Hey, look…another entry to throw into the “Worst Idea of All Time” sweepstakes! What we have here is a television that will only work…wait for it …when you’re smiling.

Dubbed “Smile TV,” the invention uses facial-recognition technology to essentially watch YOU while you’re watching IT. To me, that’s creepy in itself. But the even creepier part is the fact that if you happen to stop smiling, the TV will simultaneously stop working. I guess if you tend to watch the tube when you’re depressed, this isn’t the product for you. Hopefully, this isn’t a “product” at all, but rather some silly post-modern experiment.

Artist David Hedberg claims he wants to offer a new spin on the relationship between TV’s and their viewers. Funny, I never thought I had a “relationship” with my SONY Bravia. But to each his own.

Smile TV is actually a fairly simple contraption. It’s basically a television that plays a bunch of light clips such as animal videos, wrestling matches, Kung-Fu flicks, and a scene from The Sound of Music. But hidden inside the base, just underneath the Smile TV logo, is a camera that is not-so-secretly observing the smile on your lips. Should you cease smiling, the TV screen reverts to an image of static, a la those rabbit ear antennas you used to have before cable came along.

Sure, it’s an interesting experiment…but I highly doubt most people would want to be forced into doing impressions of The Joker while sitting on their La-Z-Boys.