• by Wayne Friedman , January 31, 2012

During its airing of the Super Bowl this Sunday, one of NBC Universal's biggest marketing efforts will be for digital video company Hulu, and its Hulu Plus service, of which it is a part owner.

The commercial for the digital video platform features Will Arnett ("Up All Night," "30 Rock" and "Arrested Development") in front of the "Hollywood" sign looking to open a door to one of the big Hollywood sign letters -- first with the password 'Hulu', then a few others.

Arnett has some trouble getting the door to open. But finally it does. Inside the Hollywood sign -- kind of a metaphor for getting inside Hollywood -- Arnett teases viewers with the line "mushy mush." The idea is that the TV industry is populated by aliens who use TV to turn human brains into 'mush.'

This refers back to the first Super Bowl spot for Hulu in 2009 -- the last time NBC aired the Super Bowl. That spot was hosted by Alec Baldwin, who talked condescendingly about TV being able to stealing consumers' brains.

The spot is a teaser campaign for Hulu Plus -- another spot to be revealed during the game. Hulu Plus is where consumers pay $7.99 a month for recent TV shows on NBC, ABC, Fox, and others -- as well as a library of other shows.

The spot ends with another voiceover saying "Welcome to the beginning of the new broadcast day, Earth." Arnett then ends the spot saying "Hmmm.. Mushy Mush."

A title card then says: "Game On, Earth. 2/5/12." That's the date of the Super Bowl.

For the big game, the NBC network will also be touting its return of the big singing competition show, "The Voice," of which its premiere will run just after the game is over, as well as its new drama "Smash," set to debut on Monday.