• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, February 11, 2025

The facial hair flew like a Jalen Hurts Super Bowl touchdown pass Sunday night as Eugene Levy’s eyebrows and Nick Offerman’s mustache were launched skyward in commercials for Little Caesars and Pringles.

Levy’s Groucho-like eyebrows were raised at his first bite of a Little Caesars Crazy Puff. The brows then detached completely from his face and flew around, landing on people like an unwanted garden pest.

The connection between these baked cheese snacks and Eugene Levy’s flyaway eyebrows (seen just before takeoff in the screenshot above) was lost on me. 

At least it can be said of the flying mustaches in the Pringles spot that they played off the famous Pringles “mascot” -- the mustachioed Pringles guy, Julius Pringles -- seen on every tennis ball can-shaped container of Pringles. 

Offerman was the first to lose his mustache, followed by losing Super Bowl coach Andy Reid, bearded NBA star James Harden and Mr. Potato Head. (For the record, Pringles chips are said to be 42% potato.)

Nobody lost any sideburns during the Super Bowl, but there is always next year.

As usual, the Super Bowl commercials ran the gamut from the good, the bad to the ugly.

Of the latter category, the hands-down winner was the “tongue” spot for an aerosol product from Coffee-Mate called Cold Foam.

The product’s uses, if any, were unclear as the only application seen in the commercial was the sight of two 20-something guys, obviously bachelors, upending cans of the stuff and shooting it into their mouths.

This was preceded by extreme closeups of an undulating tongue “dancing” to a tongue song performed by Shania Twain. The tagline of the spot was “Let’s Go Tongues.”

Message to the makers of this spot (attributed to Wieden+Kennedy on iSpot.tv): Many Americans watch the Super Bowl (and TV in general) on giant, high-definition TV screens, which has the effect of making your undulating tongue 2-3 feet long. On Sunday during the game, this was not a pleasant visual. ’Nuff said.

Besides the flying facial hair, another theme seen in at least two of Sunday’s commercials was Seniors Gone Wild.

One was the Michelob Ultra spot featuring Willem Defoe, 69, and Catherine O’Hara, 70, as sly pickleball hustlers. To whomever cast the two of them, hats off to you.

Another was a WeatherTech commercial featuring four grannies driving recklessly to the tune of “Born To Be Wild.” 

This spot was a departure from WeatherTech’s usual approach in its Super Bowl efforts, which was always straight-ahead and informative.

In past years, the TV Blog traditionally praised the WeatherTech commercials for their no-nonsense, crystal-clear messaging. This year, not so much. 

Among the other Super Bowl spots, the TV Blog didn’t get the message of the elaborate, chaotic Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck Dunkin’ spot (with a cameo from Bill Belichick) that aired around the start of the game.

The Orlando Bloom-Drew Barrymore spot for MSC Cruises gets high marks for visuals, copywriting and effectiveness. Message received: An MSC Cruise is a happy place.

Perhaps the most far-out concept of the Super Bowl spots was the Mountain Dew commercial with singer Seal as an actual seal singing a Mountain Dew adaptation of his best-known song “Kiss from a Rose.” I loved this spot.

A spot for the water and canned iced tea company, Liquid Death, raised a fundamental question: Why would anyone name a beverage product “Liquid Death”? It boggles the mind.

As for the rest of the telecast, Fox Sports did a great job bringing the NFL action home, especially when the action was seeing Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes get sacked six times and the Eagles racking up 40 points to the Chiefs’ 22.

Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady in the broadcast booth were great too. The role of analyst and color commentator for the Super Bowl is one that Brady, who won seven of them, was born to play.