Jan 28, 2019
Last week, we talked about this year’s Super Bowl halftime show,
and the collective lack of enthusiasm for it. Could this year’s SB
commercials and post-game programming save the entertainment
aspects of Super Bowl LIII from being a big, dull dud? Well …
With 100 million viewers every year, the Super Bowl is the one
telecast networks and advertisers can be sure we’ll be watching.
Even after the game is over, a big percentage of the audience is
willing to stick around for a series debut or a big, often guest
star-packed episode of an existing hit series … remember the debut
of The Wonder Years after Super Bowl XXII? Or that post-SB
XXX Friends installment featuring Julia Roberts, Chris
Isaak, Jean-Claude Van Damme and waaaay too much storyline
revolving around Marcel the monkey? But the history of Super Bowl
lead out programs is also littered with plenty of flops and odd
choices. One year, NBC filled its post-Super Bowl real estate with
an episode of CHiPs. A repeat episode of CHiPs.
And this year, we’re getting the premiere of the James
Corden-hosted talent show The World’s Best (or, as we’re
unaffectionately thinking of it, World’s Got Talent).
If that Super Bowl lead out won’t keep us entertained while we nosh
on what’s left of the snack stadium by that point of the evening,
maybe this year’s commercials – the one time advertisers can be
sure we’ll actually watch them – will give us another classic like
Mean Joe
Greene’s Coca-Cola spot, those Betty White and
The Brady
Bunch gems from Snickers, or something (anything!)
involving Budweiser, a horse,
and a puppy? Betty, Bradys, beer, and yellow Labs…save us,
you’re our only hope.