow a reverse psychology ploy to gain mindshare... Cesar it's not working for me. Then again, was it really targeted to me? The fact that Zune is being mentioned in these spots tells you something about the perceived importance of Microsoft's device -- enough people have heard of Zune (what's a Zune?) for it to be possible to make a joke about Zune's second place status and to have that joke seen as being funny to a majority instead of a mildly appealing esoteric jab. Has Sansa or iRiver ever received play like this? I still run into people who have not heard of Zune. Strangely enough, I think these spots help get the name out. Personally, it is not the positive association I would hope for.