Posts with tag SuperBowl
Posted Jun 20th 2008 2:40PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: House, WGA Strike, Reality-Free
Even as fear grips the business that there'll be
another strike that will lead to a work stoppage, there are some who can look back on the Writer's Strike and actually find a silver lining in that dark cloud. At a recent at the ArcLight Cinemas, sponsored by the L.A. Times, the folks who bring us
House, including creator David Shore and director Katie Jacobs, revealed that the strike actually was beneficial for them in a strange way.
Since Fox had the Super Bowl last season,
House had been given the plum spot following the game. That always means a huge audience will be watching, and even a show as successful as
House wouldn't mind a boost in the ratings.
Continue reading How the strike helped House
Posted Jun 4th 2008 8:22AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Sports, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
As
Bob Sassone wrote in his report about Inside the NFL ending its HBO run last February, the NFL was reporting that the show would find a home on another network. It has. And I can tell you now that
Inside the NFL will be appearing weekly on Showtime. It'll be a collaboration with CBS Sports and NFL Films. That said, I think we can expect to see CBS talent on the show.
In its most recent edition on HBO,
Inside the NFL was hosted by Bob Costas, with expert input by former players and current broadcast analysts Dan Marino, Cris Collinsworth and Cris Carter. Costas and Collinsworth are NBC employees, and Carter is part of ESPN. That leaves Danny Boy. And yes, he is a CBS guy, a regular commentator on
The NFL Today every Sunday during football season. I'll bet you right now that Dan will be on the show.
Inside the NFL is a unique weekly highlight show -- one of the best ever -- because shows the games up close from the viewpoint of NFL Films. Those cameras get inside of the game more than TV cameras. They're films, not TV and the production values are like a documentary film. As a longtime football fan, I'm really glad that
Inside the NFL will go on. This year will be its 32nd on the air.
Continue reading Showtime picks up Inside the NFL
Posted Feb 25th 2008 8:42PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Celebrities, Ratings, Awards, Emmys
Oscar turned 80 last night. For eight decades, Hollywood has been handing out gold statuettes for the best in motion picture arts and sciences. Sadly, last night's show will not have to worry about winning an Emmy. Not only was the show pedestrian, long and uninspired, it was also
a bomb in the Nielsen overnight ratings. In fact, it was historically disappointing: averaging just 32 million viewers to become the least watched Oscar telecast ever! EVER, people!
Of course, if you're worried that with ratings so bad, some day the Academy Awards won't be broadcast -- don't. The Oscars, like the Super Bowl, make a fortune for the network broadcasting it. ABC made an average of $1.8 million for each 30-second spot.
Continue reading Oscars a flop in Nielsens and that's not all
Posted Feb 5th 2008 3:23PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, TV Sports, Judges
Well, it wasn't halftime, but Paula Abdul did "rock" the Super Bowl. Somehow, when I sat down in front of my TV for a second before heading out, it was just at the moment when Ryan Seacrest was introducing the Abdul performance. This was about two hours or so before the game in the middle of FOX's fifty-six hour long pre-game coverage, so it was sheer luck that I saw it at all.
That said, I don't know what I think about it. The song is nice enough, and it was fun seeing good old Randy Jackson jamming out behind her on bass guitar, but it sure seemed like she was lip-synching. I even feel pretty damned confident I saw her out of synch with the track at a few points. That said, my girl can still dance and proves that over forty can still be hot.
Continue reading Paula Abdul (and Randy Jackson) at the Super Bowl - VIDEO
Posted Feb 4th 2008 1:56AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, TV Sports
Every year Budweiser puts together an uplifting commercial about some animal who strives to achieve his dreams and with hard work and perseverance, achieves it. This year's installation involved a Clydesdale who didn't make the cut to pull the Budweiser wagon. "Maybe next year, Hank." This leads to a very fun montage of training clips set to the Rocky theme as a dalmation takes it upon himself to get the Clydesdale into tip-top shape. Shots of the horse starting off pulling a little wagon mixed with jogging in place in the rain, running around trees in a snow-covered obstacle, lifting bales of hay until finally he has grit to pull an entire train! Not funny like the Bud Light commercials, but these Bud spots are always feel-good fan favorites. And this one was just as good as any of them.
Oh, and of course Hank makes the hitch team the following year. The high five at the end between the dog and the horse was just perfect. I don't know what it is, but Anheuser-Busch simply has one of the best advertising and marketing teams as they virtually never miss when it comes to their Super Bowl ads. Another banner year for them it looks like.
Continue reading Budweiser: "Rocky"
Posted Feb 3rd 2008 7:21PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, TV Sports
Doritos this year turned their 60-second spot into a competition. The winner, voted on by fans before the game, gets their video aired in the Doritos commercial slot and a record deal with Interscope Records. And the winner is: Kina Grannis (Mission Viego, CA), who performs her song "Messager From Your Heart." She has a Michelle Branch sound to her, but I like her. A very clever idea by Doritos and a huge opportunity for Grannis, but I only worry that people will forget Doritos' connection to the spot.
Continue reading Doritos: "Crash the Super Bowl Winner"
Posted Feb 3rd 2008 7:17PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, TV Sports
Took awhile to get there, but nevertheless a squirrel in the middle of the road, having just chased a nut there, screaming as a car is barreling down on it, followed by various other animals screaming in the forest until we ultimately get to the female passenger of the car screaming. The driver, however, simply maneuvers around the small animal and carries on his way. Good tires give you that kind of control. Great commercial, gets your attention, screaming animals are always funny and you'll remember it's all about the tires.
