TV Take: Super Bowl commercials were mostly a let down, but a few stole the show

We get it. Super Bowl commercials aren’t what they once were.

No “Where’s the beef?” nor Mean Joe Greene nor those talking frogs. Iconic images. Mini-Darth Vader starting a car. Betty White doing anything. Michael Jordan and Larry Bird in a game of horse.

But, hey, John Travolta and Zach Braff and that other “Scrubs” guy – OK, we know it’s Donald Fasson, thanks to “Clueless,” one of our favorite 1990s films – doing a takeoff on “Grease” isn’t bad. Catchy at least.

Which brings us to a theme of this year’s Super Bowl ads. People. Well, longtime stars. Fading ones, if you are under 30.

The aforementioned Travolta. Steve Martin. Danny McBride. Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston. Ben Stiller. Jennifer Coolidge. Sarah McLachlan. Will Ferrell. Gronk.

Anyway, there were less-dated folks, too. Adam Driver. Jack Harlow. Diddy. Miles Teller. Pete Davidson. Jennifer Coolidge – hey, “White Lotus” is pretty hot these days.

Yes, the stars turned out, even more so than they did in Kansas City’s final-seconds 38-35 victory in Super Bowl LVII on Fox.

Our favorites? Wait, before we get there, here are some guidelines. We watched parts of the pregame show – golf was on CBS – but didn’t rate those ads. And we allowed family members to lobby for their favorites, though we didn’t really listen. These are all ours.

We had a few honorable mention candidates. Bradley Cooper and his mom were funny for T-Mobile. Jon Hamm and Brie Larson showed up in a fridge in an odd Best Foods mayonnaise spot. Dave Grohl shared facts about Canada. Premature electrification hit home. But the top ones were …

5. Remember when Super Bowl commercials were funny? Those were the days, right? Now if you spend a few million dollars on a 30-second spot, what’s another million or so for a recognizable face? That way people will say “did you see (fill-in-the-blank’s) ad for …” For this reason, we were all-in for the M&M’s ad. Maya Rudolph. Candy-coated clam bites. How do you forget that? And a cameo from the old spokescandies.

4. Will Ferrell has been a big deal for a long time. Now he can say he’s been in every popular Netflix show. And his commercial wasn’t even for the streaming service, per se. General Motors wanted to highlight its electric vehicles and Ferrell drove the point home. Literally.

3. We admit we have a soft spot for Dunkin’. Love the, uh, coffee. No way we’re eating the doughnuts. At least not around here. Still, we remember the “Saturday Night Live” skit with Casey Affleck asserting “I’m like the mayor of Dunkin’.” But instead of Casey, the Dunkin’ folks hired big brother Ben to work the drive-through. Until wife Jennifer Lopez showed up. It might have been only kind of funny. Still, that made it more memorable than most.

2. Thank goodness the shine came off crypto currency in the past 12 months. Well, maybe not for Tom Brady and others who invested their savings. But the dominator of commercials in last year’s Super Bowl was nowhere to be found Sunday. Back, with a vengeance were beer commercials. The most memorable? Easy. Michelob Ultra’s “Caddyshack” take-off, “New Members Day.” Serena Williams. Tony Romo. Boxer Canelo Alvarez. Alex Morgan. And the most famous celebrity of them all, Michael O’Keefe. Yep, Danny. All grown up.

1. The best? It’s a tie. There weren’t any celebrities in either The Farmer’s Dog commercial just before halftime or an Amazon one in the fourth quarter. Just good dogs (well, most of the time) and their special people. The stars of the former were Ava and Bear, who may be celebrities now. The ad was enough, we guess, to make more than a few folks cry. Not us. It was just dust. And the latter? It made us smile, mainly because it wasn’t our house being destroyed.

Not an awful group. But is there a “Whassup?” or “Terry Tate, office linebacker” among them? Check with us after Super Bowl LXXII.