The Super Bowl Halftime Show used to be about something - not always something important, but it had a purpose, a theme, sometimes even a message.
From the Mardi Gras theme of 1970 and 1980 to the slew of multicultural and cross-generational themes of the late 1990s, the Super Bowl Halftime Show has been fun, flashy and over-the-top as well as serious, poignant and moving. Overall, it's been an entertaining break from the action on the field.
This year, however, the show was mostly about Mick Jagger in a sparkling top and some screaming, bouncing kids who probably don't own a single Rolling Stones CD - let alone an LP.
Perhaps we could blame 2004's "wardrobe malfunction," but the most recent halftime shows have been more about flashy costumes and big names than about social purpose or even solid entertainment.
Jagger himself admitted that he could've performed some of this year's Super Sunday songs at the very first Super Bowl - and that's not the best use of such expensive airtime.
In the Super Bowl's first five years, Carol Channing was the biggest-named headliner, and most of the performers were college bands. Compare that to recent years, when the least-known band was probably No Doubt.
As recently as 2002, however, U2 did exactly what the Super Bowl Halftime Show should do by combining spectacle and stadium-sized pizazz with a heartfelt tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The show reached people through stage, performance, music and message, rather than expecting a few aging rock stars to excite an entire stadium of spectators and millions of people in TV land.
Given that the Super Bowl is nearly a secular American holiday and constitutes one of the most watched television programs of the year - and not all of those viewers are football fans - it presents a monumental opportunity to reach millions of people with a strong message.
Rather than focusing just on creating a family-friendly halftime show, perhaps the Super Bowl producers should return to making it viewer-friendly, too.
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