How Fox Deportes Made History and Other Observations About Super Bowl XLVIII

The game was one for the ages for sure as the highestrated special in television history with more than 1122 million people watching all over this land Those viewers plus another three million turned on the mostwatched halftime extravaganza of a US sports event and learned how talented Bruno Mars is No onesonganddone artist is he More on that shortlyThen there was the flip for the ages A game of blowout city proportions final score 438 In just 12 seconds of the first quarter Denver transformed into the football gang that couldn39t move down the field straight and Seattle went for the defensive jugular that didn39t unlock until the last secondAs Meat Loaf might warble two out of three outcomes ain39t badWhy didn39t viewers switch the channel to amp8220Downton Abbeyamp8221 or another refuge of original programming Let39s open the debate and suggest that Seattle39s defensive prowess on every play plus the offensive maneuvers of quarterback Russell Wilson and teammates kept viewers coming back for more Credit much of that to the way Fox showcased the game with a minimum of graphic pyrotechnics simple livereplay transitions using a silver Vince Lombardi trophy and most factoids in a left corner box and the max of isolated offensive line and secondary replay action It was somewhat reminiscent of Emmywinning director Sandy Grossman39s handiwork on many a CBS or Fox Super Bowl or National Football League playoff games over recent decades How fitting that toward the end of the blowout Grossman got a shoutout from playbyplay caller Joe Buck and analyst Troy AikmanBuck and Aikman for this observer contributed their own viewing pleasure by keeping the focus real and on the game play After Percy Harvin39s 87yard kickoff return to open the second half and demolish any chance of a Denver comeback Buck went to commercial with these lines quotA short popup kick to limit the damage Percy Harvin could do Damage donequotquotThey the Seahawks took all the air out of this building for the Denver Broncosquot Aikman added seconds after that breakAs for the halftime show Mars39 electrifying performance going from an extended drum riff to spirited rendition of his Grammynominated hit amp8220Locked Out Of Heavenamp8221 to winding down with amp8220Just The Way You Areamp8221 was matched by outstanding direction and camera work MetLife39s field became a giant mosh pit with some of the best shots being crowds watching Mars prance around the stage including that James Brown footwork break Highdefinition set owners had a great seat for the panoramic views and the visual of Mars singing amp8220Wayamp8221 on the left side of the screen while fireworks went off on the right sideWhen it came time for the Chevysponsored post game show Fox seemed on its way to pitching the TV equivalent of a perfect game Then the network balked big time First coming from four minutes of commercials and promos after Buck and Aikman39s last words host Curt Menefee did 30 seconds oncamera and handed off to another fourminute pod of commercials and promos Reminded me of CBS39 atrocious practice at the start of NCAA basketball tournament games in the 1980s when the network cut to a local station break less than a minute after starting coverage Then came the trophy presentation and MVP announcement wellhandled by Michael Strahan followed by another long commercial break and finally Menefee Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson giving a few wrapup sentences on the game before closing shopFor all of that Fox gave post game viewers zero replays amp8211 zero Zero recap of fullgame or secondhalf action Zero effort to spot turning points of the game or bring in reaction from players By contrast ESPN39s NFL primetime special starting its game recap just as Fox faded to black provided as enthusiastic and inventive a summary as it gets thanks to Chris Berman Tom Jackson and Steve Young plus sideline reaction midway from Seahawks player Kam Chancellor a fun hear Berman offered numerous opportunities to quottoastquot Denver39s play In a few minutes ESPN filled the gap Fox left behindNevertheless give Fox big kudos for an exercise in sports domination wellpresented Add extra credit for a smooth recalculating of segment assignments in the way of Terry Bradshaw39s absence due to the death of a family member over the weekend Condolences to Bradshaw39s familyIn another way this anticipated game of the ages was historic This Super Bowl was the first simulcast in Spanish while live in English via Fox Deportes which had its own announcing crew and some production support to accompany Fox39s feed Nineteen advertisers participated in this first including GoDaddy the first online site to make a national Spanishlanguage ad buy This was a milestone long overdue for multicultural TV and unknown to most it capped off a set of groundbreaking Fox Deportes NFL games starting with the early afternoon Thanksgiving Day matchup last November and continuing with the Foxscheduled conference wild card divisional playoff and championship games last monthThe big minus Fox and the NFL did little in the way of public acknowledgment of this initiative No press releases or conference calls with reporters or other methods to drum support What39s to hideThe big plus The move to present these games live happened and maybe this will spur an era of having every NFL game regularseason and playoff available nationally on live Spanishlanguage TV With a tip of the tongue to Russell Wilson why not nowAs for that other popular Super Bowl avocation commercial viewing two things come to mind for 2014 Every ingame break lasted 60 or 90 seconds Don39t you wish all network TV programming would go this way again No wonder these ads stand out for viewers instead of spread out inside threetofour minute breaks Second the assortment of commercials I witnessed from the halftime show on with exceptions along the way came off as dopey or moronic either in premise execution or both A few commercials started promising as Heinz did with its quotHappy and You Know Itquot kid play and then went the dopey routeThe best of the bunch Chrysler39s quotAmerican Pridequot twominute spot featuring Bob Dylan Wonderfully evocative and poetic with both words and imagery quotIs there anything more American than Americaquot Dylan waxes quotYou can39t fake true cool You can39t fake legacyYou can39t import the heart and soul of every person working on the linequot quotHomecomingquot from Budweiser showing serviceman Chuck Nadd39s return from his tour of duty Great sliceoflife atmosphere Simple point quotEvery soldier deserves a hero39s welcomequot Right after the spot Fox returns with a live shot of Nadd and his wife sitting at MetLife noted by BuckThe worst of the bunch Audi39s quotcompromisequot commercial featuring a gruesome set of dog heads growling from pocketbooks Looked like a pilot for an Animal Planet satire on amp8220The Walking Deadamp8221 or an ad Petsmart put in its trashcan How did this get by the advertiser or the agency quotCowboy Kidquot from Doritos a perennial winner among top Super Bowl ads every year The sight of a boy riding a dog to the Lone Ranger themeWilliam Tell overture looked way out of bounds Let39s hope itamp8217s the exception to Doritos39 track recordUntil the next time stay well and stay tunedThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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How Fox Deportes Made History and Other Observations About Super Bowl XLVIII

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