Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2008 > February > 04 > Entry
Super Ads, Super Dull
Maybe it was because I hate low-scoring football games dominated by defensive play. Or maybe it was because the Perfect Patriots, whom I love so well, collapsed like a cheap cardboard box.
But I wasn’t feeling the love for all those million-dollar Super Bowl ads. None of them made me gasp in amazement or double over laughing.
There were a few that were simply OK — the lizards dancing to “Thriller,” the giant pigeon proving FedEx is a better way to ship stuff, the sleeping badger nursing its young on the front seat of an oh-so-quiet-riding Toyota.
The collective creativity of advertisers just didn’t cut it this year, but presumably those who forked over $2.7 million for a spot felt they got their money’s worth. Fox says early ratings indicate this year’s Super Bowl just might break last year’s record 93 million viewers. (Final Nielsen national ratings are expected later in the week.)
“The Captain” not so welcome
The promotional spot featuring Jeffrey Tambor hacking away at a golf ball is pretty funny, but unfortunately that’s about the only funny scene in CBS’s dreadful new sitcom “Welcome to the Captain,” which debuts tonight at 7:30 p.m.
I cut Tambor all kinds of slack because he made me laugh all those years on “The Larry Sanders Show” and then ruled the roost on “Arrested Development.” But this thing, about an allegedly iconic Hollywood apartment building crawling with wacky characters, is a major groaner.
Raquel Welch plays an over-the-hill femme fatale, Tambor plays a former “Three’s Company” writer and a new guy named Frank Kranz plays an idealistic young filmmaker who winds up in the decaying building. The dialogue and situations are simply painful.
Where’s Tonya?
For those of you still wondering what happened to former KXAN morning anchor Tonya Kerr, she’s hosting a new online show called “The Parent Code,” produced by the Austin-based ON Network, which delivers HD shows on multiple digital platforms. “The Parent Code” offers child-raising advice from a variety of experts.
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By Gordon
February 4, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this
Did Texas win?
Oh wait there were no Texas teams in the Super Bowl... were there?
That would explain why i agreed to babysit two of our grandsons, 8 months and the other six years old... So we watched the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet and Tom Petty, then we were done.
Was it just a coincidence of when i happened to tune in, or did CNN just replay the debates all weekend?
Are CNN's writers on strike too?