Super Bowl Recap

By Laura Nachman
Delaware County Daily Times
February 6, 2006

 

Here’s what scored and what fumbled on the telecast of “Super Bowl XL.”

 

Best Commercials and Promos – Shaquille O’Neal for “Desperate Housewives,” Leonard Nimoy for Aleve, Richard Dean Anderson channeling MacGyver for Mastercard, the “Welcome to Sports Heaven,” ESPN Mobile spots, the streaker/horses football game for Budweiser.

 

Worst Commercials – Burger King’s Whopperettes, godaddy.com, D-listers Kathy Griffin, Michael Ian Black, and Jim Gaffigan for Sierra Mist.

 

Best Diet Pepsi Commercial – The Jay Mohr/Jackie Chan ad with the Diet Coke stunt double.

 

Worst Diet Pepsi Commercial – The Jay Mohr/Diddy “Brown and Bubbly” spot.

 

Wardrobe Malfunctions – Michael Irvin’s tie, “Shoeless” Joss Stone of the pregame show.

 

Movie Trailers – “16 Blocks” with Bruce Willis and Mos Def, “V for Vendetta,”  “Cars,” “The Shaggy Dog,” with Tim Allen,  “Poseidon” with Kurt Russell, “Mission Impossible III,” with Tom Cruise and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, “Running Scared,” “The World’s Fastest Indian,” with Anthony Hopkins, “Pirates of the Caribbean II” with Johnny Depp.

 

Concert Review – The Rollling Stones, long accustomed to playing football stadiums, performed a predictable three song set, with “Start Me Up,” a song perfect for football called “Rough Justice,” and “Satisfaction.” 

 

Commercials the Stones probably loved – Their song, “Time is on my Side” was used in a SlimFast commercial, Johnny Depp’s Keith Richards impression in “Pirates.”

 

Commercial the Stones probably hated – The ode to Sir Paul McCartney for Fidelity Investments.

 

Soundtrack – Other popular songs used in commercials were “True” for Taco Bell, “True Colors” for Dove, “Cum On Feel the Noize” for careerbuilders.com, “Baby Come Back” for Sprint, and “Addicted to Love” for “Lost.”

 

Motor City – Fittingly, there were tons of commercials for automobile companies including Hummer, Chevrolet, Toyota, Cadillac, Acura, and Ford.

 

Corporate Synergy – Since the game was on ABC, there were plenty of ads for ESPN and Disney products.

 

Network Promos - ABC gave super exposure to its hits “Desperate Housewives,” “Lost,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Dancing with the Stars,” and “Boston Legal.”  The new Lorne Michaels comedy “Sons and Daughters” and cop drama, “The Evidence” with Rob Estes and Orlando Jones got several promos.