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A Super Bowl with fewer fouls

To compare the reviews from last year's Super Bowl entertainment to the assessments of 2005's presentations is to risk a serious case of pop culture whiplash.

In 2004, critics complained about a crass lineup of halftime performers and commercials that featured flatulent horses, overly detailed pitches for Viagra-like medication and the Breast Seen 'Round the World. This year, after a backlash against indecency that has seen the government level heavy fines on broadcasters, a different set of critics complained that a morality police mind-set threw a wet blanket on Sunday's Super Bowl entertainment.

Such cynicism belies a few important points. Mainstream television has grown more explicit, and Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" last year served as the perfect symbol for those making the legitimate point that overtly sexual TV content belongs in places where viewers can anticipate it. This year's crop of commercials - including a football-playing Gladys Knight and discarded MC Hammer - seemed no more or less entertaining because advertisers pushed the boundaries of bad taste a little less.

Given the preponderance of MTV-bred, lip-synching pop stars these days, it was also refreshing to see a halftime performer who actually sang live - even if every song Paul McCartney delivered Sunday was at least 30 years old.

Some critics didn't think much of the evening's most affecting commercial - an Anheuser-Busch ad featuring soldiers returning from Iraq, greeted with applause from civilians while walking through an airport. The simple message was summed up in the two words on the screen: Thank you.

If all the concern about indecency produces more Super Bowl commercials like that one, viewers would be better served.

[Last modified February 11, 2005, 00:52:18]