Short thoughts on the Super Bowl

So it has been way too long since my last post here, but with a monumental event such as the Super Bowl, there's no better excuse to not post now.

I won't dwell on the commercials too much, since its becoming rather cliche to do so, but I can't avoid talking about them either. My vote for Best Ad goes to the caveman/FedEx...and while it piggybacks off of Geico's success with Neanderthals, it was still really funny. The best exchange: "But FedEx hasn't even been invented yet!/Not my Problem!" The ESPN Cellular ads were rather awesome as well, with a good pace and momentum. Worst: and this one seems to be the conventional wisdom across all pundits..the Jay Mohr/Diet Pepsi bits. Just totally not interesting.

But I guess I'll tackle my least favorite subject: the ratings. As both Anthony Resnick over at TTO and Lisa DeMoraes in today's WaPo have noted, the ratings for Super Bowl XL is up 5% from last year, and the highest since 1996.

I am both surprised and not-at-all surprised by these numbers. Surprised because of the boring matchup and poorly-played game. There was a distinctive lack-of-hype in the two weeks prior to the SuperBowl, so to see it garner such high ratings confuses me. Especially since the past 2 games have been definite nailbiters.

But I am also not-at-all surprised because ratings do not make any sense. Ever. For all the big events, Super Bowl and Oscar, especially...the ratings have been declining for all sorts of reasons. Now all of the sudden, the BIG GAME EVENT is back? WTF?

I'll put forward one possible reason for the uptick in ratings: The Big-Screen HD-TV. Football is more fun to watch in HD...especially with the monster-sized television. With more HDTVs out there...maybe more people are willing to watch.

What are your guesses as to why the ratings are up?

One other note...Grey's Anatomy had the highest ratings for an entertainment show since the series finale of Friends. And ABC barely promoted it...at least in comparison to FOX's ubiquitous promos for "HIS FATHER IS THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY!" or "YOU'RE RISKING THE PATIENT'S LIFE!" Watching the SB, you would have thought that Lost was on after the game.

Bizarre.