Understand that I absolutely don't give a crap about the game. But the commercials warrant comment. So before I forget them, I'm going to comment on them as we go (and maybe about the game as well, but don't count on it):
6:35: The Bud Light commercial with beer being hid all over the office as an incentive, thus resulting in chaos. It almost makes me want to go out and drink a Bud Light, and I don't even drink beer. Hysterical, particularly the last bit when the boss gets tackled.
Burger King: At last Burger King acknowledges, at least in song, that their Burger King Mascot is "freaky" looking. If a member of SCA ever adopted a serial killer disguise, that would be the result. As for the rest of the over-the-top Busby Berkely-esque number celebrating the construction of a whopper...I don't think I'll ever eat another whopper.
6:39: Sierra mist: I'm pretty sure I ran into those security inspectors coming back from South Dakota.
Second Bud Light commercial: "The Magic Fridge." Whoever is handling the Bud Light campaign, they're brilliant. "Magic Fridge" is, so far, the best commercial of the evening.
6:46: Hybrid commercial. Eh.
FED Ex! Entertaining with impressive FX, and then slam dunked the final moment with the caveman getting wiped out by the passing mastodon.
Bud Light: Wow. Third BL commercial in a row that's a winner. Not quite as good as "Magic Fridge," but the outrage from the guy shouting "Not cool!" as his friend thoughtlessly leaves him to a bear's mercies just to grab a Bud Light...that was great.
6:51: V FOR VENDETTA: "From the creators of the Matrix trilogy." Gee, here I thought it was from Alan Moore. Looks cool, though. First footage that I've seen of it.
DIET PEPSI: Great to see Jay Mahr, but it doesn't especially make me want to get a Diet Pepsi.
I think the Seahawks should win. They have snappier uniforms.
One of the announcers--Kath says it's John Madden--sounds like Penn Jilette of Penn & Teller, except just a bit huskier, like Penn if he smoked too much.
COMMERCIAL CATCH-UP:
Aleve: Aside from the fact that Aleve is what I use if I pull muscles bowling or something, the use of Nimoy unable to do the Vulcan salute without taking some was brilliant. The new funniest commercial of the evening, although probably only because we're fans.
Diet Pepsi: Much more imaginative than the first one, especially with the snarky substitution of Diet Coke for the stunt sequence.
Ameriquest: A funny sequence, but it doesn't make me want to mortgage the house.
Bud Light: The most elaborate, and each one a masterpiece of absurdist writing with brilliant timing. What made this one was the total lack of reaction from the wife as her husband crashed through the ceiling...with the capper being his declaration of "I'm all right!" followed by getting clonked with the falling toolbox. Who the hell is writing these? David Ives?
Budweiser; Broncos vs. the Rams. Cute.
Mobile ESPN: Nicely done. Fantastic if you're a sports fan. I'm not sure, but I think that was pro bowler Chris Barnes in there.
7:18--Career Builder.com. Entertaining.
Escalade: Eh.
7:20--MI3. Saw the trialer before. Looks interesting.
Dove Self-Esteem fund: As a father of daughters, and having had to deal with their self-esteem issues, I highly approve of this. I'll be checking into it.
7:26: The Shaggy Dog: Seen the trailer, and the commentary doesn't do much.
Ford Hybrid: Not thrilled with my favorite Muppet song being put into a commercial.
Michelob: Boy, I just can't get enough of actors tackling each other.
7:35: Go Daddy: Wow. That was...pointless.
7:38: Poseidon, the remake of the Poseidon Adventure. I've no more interest in seeing it now than I did decades ago.
Gilette Fusion: Eh.
7:41: Overstock.com. A female-oriented commercial during Superbowl. What were the odds?
7:45: Standard Walt Disney commercial.
7:56: Sprint: Okay, THAT was funny. "Crime deterrent." Heh.
Toyota Rav 4: If I were in the market for a car, I'd check it out.
Prudential: Eh.
