TVSquad

Picture it: An ad airs on television with a nice, middle-class woman grocery shopping with her young daughter. The woman's arm is in a sling, and a concerned older lady asks her what happened. "Oh, rollerblading," the woman replies. The butcher inquires if it was a skiing accident. "Um, mountain biking," is the quick and uncomfortable correction. The kid stocking the shelves asks the same question and gets yet another answer.

The woman continues to shop, and bumps her cart into another woman's. This woman, too, has a sling on her arm. They look at each other. They have a moment of realization. They are abused wives, going about their daily business and being forced to lie about how they sustained their injuries, and now they are being confronted with their own deception and excuses. It's a haunting public service announcement about domestic violence -- except it totally isn't.

Because it's an ad for EFFING BATHROOM CLEANER.

(Editor's Note: In anticipation of editing the Best/Worst Super Bowl ads, I paid close attention to the ads while I was watching and decided that some could go either way. Sure enough, Rich and Bob picked a couple of the same ads - Cash4Gold and CareerBuilder. Check out Rich's Best Super Bowl ads, and tell us which category you think the ads fall into ... Jane Boursaw)

There weren't any Super Bowl ads that made me want to kick in my television set this year, but I think that says more about the dullness of the ads rather than any brilliance. There weren't many memorable ads. I asked a friend of mine about the ads, and she said, "I think there was a cute one, I don't remember what it was."

Below are the five ads I chose as the worst of the night (not including the movie ads - those are in a different category and shouldn't be counted when you're judging the commercials). They range from confusing to lame to downright sad.

BEST

1. Mad Men. The best show on TV.
2. 30 Rock. The funniest show on TV.
3. Lost. Just when I started to drift away from this show they pull off an amazing year.
4. Chuck. I really hope NBC sticks with this show. One of the more entertaining hours on television.
5. The Colbert Report. Both Colbert and Jon Stewart handled the election well this year, but Colbert did something special.
6. The Mentalist. My favorite new show and one that deserves all the ratings.
7. Burn Notice. With 30 Rock and The Office, Thursday is a great night of TV again.
8. The Late Show with David Letterman. Dave is always great, but he got involved in the election too and really shined.
9, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Sure, she may look like Palin, but that doesn't mean her impression would be automatic. Fey became a pop culture phenom this year.
10. Whatever, Martha. Really odd idea for a show, but it works.