Commercials: Essentially Mini-Movies

I have to admit, folks, I am a little hard pressed to come up with material this week. I haven't seen a new movie since my last post and my attempts at reaching back into my childhood for classics weren't working for me on this post-bowl Monday. I am, however, still buzzing from the assortment of small cinematic feats that sprinkled themselves over my 'Superbowl Sundae'.

In comparison to the last couple of years, we had some solid winners. But in hindsight, I guess anything is better than watching a half-ass American Idol mouth the words to our national anthem. Why don't you just wipe your butt with the flag, Sparx?!

Regarding the commercials, we had everyting from Justin Timberlake getting the crap beaten out of him to cavemen in beer commercials. There were a couple I didn't understand: Did anyone catch the two animated commercials for sales leads that were border-line racist? Each featured stereotyped minority personalities. Maybe it was just me.

What these lil' treasures give us are small, concentrated explosions of punchline. At prices in the 7 digits to produce and put on the air, writers and creators alike do the darndest to get their money's worth. We see plot, rising action, climax AND resolution in 30 seconds or less. Now, granted I am fully use to a 30 second climax (sorry ladies), these ads take us places that commercials the other 364 days of the year do not. Perhaps it's just the atmosphere and the alcohol that allow for such an effect, but I'd like to think that the ad agencies say to themselves "let's give the folks something special this year" and go to town creating material that runs along side the excitement of the game itself. What other televised event can you think of that causes people to shut up DURING commercial breaks?!

I am stating the obvious here but it needs to be said. Where would we be without these entities of the t.v.? Do you really think that the corporations make the money back they spend as a direct result of the ad itself? NO! They do it for the glory. They do it because it brightens people's lives and gives them to talk about on Monday. We salute you, Super Bowl commercials. God knows the game isn't always exciting (this year's game sucked for the firt 3 quarters), but you give us something to hold onto in addition to our nacho plate and Coors Light.