8:05: I haven't been commenting on the ABC house ads, but the "Might as well face, you're addicted to Lost" is the best so far.
8:25: Okay, that was a better Disney commercial.
8:33: Ameriquest: Even better than the first. But I still don't want to refinance the house.
MotoPebl...Uhm...okay.
Sharpee Retractable: I had that at a recent convention and got oohs and aahs from fans and pros, underscoring for me just how easy it is to impress fans and pros sometimes.
Been off for a while, dealing with Caroline. The only commercial I've seen since then that's really memorable--the one that easily wins the "Okay, that's just F'd up," is the Hummer commercial: A female Godzilla mates with a giant robot to create "the little Monster" called Hummer. That's just wrong on so many level...but it's memorable.
Oh, also the MacGuyer Mastercard ad was pretty good.
9:54: "Running Scared." Eh.
"Outback". Eh. We eat there occasionally, but that ocmmercial wouldn't make me want to.
With the Superbowl ended and Caroline still fussing we have stumbled upon her dream TV program: Puppy Bowl II. From now until midnight on Animal Planet it's nothing but a dozen or so puppies cavorting in a minature football stadium. I've never seen Caroline so blissful.
Oh my God! It's the Kitty half-time show.
Posted by Peter David at February 5, 2006 06:34 PM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentingHeh, a friend of mine just sent me an email about that V for Vendetta commercial. And I just realized why there's nobody in the street! How did I manage to live in NY and not know the superbowl was today???
Gee, here I thought it was from Alan Moore.
Not since he took his name off it in protest of what he considers plot stupidty, it isn't. The online trailer says it's "from the graphic novel illustrated by David Lloyd".
Just ssaw the Poseidon ad, looks fairly decent, but without Gene Hackman, I just don't know, but I'lll probably have to see it alone, Stace loves cruises and any time a cruise ship flips over, she ain't happy. Because, you know, that happens SO often.
Thanks for the public service, Peter. I'm stuck listening to the radio broadcast, so I've been wondering how this year's commercials were going so far.
I've missed most of 'em so far - I figure I'll see if I can't find them online in the next few days - but that Mastercard commercial just now was pure gold. :)
I think Sprint won the night with the "Crime Deterrent" and the Benny Hill ringtone was perfect. They were short, to the point with a perfect punchline.
"Addicted to Lost" was second for me.
The "Rams vs. Broncos" commercial is really about a "streaking" fan (shaved lamb) and his cavorting about the field. The cowboy's comment at the end was pretty good too, "Didn't need to see that."
I missed it the first time and just went back with the Tivo and watched the quarter of the game that I missed. Fedex Cavemen is my favorite, followed by Sprint's Crime Deterrent and the Bud Baby Clydsdale (pulling the wagon).
Overall I thought that the humor in the ads was up from last year.
Oh, honorable mention to the Monster.com (I think) with the office full of jackasses.
Yes, the Hummer spot was just wrong, but entertaining. My vote for the best I saw (I actually had to air the show today, but occasionally had to run to the bathroom) was the Sprint.
But... but... FIVE blades???
In yet another prescient article, I present THE ONION'S "Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades" (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33930)
You are WAY too kind as a group of us sat through some of the lamest commercials we have ever seen and through one of the dullest games we have ever seen.
AS far as our group was concerned, there was not one really memorable commercial the entire evening.
Hehehe - gotta agree with the fucked up Hummer commercial, and the streaking lamb (too damned cute). I missed half the RDA commercial, so will need to go find it to get my fix (now that he's off Stargate, harumph).
I'll not comment on the game, save to say that I was really disappointed the Packers had a bad year, til I watched this game and realized the refs were still thinking of me. *rolls eyes*
The five blades reminded me of that disgusting SNL skit a few years back where they had 20 blades and the guy basically destroyed his face doing it.
And what was up with that "for your future" hybrid ad? Saving the environment = for your future. Learning English =/= For your future.
Here's a link to a Foxsports commentary on all the commercials and links to see most of them.
