I’d seen it advertised earlier in the week and it seemed like a win-win situation. I would get to see the best commercials of the past forty Super Bowls without having to watch a single minute of playing time. What could be better?
The advance publicity heralded the one hour program as presenting the most memorable commercials in descending order, and I realized the top one would not be shown until the end of the hour. No matter. I held no grudges on that account.
Right on time, Earl and I settled in front of our big TV and tuned in, ready to devote full attention to enjoying commercials when we usually mute the TV and head for the bathroom while they play.
But instead of watching the commercials what we saw was a hodge-podge of moderator commentary, snippets of the promised commercials, and exhortations for the audience to go to the Internet and help pick the most popular one. It wasn’t about the commercials themselves at all. In fact, I’m not sure what it was about.
I dislike television shows that promise more than they deliver . . . and, from my perspective, this happens a lot. I don’t want to listen to commentators interrupting the action — even if the action is a commercial — with opinions and statistics. I don’t want to see the action spliced so that the viewer doesn’t get the full effect. And I especially don’t want to be told to go to my Internet and vote. I thought that was all taken care of before the program aired.
In the end, the commercial that was ranked No. 1 wasn’t even shown in its entirety; and, if someone didn’t see it the first time around, that person would have no clue to its emotional catch. This wasn’t a mystery show, so I’ll reveal what commercial garnered the first spot. It was the one involving Mean Joe Green and the little boy with the Coke®.
However, as I said, you couldn’t really have discerned that from the program I wish I hadn’t wasted my time watching.
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