It has seemed impossible over the last week to read a newspaper or watch television without hearing something about Sunday night's Super Bowl.
Harder yet: trying to survive said media attention without hearing mention of Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, MTV, CBS, NFL, CIA, CSI, the Federal Communications Commission, advertisements, beer, animals, porn, Condoleezza Rice and, of course, nipples.
Let me emphasize that there was absolutely no correlation between the final two phrases of that list. That said, all this Super-hype seemed to lead up to only one thing Sunday night.
A Super-letdown.
As television's most watched event, the Super Bowl has a lot of pressure running on it to perform well. This year, with unnecessary stresses and tension left by last year's FCC post-game fine-o-rama, the broadcast seemed to be an even bigger deal than it actually was.
In reality and when compared to bowls of the past, the event point-blank sucked. Ratings agreed: Nielsen Media Research said Monday that viewership for the game was down 2 percent from last year, and was the least watched of the Pats' three victories.
I wonder why.
Those watching the game itself were treated to the dynasty-making treat for the New England Patriots. Others interested in the marketing potential of the game were heavily disappointed by the missing necessities. Namely, that unique brand of football-related "dick and fart" jokes.
The prime time broadcast was plain, dull, ordinary and lacking in hearty laughs. It featured advertisements in between quarters of footballs and had a solid yet unentertaining half-time show.
It was, God-forbid, another friggin' football game. And, depending on how you look at it, that's not such a bad thing.
It goes without a doubt that the half-time show was watered down like a small dog humping a fire hydrant in the midst of a hot and humid July afternoon.
End mental image.
Sir Paul McCartney got out on the stage, did his number and just as quickly disappeared into the darkness of the smoke-filled night. The show was produced by Don Mischer of Academy Awards fame, according to the Chicago Tribune. McCartney worked with Mischer to put together the most family-friendly half-time show since U2's 2002 post-Sept. 11 tribute.
The lesson here: if you want family friendly, you better outsource.
As for the commercials, Fox reportedly rejected few ads, as the NFL and FCC had put forth other restrictions (both spoken and not) that frightened advertisers into what industry experts called a "more traditional" campaign. Advertisers had no choice: Either follow the new social norm or try and score some time on one of Fox's local affiliates.
In all honesty, the conservative ads might have gone over well with the family crowd but in that 18-24 male demographic?
Not so much.
The NFL and Fox Sports were so scared they couldn't see straight. In the wake of one of the FCC's most fined years ($7.7 million in fines for 2004), the NFL and Fox had both learned the hard way that "indecency," as defined by the FCC, would not be tolerated.
Therein lays the problem, too. The FCC, whose commissioner Michael Powell recently announced his departure, has been on an arguable "censorship" kick over the last 12 months. America has now reached a point, in all forms of media, where our freedom of expression is slowly being limited by the backhand of the federal government.
It started with Jackson's nipple but continued through the year with fines handed out to some of the nation's largest media organizations and personalities. A year later, instead of pushing the boundaries and standing up for our "self-evident" rights, the media as a whole is crawling back into a cave, fearful of the mighty claw that is the FCC.
It's pitiful, especially in this day and age of mega-media and mega-million conglomerates.
Aside from that fact, maybe all this disappointment tells us something about the Super Bowl.
It really isn't that "super," after all.
Write to Dave at heydave@bewilderedsociety.com
Visit http://www.bewilderedsociety.com
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