PAD, thanks for pointing out Puppy Bowl II. It's awesome!
Yay Steelers! Got one for the Bus, baby!
I liked the Budweiser commercial with the Clydesdale foal trying to pull the wagon. That was nice. The Sprint ad was the funniest, in my opinion. "Addicted to Lost"? I don't think so. That, and the "Desperate Housewives" ad were lost (Har!) on me, as I've never seen either show.
Damn you yanks, gettin all your U.S. ads (I watch it on Canadian TV so I get a ton of Global ads).
HOWEVER ... somebody fill me in on the movie trailer ads. I know "Cars" and "Pirates" & "MI:3" were on air (I did get a chance to see the V for Vendetta ad. GODDAMNIT, does that movie ever look like its going to rule!) Did I miss any? Because this is one of the few days of the year I hate living in Canada. What with all the missing the summer movie trailer ads and all.
More V for Vendetta, dammit!
From the creators of the Matrix trilogy." Gee, here I thought it was from Alan Moore. Looks cool, though. First footage that I've seen of it.
A - think about the mass audience. What is going to click onto more viewers more "From the creators of the Matrix trilogy" or "From the creator of Watchmen"? I mean, come on! (for the record, when I saw this trailer, I freaked out and told everyone within earshot at the bar "V FOR VENDETTA!! WATCH THIS AD RIGHT NOW!!!" The most of the responses after the ad was over were shrugs but I got one or two guys sayin, "Yeah, that looks cool...".)
B - First footage you've seen of it? Weak, man, weak. There's at least 2 more trailers kickin' around on the net. Go and find them, right now! Now, doggone it!
lates,
Al DeSantis
cashcarstar69 -at- hotmail -dot-com.
I know I'm just a cranky old Conservative, much like Alan Alda's character on The Left Wing, but, gentlemen, why watch the Super Bowl when you can watch this? http://www.lingeriebowl.com/index.htm
If you missed any of the SB ads: http://www.ifilm.com/superbowl
GoDaddy.com gets my vote. It's not on iFilm yet but you can see it on the GoDaddy.com site along with some of the ads ABC turned down:
I loved the Magic Fridge ad, but the Caveman ad was the best of the bunch. The Nimoy Aleve ad was also pretty inspired. The Jackie Chan Diet Pepsi ad was cute, but in the end, it was just Chan doing his usual schtick. Nothing really clever about it.
Damn, did Kermit sell out or what?
The thing that struck most about the Mastercard ad was that they got Richard Dean Anderson to dye his hair brown again. But why? He's let his natural gray come out in for years on Stargate: SG1. Did they think the audience wouldn't recognize MacGyver in gray hair. At least they didn't make him put on a mullet wig.
Oh, and that Burger King ad was just freaky in general. Maybe not as freaky as last year's "Cowboy Hootie" ad, but still it inspires nothing but, "WTF were they thinking?"
And PAD, your serial killer analogy to "The King" is spot on. I can't see how this campaign as lasted as long as it has.
Den,
I'm sure Jim Henson is rolling over in his grave with the corporate corruption of our beloved muppets. (More Statler and Waldorf!!!!!)
Yes, that was Chris Barnes bowling. It's also the ESPN spot that made him damage his back and miss five tournaments last year.
He's back and doing well, but he had never missed a tournament before that, and he was worried about the damage. Luckily it's alright, and he even made the broadcast last week.
I have to admit I paid _zero_ attention to the Super Bowl (or as little attention one can pay when its taking place nearby). I didn't even learn until this morning who won. To me, this weekend was about something far more important than a football game. A radio play I wrote was performed in Kalamazoo on Saturday. Good turn-out, muchly enjoyed.
As for Sunday, I watched _Veronica Mars_ and _Crossing Jordan_ when the game was on. But for those of you who enjoyed watching the commercials and/or the game, I hope you had fun.
Rick
Thanks for the commercials recap, PAD. I did not get to watch the Super Bowl, as I was on the road. I did listen to most of the second half on the radio, however.
