The post-Super Bowl commercial wrap-up
Lorrie's off today, and while they're fresh in everyone's minds, I thought it would be apropos to look at the best of last night's Super Bowl commercials. Now, sometimes I think the commercials overshadow the game, but this year the opposite was true. Ben Roethlisberger is the MAN! But there were some high-impact commercials, too, especially for movies. We got to see the first footage yet for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (which I was highly interested in because I'm a total geek for both franchises), and they looked really, really snazzy, especially G.I. Joe. (They wrecked the Eiffel Tower!) The rest was just average, though: I was not impressed in the least with the much-ballyhooed Monsters Vs. Aliens 3D thing, the Star Trek clip wasn't all that exciting and for some reason, there was no new Wolverine footage, which is kind of surprising since it's out in May and dudes love football AND Wolverine.
And did I mention I have a craving for Doritos today? Both commercials featuring America's favorite nacho-flavored chip were great — my favorite of the whole night was the one involving the crystal ball (made by two amateurs, no less). The Bridgestone Mr. Potato Head ad was a classic as well (and almost as good as last year's with the screaming squirrel), Jason Statham made driving an Audi look like the most badass thing ever, the Pittsburgh Steelers' Troy Palumalu paid homage to the old "Mean" Joe Greene Coke ad for Coke Zero, and Conan O'Brien was freaking hilarious selling himself out, Swedish style, in this Bud Light ad.
Did you miss any of the commercials or want to see them again? If so, check them out below with this super-cool Super Bowl commercial widget and tell us which one was your favorite.
January 30, 2009
The post-Super Bowl 'Office' is truly funny
An hour episode of NBC's The Office follows the Super Bowl Sunday night — a prime audience-building slot — and it is the most hilarious episode of the five-year-old sitcom I've seen yet. I'm a regular Office viewer but I rarely laugh out loud like I did at this episode, which begins with a loud and crazy big bang involving all the Office dwellers and includes a story within the story featuring Jack Black, Jessica Alba and Cloris Leachman. If I try to explain further, I'll ruin it so I won't, but be sure to check out the preview below.
From its wild beginning to its quieter sweet moments between office lovers Jim and Pam (John Krasinski and Jenna Fisher), the episode is smartly written and played to quickly grab the attention of those game viewers who might be drifting away from the plasma. The focus is on office stress relief — something to which we all can relate, right? It includes a roast of always-awkward boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and gives almost every Office character a moment of his or her own. So linger over the nachos and give yourself a super post-bowl treat, whether you usually watch The Office or not.
Photo by Paul Drinkwater
Super Bowl's entertainment: the ads
Super Bowl Sunday is almost here, which means we'll soon seen the huge-budget commercial ads — air time alone is $100,000 per second; the average commercial costs about $1 million to produce — during NBC's broadcast of the big game. This year, we'll see Bob Dylan and will.i.am in a Pepsi ad, Conan O'Brien hawking Budweiser and Jason Statham time-traveling through decades for Audi. However, the most talked-about ads are those in 3D, one for SoBe's Lifewater and one for Dreamworks' new movie Monsters vs. Aliens. Don't have the 3D glasses? No problem — 125 million pair were to be distributed free at 25,000 locations. There's still time to get them. Look for a SoBe display in your supermarket; Target and Meijer stores will have the glasses Saturday; and there's always plenty of them on eBay. Hang onto them after the Super Bowl party, though. You can use them to watch NBC's 3D episode of Chuck on Monday night.
Art courtesy of NBC
