Super Bowl: Game, House a hit. Ads? Nah.
Hugh Laurie courtesy Fox
It's getting to be a bit of a cliché to walk away, exhausted, from the TV on Super Bowl Sunday and declare that the game was more memorable than the overhyped ads. That was certainly the case this year, when a low-scoring but high-tension match between the previously unbeaten Patriots and the underdog (and ultimately triumphant) Giants upstaged a parade of silly ads, only a few of which are likely to be remembered in a day or a week, let alone a year from now.
Thankfully, the day-and-night-long orgy of infotainment ended with a first-rate post-game episode of
House - which in the New York market didn't begin until 11 pm, thanks to a local news insert milking the jubilation. Mira Sorvino was the appealing guest star, playing an ailing shrink who catches the grouchy doctor's eye all the way from the South Pole. It was a satisfying ending to a wearying day of overdone bluster.
It was a day of Super Synergy for Fox, starting early with a Fox News special that awkwardly blurred political commentary with sports analysis. "The game that decides it all, then the day that could make all the difference," trumpeted Shepard Smith, fusing Super Bowl Sunday buzz with Super Tuesday buzz. Later in the day, Ryan Seacrest brought his inane red-carpet act to Arizona, a way of plugging the ubiquitous
American Idol. Between all of the politicians and celebrities thrust before Fox's cameras, I never realized there were so many people whose predictions of the game I didn't care about. Only a masochist could possibly have stayed tuned to Fox all afternoon.
Thanks to DVR magic, I was able to find Paula Abdul's performance with Randy Jackson, a pre-taped assault on the senses. The best thing I can say about it is that at least it wasn't a career-stopper like Britney's zonked-out VMA debacle. Still, if one were to judge objectively, it's a good thing Paula's spending the majority of her time on the other side of the judging table.
When the game finally began, following
Idol champ Jordin Sparks' relatively restrained interpretation of the national anthem - she looked nervous before and after, but sang OK - it paid off to watch things in real time. The game was tense, never a runaway. And the stakes were so high for competing quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning (whose brother Peyton won last year's game) that the drama rarely ebbed, despite two scoreless quarters. Halftime, with Tom Petty's crowd-pleasing but not especially memorable display of classic rock, came and went without a hitch - or, to the network's relief, controversy, which in the wake of the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake scandal, is really all that matters these days.
Speaking of Timberlake, his slapstick Pepsi Stuff ad was one of the highlights of the Advertising Bowl. Dragged into traffic, up the side of a building, plunged into water and repeatedly banged painfully into a mailbox (the inevitable crotch joke) every time a fan sipped her Pepsi, this brisk ad was a winner.
My favorite of the night came from a rival cola: Coke's ad featuring the giant balloons of Underdog and Stewie (from
Family Guy) fighting midair for a Coke balloon, which ultimately ended up with good old Charlie Brown. As it should. I'm also a sucker for Budweiser's clydesdale ads: this year's was a
Rocky parody in which a Dalmatian trained a heroic horse named Hank for the big time. Their triumphant high-five was sweet.
Other high points in a mostly so-so field: Audi's
Godfather spoof of the iconic horse's-head scene, this time using a severed chassis and motor oil in place of blood; the E*Trade ads featuring a talking baby speaking coolly of making investments in between spit-ups (and of renting a clown with his earnings, "I really underestimated the creepiness"); Tide to Go's talking stain; Naomi Campbell dancing to "Thriller" with a chorus line of colorful lizards. As for FedEx's elaborate sequence involving giant carrier pigeons wreaking havoc: Having developed a serious pigeon phobia since moving to Manhattan a decade ago, this scared me more than anything in
Cloverfield. (Use our
Online Video Guide to enjoy more memorable Super Bowl ads.)
Still, speaking as someone who's less than fascinated by advertising and considers himself a casual football fan at best, what I'll remember most about this Super Bowl lineup is its final offering:
House. If only for the following exchange, part of a running gag in which House badgers Cuddy and especially Cameron to get pay cable installed for his pleasure in Coma Guy's hospital room.
"I am not giving you cable," clucks Cameron, who's on the budget committee. "You're going to have to somehow survive with just the broadcast networks alone."
To which House grumbles, "That'll be fine on Tuesdays." Yes, the night
House typically airs. Genius!
Spoilers ahead for those who haven't watched yet: I also loved House calling his new crew "Team MacGyver," the way he flirtatiously played "Let's Get It On" while watching Dr. Sorvino examine her body via webcam, his teasing of Wilson until he finally discovered the identity of his new girlfriend (the surprise return of "Cutthroat Bitch," aka Amber), and the cringe-inducing scenes in which he advised Sorvino's smitten coworker to drink her urine ("Milk, milk, lemonade") and drill a hole in her head after she lapsed into a coma. Hugh Laurie is always a treat, but this was one of his best efforts in a while, clearly falling for this feisty woman on the other side of the world. If she hadn't warmed the carbuncles around his heart, he'd never have let her keep her socks on during the exam, and he would have seen the broken toe (numbed by the cold) that was causing all of her problems.
Only one more
House left to air this Tuesday, and then it joins many of our other favorites on a strike-imposed hiatus. But maybe not for as long as we feared. If all the news emerging from this weekend is true - that the writers and producers have achieved a breakthrough in their talks and that a tentative deal could be announced by week's end - then lots of our favorite shows will soon be back to work.
Super news indeed!
More Super Bowl coverage:
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Watch and discuss Paula Abdul's pre-game performance.
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We list the Super Bowl telecast's highs and lows.
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Which Ads Scored, and Which Snored?
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News: New York Giants Upset Patriots to Win Super Bowl XLII
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Cheers & Jeers tackles Ryan Seacrest's pre-game show.
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Matt Roush reviews the game and the ads.