Video coming soon after the jump...
Continue reading Bridgestone: "Squirrel in the Road"
Posted Feb 3rd 2008 7:12PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, TV Sports
"We started this thing. It's us vs. them." This commercial was a bit of a mess for me. A bunch of shots of people training as if for various summer olympic events. Setting it up like there's some epic battle looming; a competition. But who are they competing with? Nike, I guess. Honestly, I think it was a bit of a mess. Way too long on a bunch of people grunting and posturing and way too little time showing me the product they're supposed to be promoting. You know ... the shoes.
Continue reading Under Armour Shoes: "The Future is Ours"
Posted Feb 3rd 2008 7:05PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, TV Sports
A guy shows up at a wine and cheese party with a massive wheel of cheese. "I'm gonna go put my cheese in the kitchen." The start of a joke? No, it's another clever bit from Bud Light, this time with a guy smuggling Bud Light into the party under the cheese wheel. Let's face it, most guys think wine and cheese is lame. Another guy has bottles in a hollowed out baguette, while still another brought a television in a box of wine. The "Going on a cheese run," bit at the end was the icing on the cake of another Bud Light winner.
Continue reading Bud Light: "Wine and Cheese Party"
Posted Feb 3rd 2008 7:00PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, TV Sports
The first animated cartoon wasn't very good. As far as I know, SalesGenie.com is a newcomer to the Super Bowl. Acme Widget boss, Hank Bulleymonger (funny, right?) comes down on his worst salesmen that he needs to double his output or he's fired. SalesGenie.com to the rescue! He gets 100 free sales leads and becomes the Salesman of the year. Never mind that the worst salesman of the year is middle eastern man with seven kids, and any controversy that may or may not bring, the bottom line is it was a lame commercial.
Continue reading SalesGenie.com: "ACME Widgets"
Posted Feb 3rd 2008 6:47PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, TV Sports
The best of the night so far. It starts off innocently enough with Troy Aikmen commenting on the action in the first quarter when Joe nods off and bangs his head on his mic. Queue music ("What is Love?") and we then get a montage of people across all industries nodding off at their jobs, at dinner, at awards shows, on game shows. I'm pretty sure that's Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J and Macy Gray nodding off while they were up for "Song of the Year." This keeps up until Diet Pepsi Max comes along on a mail cart and everyone starts doing "The Roxbury," or the head bopping made famous by Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell in the recurring SNL skits. The bit ends with Troy staring at Joe as Joe bops along. But the best part is after the blurbs about Diet Pepsi Max and the slogans, we get a quick shot of Chris Kattan shopping, yelling "Stop it!" to two girls doing the head bop.
Continue reading Diet Pepsi Max: "Roxbury/What Is Love?"
Posted Feb 3rd 2008 6:43PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, TV Sports
We open on a beautiful mansion, panning into an elderly man sleeping. He sees something on his hands, rips the sheets back! The horror! It's the "head" of his luxury car! This homage to one of the most gruesome and classic scenes ever (horse head in bed scene in The Godfather...you've seen this right?) is pretty clever. The cut to the Audi R8 sitting in his driveway looking sinister, works well. Who knew a luxury car could have such a dark side?
Continue reading Audi R8: "The Godfather"
Posted Feb 3rd 2008 6:40PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, TV Sports
As we all know, when it comes to the Super Bowl it's all about ... the ads! Big audiences and big money is on the line so advertisers always go crazy to grab the attention of the largest worldwide television audience each year. This year's cavalcade of commercials began with Bud Light, with "everything you want in a beer." Now with the ability to breathe fire! Sure it's romantic when you can light the candles at the dinner table by blowing on them, not so much when your date has a cat and you're allergic. As in sneezing allergic. A short and funny commercial, Best bit is the disclaimer at the end done in typical fast-talk, "Ability to breathe fire no longer available in Bud Light."
Continue reading Bud Light: "Breathe Fire"
Posted Feb 3rd 2008 11:00AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Sports, Commercials
Like
last year, we'll be reviewing all of the commercials during the Super Bowl today, complete with embedded videos of each one. Check back to the site often for the latest additions, or check back later for a summary of links to all of the commercials we covered.
Also check out
AOL Sports' coverage of the game.
Posted Jan 14th 2008 10:21AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Judges, Performances
Is it just idle rumors, or is "the nice judge"
really in talks to join Tom Petty and perform at Super Bowl XLII on February 3? It certainly looks like Paula Abdul may just put on her dancing shoes and try to show Mr. Simon Cowell that she really can sing ...
and dance. Adding credence to the rumors are the facts that the Super Bowl is on FOX this year, and that Abdul is supposedly already working on the video for her duet with fellow judge Randy Jackson from his upcoming
Music Club Vol. 1 album.
Abdul, 45, hasn't had a major album release since 1995 (
Head Over Heels), nor a #1 hit since 1991's "Promise of a New Day." Simon has given her constant ribbing for her lack of a career in the past ten-plus years, challenging her on numerous occasions to shut up and dance (or sing) on
American Idol, but she's yet to meet his challenge. Considering that Abdul has kept herself in incredible shape, and more than likely can sing as well as she ever did, she shouldn't have any problem pulling off a good performance (so long as she watches what she puts in her cup). However, if she fails, you can expect the ribbing on the judge's panel to be ruthless from here through the end of
Idol's seventh season.
Next Page >
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