Based on what I heard, it's a good thing I wasn't really rooting for either team (although "blue-collar" Pittsburgh was a distant sentimental favorite). Man! What a sloppy game, both player-wise and officiating-wise!
V FOR VENDETTA: "From the creators of the Matrix trilogy." Gee, here I thought it was from Alan Moore. Looks cool, though. First footage that I've seen of it.
Well, ever since the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN crediting debacle, Alan has refused credit for all his adapted work. Warner Bros. pissing him off (by stating that V had his stamp of approval) I’m sure didn’t help.
Myself? I just get an ironic kick at the fact that John Hurt is now portraying Big Brother. :)
1) it was careerbuilder.com doing the employment ads, not monster.com (so while the ads may be cute, it might not help with name recognition)
2) I can envision college students across the country kneeling in front of their walls for months to come saying "Magic Fridge Magic Fridge" just hoping the wall will turn.
3) No amount of cuteness is going to get me to drink diet pepsi instead of diet coke. (the only time I ever switch is when I can get free itunes)
4) Haven't seen the show, but I want to see Lost from their ad.
5) The Sprint ad doesn't make me want to buy Sprint, but I thought it was hilarious. (I mean, every cell phone has that crime deterrent feature.)
6) I'm not sure overstock.com's main market is women. I actually heard about the website a month or so ago from a businessperson who shops there for his nonprofit.
I think the commercial where the guy gets clobbered with the toolbox (everyone watching with me involuntary yelled "Ow!" or "Oooh!" or some other empathetic expression of pain at that moment) should have been run BEFORE the one with the doctor using the defibrillator paddles to zap the fly ("Well, that killed him." SUPER: Timing is everything) instead of right after it. That would have flowed nicely.
The anti-theft cellphone had us on the floor, too.
I gotta get myself one of those magic fridges- but mine would have a good imported beer. Hey, It's magical, right, so I want Hofbrau Munchen in mine!
I loved the Hummer ad. I'm just trying to get some the images it conjures out of my head.
No one's commented about the Stones- only 3 songs- Something odd about seeing the Pirates of The Caribbean ad after seeing Keith Richards.
I liked the Sprint ad, too, but I work for them so my objectivity could be questionable.
I kinda missed the NFL Network's usual "Tomorrow" spot. I really needed that one this year after my beloved Philadelphia Eagles took such a dive this year. I even tried to watch the Philadelphia Soul's Arena Football League game earlier in the day. Football played in a hockey rink just isn't the same, and every
commercial break during the AFL game had a commercial for online poker. Made me wonder who else is watching this stuff.
E! A! G! L! E! S! (Next year)
I was told by a reliable source that the girls in the Dove commercial are Girl Scouts from Long Island. Excellent campaign. Hope they sell lots of soap.
It appears to be an excellent campaign. I hope it is successful in raising the self esteem of Canadian girls. It's interesting if Long Island girl scouts were in the commercial, since the campaign, according to their website, is focused on Canada.
I'm watching the commercials on google right now. I wonder if Hummer realizes how ironic their ad really is?
Despite your supremely undeniable correctness involving V for Vendetta the comic book... if you had made that in comment about the commercial in front of Alan Moore.... I read somewhere that he denied connection with the movie. His name is not on the movie. He denies and disowns the movie.
So V for Vendetta the movie is only by the Wachowskis.
Actually I have no actual idea what Alan Moore is like in person... but I cannot imagine that he'd react well to someone insisting upon attributing the movie to him to his face.... simply because I cannot imagine reacting well to anything... if only because all of the photos have grim expressions.
Well, sounds like you had a nice evening, PAD (the Animal Planet stuff sounds interesting).
Personally, it didn't feel like one of the greatest sets of Super Bowl commercials, but there were some good ones. Probably the favorite here was the Fed Ex cavemen/dinosaurs; and MacGiver's purchases at the store were fun ...
