For those just stumbling upon this for the first time, we did the first quarter and second quarter yesterday, with the fourth quarter still to come later today.

Anyway, on to the ads!

Fiat: Seduction

I know that I've said in the past that I'm not crazy about car ads that don't really feature the car, but this one worked for me. The metaphor works here with the tagline - "you'll never forget the first time you see one", while the man is subjected to a full range of emotions after seeing the woman - and the car. Importantly though, you still get to see the car in action, and it makes you want to see more. Well done, especially for a company without an established U.S. market.

Acura: Transactions

Yahoo shows the extended version of this commercial (almost two minutes) which I think is too much; the 60 second commercial worked ideally because it was quicker-paced (like a "Seinfeld" episode), while the 30 second version (which came on later, in the fourth quarter I believe) cut too much. Bonus points if you're a fan of Jerry Seinfeld (I am), and double bonus meta points for the Jay Leno cameo at the end, even if the meta wasn't intentional (I think it was.)

Toyota: Camry

Bah, Toyota. Three seconds of the product they're selling (the newly designed Camry), and at the beginning. By the time the commercial is over, you've forgotten what the car looked like in the first place. Then again, it's a Camry - people will just buy it anyway because it's a Camry. Worse was that the funny part wasn't actually funny. A baby that's a time machine? How is that an improvement?

NFL.com: Evolution

It's not really fair. NFL Films doing a commercial is like Kobe Bryant deciding to play in my kids' Upward Basketball league. The transitions, the music, the use of the yard markers as decades, the footage quality subtly changing as they get more current - it's just done so well. Honestly, I forgot what the message of the commercial was all about (player safety, which is a whole other rant), but when you're watching football to begin with and see something like this that embraces the history of the game, all up to footage from the game you're currently watching, it's hard not to love it.

Century 21: Celebrities

Decent commercial. Showcases the product while still using a sense of humor. Nothing outstanding or laugh-out-loud funny, but doesn't drop the ball either. Side note: is Apolo Ohno the most successful American Winter Olympics athlete in terms of mainstream exposure? I don't count Shaun White because his popularity was pretty much already established in X-Games before the '06 Olympics. I always feel bad for Olympic athletes who get this huge brush with fame for a few weeks and then seemingly disappear because their sports aren't major professional sports. Ohno, to his credit, has parlayed speed skating into being a mainstream celebrity.

Coca-Cola: Arghh

HEY LOOK ITS THOSE BEARS AGAIN. It's cute at Christmas, it's cute when you're trying to save them (which again - third polar bear commercial, not one mention of Coke's polar bear conservation efforts or info for people to find out more about what they can do). It seems like a waste - if you're going to make it a reoccurring commercial during the Super Bowl, give us the dreary sad one at the end that makes us want to save these adorable animated creatures who just sit around on their butts and watch football.

Dannon: John Stamos

Oh, I get it. Jesse Katsopolis, er, John Stamos is Greek, it's Greek yogurt - I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. People who like complaining about things apparently think the commercial promotes domestic violence, where I only think it promotes violence to people who are dicks about sharing their food, which I'll allow. Seriously though - the "violence" is meant to be "cartoonish" and over-the-top (watch the shoe go flying up), and while I could see a little more controversy if Stamos had head-butted his female companion, it's meant to be silly. PS - Greek yogurt is good, but expensive. It needs to get over itself.

Pepsi MAX: Regis

Commercials that have sequels or reoccurring characters can work if they're beloved or at least popular. We get it - the Coke driver likes the Pepsi. It's the same commercial it was last year and however many other times it's been rehashed. Also seems like a waste of Regis here - what, five seconds?

Smash: Preview

JUST SHOW THE DAMN SHOW ALREADY.

GE: Appliance Park

Done well - tells of the company's history, implies that it's helping to bring jobs to Americans, and puts an overall positive spin on the brand. Doesn't sell much more than the brand, but that's what they're going for here. Then again, I keep thinking about Sean McNally's tweet in the second quarter about the last GE commercial (see second spot in the second quarter wrapup.)

Budweiser: Eternal Optimism

Now, I'm no Bud fan, but this does a good job. Establishes the history of the brand and connects it with good times being had over that span. It really could be done with any product that existed during that timeframe, but Bud does it well here with smooth transitions and uptempo music. Nice meta shoutout to Al Michaels and his 1980 USA hockey call and who was also calling this year's Super Bowl game.

Time Warner Cable: Master

Considering that Time Warner Cable only services a little over half the country, I was surprised to see them running a national Super Bowl ad. Ricky Gervais was funny, and it was interesting to see marijuana pop up in a Super Bowl ad (even if it was just a reference to the Showtime show "Weeds").

Bridgestone: Basketball

I think this one worked a lot better than the football commercial Bridgestone pulled in the first quarter. Again, not sure why the pro players were needed (as they didn't really add anything), but the lack of sound from the "basketball" showcasing the noise-reducing tires Bridgestone was trying to sell worked.

WINNER: NFL.com: Evolution (non-NFL Films category: Acura: Transactions)

LOSER: Toyota: Camry

The justification, I guess, is that there's less on the line.  With the Jets tanking against the Seahawks yesterday, the Jets still need help to make the playoffs (a Patriots loss - good luck with that).  The Denver-San Diego game is a "two teams enter, one team leaves" kind of battle where the winner wins the division and the loser goes home, therefore making it more "dramatic".

However, how can you not go with the Dolphins-Jets game?  How many angles do you have going here?

• Chad Pennington vs. the team that scapegoated him and dumped him for a 39-year-old who was being pushed out the door by his former team
• The Dolphins (last year: 1-15) taking on the Jets (last year: 4-12) for the #3 seed in the AFC playoffs
• The Dolphins, a warm weather team that traditionally fails as the weather gets colder, going into New Jersey where the temperature would be around freezing at kickoff (at least at 8:15PM)
• The Dolphins (winners of 8 of their last 9, including 4 in a row) facing a reeling Jets team whom they have lost to 17 times in their last 21 meetings (including earlier this season in Miami)
• The Dolphins needing to win in late December on the road against the Jets.  Previous Dolphins victories over the Jets on the road in December: 1996 (Jets finished 1-15), 1983, 1982.  That is all.

And the history?  Ask any Jet or Dolphin fan about:

• A.J. Duhe and the 1982 AFC Championship game (the game that taught me to hate Jet fans)
• Marty Lyons ending Dwight Stephenson's career with an illegal chop block
• Raul Allegre costing the Dolphins the AFC East (and the playoffs) in the final game of the 1991 season
• Marino's fake spike in 1994 (easily my favorite Dolphins memory, and I still will say that I saw it coming)
• The Monday Night Miracle (easily my least favorite Dolphins memory, which I experienced live, and will now go throw up)

I'm sure there are more, but I'm a little too ill remembering that game.  The Broncos and Chargers though?  Would either team call their opponent their biggest rival?  The Broncos are 8-7 going into the game (having lost two straight) and face a 7-8 Chargers team that the word "disappointment" would be considered an understatement.  If the Chargers win (I assume they'd be favored) the NFL is putting an 8-8 team on a pedistal while potentially a 11-5 team could be left out (the Patriots, assuming both New England and the Dolphins win.)

History?  Well, last time these two played, the Broncos won 39-38 on a blown call on the Broncos final touchdown drive which would have given the ball to the Chargers and ended the game.  Yeah, that's something I'd want to remind the entire NFL audience about if I were the league.