VIdeo: The Three Most Unlikely People You'd Ever Think Would Make a Promo Together: The Super Bowl Promo for Letterman's Show

Is This the Best Super Bowl Ad We'll See?

Ad Age's Ken Wheaton goes so far as to say that this print ad is the best Super Bowl ad ever.

Do you agree?

(The company that makes this product, McIlhenny Company, is based in Louisiana.)

OMG: Fox Reportedly Wants Howard Stern as 'Idol' Judge When Simon Leaves

Producers of the most popular series on TV, Fox's "American Idol," have been interested in having controversial shock-jock Howard Stern replace the ascerbic Simon Cowell, according to the New York Post's Page Six.

Cowell leaves the show after this season. He is reportedly making $40 million to $50 million a year.

According to the Page Six story,  a source that was somehow connected to 'Idol' said, "It's one of the few shows that could compete with Stern's $100 million-a-year Sirius contract, and 'Idol' bosses think he'd be even nastier than Simon. They know he would be great TV and would clash with the other judges such as Ellen DeGeneres and the contestants. 'Idol' will do what it takes to sign him."

The article then quotes a second source who said the talks about Stern possibly joining 'Idol' were intended as a ploy to pressure Sirius XM Radio to re-up with Stern. Stern's current contract expires next January.

Finally, the article quotes Stern as recently saying on his radio show, ""I was approached by a major TV network to take over a TV show and leave here and do that next year -- and I did turn it down . . . I'm not even sure if I want to be working. I'm waiting to see what happens."

The article said Fox declined to comment about the story when asked to by a Page Six reporter.

--Chuck Ross

Report: Tiger Woods Might Return to Golf in a Few Weeks; If So It Could Be Windfall for NBC, Golf Channel

An Australian newspaper, the Herald Sun, is reporting that Tiger Woods' return to golf may be as soon as later this month to play in the Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, Ariz. The paper only quotes as its sources of this information "strengthening whispers."

Reacting to the story, the Arizona Daily Star quotes Wade Dunagan, executive director of the Match Play event, as saying: "We don't know anything officially yet, but wouldn't that be nice? It would mean we'd get Tiger on his return two years in a row. Very cool."

Dunagan is referring to the fact that Woods chose the Match Play event last year as his first golf tournament after he had been out for a number of months due to surgery.

If Woods does indeed make his return in the tournament, it would most likely be a ratings windfall for both Comcast's Golf Channel and NBC. The Golf Channel has exclusive coverage of  the tournament on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Feb. 17-19, and then splits coverage of the event on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 20 and 21, with NBC.

One of the ironies of Woods' picking the Accenture sponsored tournament as his first one since the Woods sex scandal broke would be that Accenture is one of the companies that dropped Woods as an endorser.

Woods has a long history with the Match Play tourney. It was Woods' idea to move the tournament to the Jack Nicklaus-designed course at the Ritz Carlton Dove Mountain Golf Club in Tucson after a few years of bad weather during the tourney at its old home at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., according to the official website of the tournament.

--Chuck Ross

In the Last Decade Steve Jobs and Apple Have Produced Some of the Most Popular Consumer Products on the Planet: Here's Jobs' Latest Assessment of Apple TV

There's no question that some of the most popular consumer electronic products in the last decade have been introduced by Apple. Three years ago Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the Apple TV set-top box. Ars Technica reports Jobs' latest thoughts about Apple TV:

"In 2007, Jobs told the company that he hoped the Apple TV would be as big as the Mac, iPod, and iPhone, but that it was still in experimental stages. That remains to be the case, it seems, despite numerous efforts by Apple to make it attractive to both users and content providers."

According to the article, in a Town Hall meeting with Apple employees last week "an employee asked during the meeting if Apple's stance on the device had changed. Jobs confirmed what most of those who own Apple TVs had feared: no, it's still a hobby."