And yeah, the H3 "Godzilla-ette"/robot commercial IS "Oh, that's just F'd up". I enjoyed seeing it ... again. They do seem to only show it rarely, but I have seen that commercial at least twice before. I would have thought the first time was during last year's SB - "Yeah!" for Cowher, Bettis, Hines Ward, and the Steelers, by the way (sorry, Seahawks) - but since no one else here seems to have recognized it, maybe it was someplace else.
On the other hand, I didn't recognize the "Broncos and Rams" aspect of that Bud commercial - shame on me, Broncos fan! So, thanks for pointing that out.
And as far as "Posedion" - when I saw that ad, I was like "But they just re-made that movie - last year." NBC had a three (or was it four, even?) hour movie, with the full "The Poseidon Adventure" title - relelgated to airing in June or something - starring Adam Baldwin and Rutger Hauer, among others. Not super high-quality, but not as poor as you might expect for a big movie (it had to be, budget-wise) stuck in a summer broadcast. It did keep us watching. (Maybe it was an experiment with airing an "event" in the summer, as other stations have tried airing new series in the traditionally ignored summer months?)
your funny, but not in the traditional sense, your funny as in, by reflecting upon your life, i feel better about mine, and that makes me laugh, so if thats not funny i dont know what is...
Two interesting facts I learned today about Jerome Bettis;
1) For our host, Bettis bowled a 300 game in early high school, before taking up football.
2) Bettis received the first key to the city of Detroit given in over 25 years. Guess they figured it needed to be that long to remove the association to the last person to get one. One Saddam Hussein (apparently he made a big contribution to a local Catholic charity, which made political sense at the time due to a larger then number of Catholics in Iraq)
PAD,
No mention of the Emerald Nuts commercial? I guess I was the only one spitting out diet coke laughing.
you weren't the only one, Robb-- Already a fan of "Evil Navigators"... "Envious Nomads"... "Extinguished Novelists", et alia, so you gotta love the feature-length spectacular,
"Eagle-eyed
Machete
Enthusiasts
Recognize
A
Little
Druid
Networking
Under
The
Stairs".
The 'Magic Fridge' spot was my favorite of the night, followed closely by the Nimoy 'Aleve' spot. That's great geekfan fun!
OTOH, and maybe this was my own personal hotbutton, but the Ameriquest spot in the hospital with the defrib paddles was *not* funny. Not. I can't believe that anyone at the ad agency thought 'Hey, let's have a young woman and daughter think their husband and father has just died would be a laugh riot!'. Tasteless. Tacky. Not funny.
It did give me relief to know that all the sheep were going to be safe....cowboys have zippers, after all... :)
Leah
Completely O/T from superbowl commercials, but I had a little semi-respectful fun with our favorite writer of stuff and a certain meme going around comic-book blogs over at http://wizbangblog.com/archives/008407.php yesterday...
J.
MOst of the Super Bowl ads can be found here:
http://video.google.com/superbowl.html
and it looks like they've added a couple more over the past day or so.
Awww. C'mon, the Ameriquest "That killed him" spot was hilarious, easily in the top 5 of the night
"Awww. C'mon, the Ameriquest "That killed him" spot was hilarious, easily in the top 5 of the night."
Uhm, Bladestar? Leah's husband passed away not all that long ago, unexpectedly, at a terribly young age. So I think she's gonna be viewing a commercial about a mother and child thinking daddy is dead from a rather different perspective, and certainly not the laugh riot that you or I might think it. In the interests of respect, I suggest you back away slowly on this one.
PAD
Sorry your husband passed away, but it was still a funny commercial.
Sorry PAD, nothing is funny is you look at it that way. I'm won't back down on this one. Leah has my sympathy, but I'm not altering my life/sense of humor just because of one person, because given teh population of the planet, you could use your claim for everything anyone comes up with even your writings.
It's not a matter respect, if you applied that respect to all humor, NOTHING would ever be funny.
It's still in the top 5...just not in everyone's top 5.
Bladestar - just because you CAN say something doesn't mean you SHOULD say something. PAD didn't tell you to drop your humour, only to drop your attempts at convincing Leah that it was funny.
