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Special Is All About Super Bowl Commercials
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Published: January 26, 2009
TAMPA - What's your favorite Super Bowl commercial?
Anyone remember the frogs - "Bud," "Weis," and "Er" - from the 1994 game? How about the Budweiser Clydesdales from any year? And there's the creepy talking E-Trade baby or the screaming squirrel (Bridgestone tires) from last year. The commercial with cowboys herding cats sticks in the mind, too.
"Almost everyone can recall at least five Super Bowl commercials off the top of their heads but they can't recall five games, the scores or the teams," says Bob Horowitz, producer of "Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials."
Horowitz and his crew will be in Tampa today to tape portions of the special, which airs on CBS at 8 p.m. Saturday.
CBS sports anchor Jim Nantz and TV personality Daisy Fuentes are the hosts. They will be taping at various locations, including Raymond James Stadium and Busch Gardens.
This is the ninth year for the commercials special. Horowitz got the idea at a Super Bowl watching party a decade ago.
"All the chatter in the room stopped every time a commercial came on," he says. "This is the only show on television that would drop in the ratings if there were no commercials."
Horowitz estimates that there have been more than 2,200 Super Bowl commercials since the games began. Not all are memorable but many are outstanding. For each special, a panel of judges picks a top ten.
Viewers can go to www.cbs.com/collections/superbowl to watch them and vote for a favorite. During the special, the top three vote-getters will be revealed. Viewers can then vote again.
Nantz is taping six different endings for the show. On the night of the telecast, the winner selected during the live voting will be inserted.
Horowitz says the special will retire the legendary Coca-Cola "Mean Joe Greene" spot that aired during the 1980 Super Bowl. It has been the winner for the past six years.
During this year's Super Bowl, Coke reportedly will do a send-up of the commercial with Steelers star safety Troy Polamalu drinking Coke Zero.
After nine years of gauging Super Bowl commercials, Horowitz says, "You can always count on Anheuser-Busch to come up with something people will talk about."
The maker of Budweiser plans to showcase its Clydesdales in three commercials. One Bud ad will feature comedian Conan O'Brien, who will be in Tampa this week. He's on a 40-city tour to promote his new gig as host of the "Tonight" show, which begins in June.
ESPN IN TOWN: ESPN producer Stephanie Druley says the network's presence at Super Bowl XLIII will be bigger than ever.
"We keep growing each year and we hit the ground running at 6 a.m." today, she said in a telephone interview.
More than 90 hours of Super Bowl-related television programming will originate from Tampa, along with more than 65 hours on ESPN Radio.
Druley says a crew of about 400 will be involved in the broadcasts from an outdoor stage set up in the Cotanchobee Park behind the St. Pete Times Forum on Channelside Drive.
NBC is carrying the game but ESPN will be covering all the build-up. "We expect all the key players to drop by before the week is over," she says. The public can watch ESPN anchors in action.
There will be an ESPN set at Raymond James Stadium where Chris Berman will be covering his 27th Super Bowl. He will host the four-hour "Sunday NFL Countdown" (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) with analysts Cris Carter, Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson, Tom Jackson and Chris Mortensen.
TUNE IN TONIGHT
"The Closer," 9 p.m., TNT
Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) is back with new crimes to solve. Her parents are frustrated when an apparent suicide sidetracks their efforts to plan Brenda's wedding.
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