Super Bowl ought to be super clean

Unless Paul McCartney moons the crowd, the halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl will be as squeaky clean as the NFL can make it.

No tape delay will be in place during the halftime, which also includes singer Alicia Keyes. But the NFL says it is reviewing "all facets" of the halftime performances in advance.

After last year’s outcry about Janet Jackson’s infamous wardrobe malfunction, commercials for Super Bowl XXIX, airing Feb. 6 on Fox, came under scrutiny as well. So audiences won’t see Mickey Rooney’s bare, 84-year-old backside (the Airborne spot didn’t pass muster) or a Bud Light ad parody showing a stagehand ripping Jackson’s top with a beer bottle. (Anheuser-Busch agreed with Fox and the NFL not to air the parody during the game but is getting even more publicity by putting it up on the budweiser.com Web site.)

For fear of offending mass audiences, Fox has gone so far as to rename its "Best Damn Sports Show Period," usually seen on Fox Sports Net, as the "Best Darn Super Bowl Road Show Period."

Viewers certainly shouldn’t expect to see anything like the "Desperate Housewives" promo-parody that stirred up controversy during a "Monday Night Football" broadcast in November.

The spot was scripted by "Housewives" creator Marc Cherry at the request of ABC and wasn’t intended to be controversial, Cherry told TV critics meeting in Los Angeles. "We were just that stupid."

The spot was supposed to feature "Housewives" co-star Nicollette Sheridan with "MNF" announcer John Madden, Cherry said, adding, "A woman as glorious-looking as Nicollette Sheridan throwing herself at John Madden is just funny."

In his spot, "the towel wasn’t dropped at the end, and there wasn’t a jump into the arms," Cherry said. After Madden couldn’t appear and was replaced by Terrell Owens of the Philadelphia Eagles, "suddenly this thing became this other thing that it wasn’t really intended to be."

Cherry said he felt bad that some viewers were offended, but added, "I didn’t really realize `Monday Night Football’ was such the family viewing experience. I wouldn’t let my 5-year-old watch beer commercials and big-breasted cheerleaders every Monday, but that’s me."

Gail Pennington
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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