Super Bowl XXXIX, A Review

So, my New England Patriots sealed their dynasty status tagged on by pundits since their win last year. However, how would the Super Bowl “clean up” following all the scandal last year? As weird as it sounds, I almost wish Nipplegate happened this year, since last year’s game was so much better that it didn’t deserve to be overshadowed by something half the population has or will develop.

Taking a bit of cleaning were the ads. Commercials are a major part of the Super Bowl. Companies hope to get a good start to the year. Unfortunately in the last few years the ads have been less than stellar. Maybe this is in part to the “Post-Janet’s Boob” era of less raunchy and possibly controversial material in ads. After the first quarter, the ads dropped its promising start and sunk into mediocrity.

Three highlights included the Anheuser Busch ad where people applauded when soldiers walked by them. I could never be a soldier (coward), so I admire those who do. The other two were funny. Ameriquest was on target with the ads involving simple misunderstandings. First had a man getting tasered and maced when the clerk at the store the man was in mistook a cell phone conversation for a robbery. The second involved a cat who looked like he was brutally killed when he really just knocked over a pot of tomato sauce and the guy who picked it up was holding a knife meant to prepare a meal. Super Bowl XXXIX’s best ad goes to Bud Light, with the pilot taking advantage of a timid skydiver’s offer of Bud Light by jumping out of the plane and beating him to it. Other things I enjoyed: Burt Reynolds fighting bears “Fosse”, working with monkeys at Yeknom, the announcer telling random people in stores about 24, P. Diddy’s Diet Pepsi truck fad and the hurling of MC Hammer over a fence. Sometimes the simplest things can appease me.

Easily the worst ad was the Silestone/”I am Diana Pearl” ad. What was this selling? Bath tiling? I miss Mike Ditka doing ads for erectile dysfunction drugs. Another misfire was the GoDaddy.com ads. Was this even worth all the complaints they would receive for this lame satire of the FCC scrutiny going on lately? Most of the car ads, aside from the “Frozen in Fargo” one for Ford Mustang, were forgettable as most car commercials are. In a year where we have the final Star Wars prequel coming out, we had to sit through ads for “The Pacifier”? The only thing I understand about Vin Diseil is why Spielberg casted him as the soldier whose sole function in Saving Private Ryan was to die first. But wait, there’s a lame iPod wannabe that’s also a camera? I'm overdosing on sarcasm coming up with ways to show how “thrilled” I am.

While there was some suspense towards the end, it didn’t have the same kick as the previous two wins from the Patriots. Both times were decided by the last play as the clock ran out. The first were the underdogs overcoming the odds, the second was the redemption for a shaky season from kicker Adam Vinatieri. The game was over fairly early on in the fourth quarter. When they stop playing and let the clock run out, things aren’t as compelling as they could be. For those expecting an in depth analysis of the game, please look elsewhere. I am a huge Pats fan, but I'm not much into sports analysis as a whole.

Everyone was looking to see what they would do for Halftime, and what we ended up getting was a mini-concert of a few musicians, which was nice compared to a lot of the spectacles, even if contrasted with the nature of what Halftime shows were supposed to be. I am a huge Beatles fan, so I couldn’t go wrong. Paul was on top of his game, even though some people say he hasn’t aged so well.

After the game came the special Simpsons episode followed by the world premiere of American Dad, the new show from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Thumbs down to my local Fox station, which aired a padded hour newscast which really wasn't important before The Simpsons, which pushed it back to past 11:30. Don't they know how many young people are Simpsons fans? Anyway, The Simpsons is still a little absurd, but it was funny, even though part of the story was too similar to “The Passion of The Jew” episode from South Park. Homer planning the half time show was a little too over the top.

American Dad, however, is complete garbage. Looking at the concept it looked like it was a rip off of Family Guy. Watching it confirmed it, the only real difference is that Family Guy inserts flashbacks and asides at a faster pace, and it is actually funny. You have to wonder when this show was created regarding when Family Guy was revived, because it feels that this was created simply to continue what he wanted to do on Family Guy. If this what we can expect from the revived Family Guy, it seems that the efforts of the fans to get the show back will be in vain. I’ll tune in to Family Guy, but I will pass on American Dad until I hear positive word of mouth from my friends.

So the night went out with a whimper. The toned down, cleaned up Super Bowl was satisfying, but was lacking the bite of last year’s. Not necessarily that sleazy publicity stunts are what they need for a good game, last year’s had it. But maybe this paranoid obsession with possibly offending people is going to end up turning a lot of people off.

Super Bowl: 7/10

Simpsons: 7/10

American Dad: 2/10