Says Ars Technica, "The overall movie selection on iTunes continues to float somewhere between "mediocre" and "decent," and there's still an obnoxious release window between the time when you can buy a new movie and rent it. Sure, this is a downfall of the iTunes Store itself, but the Apple TV is the living room extension of the iTunes Store. If the iTunes Store isn't compelling, neither is the Apple TV. "

--Chuck Ross

Look for Huge Audience for Oscar Telecast: Thank You, James Cameron

This could be big. The last time a James Cameron movie was nominated for Best Picture--"Titanic," which won the award--ABC's Oscarcast was was watched by more people than ever: 57.25 million.

Comparatively, last year's Academy Award broadcast drew 36.94 million viewers. Last year's winner for Best Picture was "Slumdog Millionaire."

Today, Cameron's latest box-office smash, "Avatar," was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The year that "Titanic" won for Best Picture, the movie was still in the theaters at the time of the Oscar broadcast. That could also happen again with "Avatar," which is still going strong in theaters. The Academy Awards will be broadcast on ABC March 7.

Also sure to draw more viewers this year is the fact that the Oscars now have 10 nominees for Best Picture. Besides "Avatar," other films that packed theaters that are on the list as Best Picture nominees include "The Blind Side," "Up," and "Inglourious Basterds." 

Here's are the 10 films nominated for Best Picture:

A Serious Man
Avatar
An Education
District Nine
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
The Blind Side
The Hurt Locker
Up
Up in the Air

--Chuck Ross

Super Bowl Could Have Unlikely Advertiser

An online competition being sponsored by Doritos—the prize an ad in the Super Bowl--has an unlikely finalist, the Associated Press reports.

A hip Los Angeles megachurch called Mosaic is one of six finalists in the company’s "Crash the Super Bowl" contest. The church’s ad has to place in the top three vote-getters online to air on Sunday, at which point it will be eligible for a cash prize of up to $1 million.

The entry, called “Casket,” uses the light humor that Super Bowl viewers seem to expect, not a heavy-handed message.

--Elizabeth Jensen

Anti-Gay Activist Bryant to Get HBO Biopic Treatment

HBO is developing a biopic of Anita Bryant, the former beauty queen, singer and orange juice pitchwoman who became an anti-gay activist in the 1970s, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Darren Star, the creator of "Sex and the City," is set to film the picture, which is being written by Chad Hodge, the creator of “Runaway.”


--Elizabeth Jensen
 

CBS' Super Bowl Ads Sell Out

[UPDATE: The original headline on this story included the clause "but at Lower Prices." With the release of the following statement by CBS we have taken that clause out of our headline:

"CBS says it has sold out of ads for the Super Bowl at average prices that are better than last year, with some 30-second spots topping $3 million apiece.

"CBS Corp. says the final spot sold Monday morning, six days before kickoff.

"That's a few days ahead of schedule. Last year, NBC still had two 30-second spots remaining two days before the game.

"The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints play in the Super Bowl in Miami this Sunday."

Starting on Jan. 11, TWeek, among hundreds of other publications--including B&C, where this item today originally appreared--have been reporting that the cost of a Super Bowl spot has gone down this year compared to last year. This information was based on a press released issued by the well-respected TNS Media Intelligence. Here is what TNS said at that time:

"The cost of a 30-second advertisement in the Super Bowl has more than quadrupled in the past 20 years and reached $3 million in 2009. The recessionary environment is expected to yield lower pricing for the 2010 game, with CBS reportedly selling 30-second units for between $2.5 and $2.8 million."

--Chuck Ross]

CBS announced today that all the ad spots for the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast have been sold, according to B&C. The average 30-second spot went for between $2.5 million and $2.8 million, slightly off from $3 million a spot NBC fetched in 2009.

The current economic downturn has been credited with the lower revenue, but on the plus side for CBS, demand for this game has resulted in the early sell-out. Companies to be included in the Feb. 7 broadcast are Audi, Honda, Hyundai, Chrysler's Dodge, Cars.com, Walt Disney, Doritos, Coca-Cola Co. and Dr. Pepper.

-- Allison J. Waldman

It's the Case Against—and For—Jeff Zucker

In his latest provocative essay, TVWeek Open Mic blogger Chuck Ross writes about the debate over Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's beleagured president and CEO. Click here to read his thoughtful piece.

--Tom Gilbert