Have some common sense. It does the world good.
The puppy bowl reminded me of one of the "This American Life" stoies from a couple of years ago. There was a guy who wanted to create an All-Puppies channel. the idea was to use it as a place-holder while you are waiting for another show to come on.
After watching enough television to choke a horse, and having two children who love animals, I think the puppy channel isn't such a bad idea. I mean, I would much rather have my girls watching the puppy bowl than the lingerie bowl any day. Besidees, I think they might enjoy it more!
I call bullshit on that claim Kelly. When did I try to "convince" Leah it was funny to her?
Get over yourself Kelly. Apply some common sense to yourself before you start tossing accusations at others. You're a moron, and an overly sensitive one at that.
Bladestar...I am asking you nicely, as the host of this board...please drop it. Now.
PAD
Okay, time for my two cents.
1. Peter, thanks for 'sticking up for me'. You're the sweetest. *mwah*
Now, to Bladestar-
Look, I find lots of things funny -- even things about death. Even about sudden death. One of the things that helped me get through the early months was morbid humor. I am not one of those overly sensitive, weepy widder types. Hell, one of the reasons the Nimoy 'Aleve' spot tickled me so was because David's favorite ST character was Spock and I knew that it was something he would have been falling off the sofa laughing about. That, and it was just funny.
(Hell, at a back to school night a woman was chatting with me - she was divorced, assumed that I was, too because I was not wearing a wedding ring. She made a comment along the lines of 'Don't you find it a pain taking the kids back and forth for weekend visitation?' and without thinking, I shot back, 'No, but leaving them at the cemetary all weekend is a bitch!')
That said, the Ameriquest spot just struck me the wrong way. I didn't find it funny, I'm not overly sensitive for not finding it funny. You found it funny. Rock on for you. It tested well. Wooty woot for it.
From the POV of someone who used to work in advertising, I do get boggled at what writers think will sell product sometimes. And I think that was my major beef with the spot -- it was more of a WTF reaction...because until they cut to the shot of the wife and daughter with *those* expressions on their faces, I did laugh at the spot. I knew the guy on the gurney was fine (speaking as 'the audience')...but when the POV shifted, to me, the humor was gone. And it didn't need to be. The spot was already funny in the conceit of the doctor using the paddles to fry the fly. It still could have been funny if the POV had shifted to, oh let's say a nurse, standing in the door with materials to do a plaster cast (IIRC, the patient has a broken arm, yes?)...and the nurse is the one who draws up short, thinking something has happened to the patient -- but it doesn't have the same negative WTF that showing the man's *family* does. Less bothersome, still funny. Perhaps even funnier if you have the nurse standing there holding up pieces of gauze dripping with wet plaster.
But then again, someone thought the snapping spaghetti strap on the goDaddy girl was a laugh riot, too.
So, go on and laugh. I'll laugh at something, too. Just not this particular ad. Capiche?
Oh, and you have my cordial permission to get over yourself, too.
Now, can we go back to discussing the *commercials*...or the puppy bowl (does anyone know if the kitty halftime show is available online, btw?)...or something else entirely.
This ain't About Me. And it sure as hell ain't about Bladestar.
Leah
And what the god-damn hell did I do wrong?
I stated an opinion about humor petey, an OPINION!
So glad you take my words as facts for all.
How the holy hell is "Awww. C'mon, the Ameriquest "That killed him" spot was hilarious, easily in the top 5 of the night" anything other than opinion and how is it forcing anything on anyone?
I thought you were alot more intelligent than that pad, sorry I was wrong about that.
Leah, you don't have to find it funny, I did, as di the 20+ plus people I watched it with.
Where did I say you had to find it funny?
C'mon, tell me that.
And for your info, I was talking about the commercials, but pad turned into a dick, I'm guess your a close personal friend of his or something as he usually has more realistic and thick hide about therse things.
Sorry for you loss, but I think it's you that needs to get over yourself.