Betty White has won the Super Bowl. Commercials. According to this year’s USA Today Ad Meter, the five best-received of last night’s Super Bowl ads were Snickers, Doritos, Bud Light, Budweiser, and Coke — the African sleepwalker one, not the Simpsons one that could have used more monorail. Even though my personal favorite ads (Kia Sorrento’s “toys come to life” and Google’s “search term history affirms man’s milestone-rich life”) were left off the list, I wholeheartedly approve this message because I wholeheartedly approve of the prospected ingestion of processed crap. The Top 5 and Bottom 5 ads are listed after the jump. Two GoDaddy.com commercials in the bottom 5. That company (whatever the hell it is) must be trying to make its ads as lame as possible, right? (Read full post)
Category: Food and Drink (1-10 of 306)
Super Bowl commercials: 'USA Today' Ad Meter demonstrates our love for Betty White
'Super Bowl XLIV' advertising: Watch 'em here and tell us what you think!
Super Bowl XLIV is almost upon us, with the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts facing off for football supremacy. But another kind of competish is happening tonight, too, a national championship of advertising in which companies big and bigger will premiere their advertising campaigns in front of a massive TV audience. For those of you who can’t get enough when it comes to huge-budget, high-concept commercials, our pals at Hulu have created a lovely widget (embedded below) to allow you to watch all of the 2010 Super Bowl ad action in one handy spot (it updates as new ones air)! So get that XLIV chili dip in the oven, fire up our “Everything But the Game” Live-Blog, and enjoy the big game! I’ll be back around midnight EDT or so with my rundown of the night’s best and worst ad spots, so do come back now, ya hear?
Super Bowl Sunday: What will you be snacking on?
The nation may come to a collective standstill on Sunday to witness Super Bowl XLIV (between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts), but then again, standstill isn’t quite the right word. Because while the eyes of football addicts and casual watchers alike will be glued to their respective TV sets, their hands and mouths will be decidedly distracted by a wide variety of delicious shnacks (the bonus ‘h’ is for ‘heavenly’). And so while most blogs would pose the question “Which team are you rooting for?”, PopWatch dares to ask “What will you be eating on Super Bowl Sunday?”
Me, I won’t be hosting or attending any parties on Sunday, since I need to keep my sharp focus on Super Bowl ads. (Yes, shortly after the game, I’ll be posting an item about the best and worst commercials from the telecast right here at PopWatch, so be sure to ch-ch-check it out.) But since my husband is giving up any claim to Sci-Fi-related viewing for the day, I’m thinking of whipping up a high-calorie dip to help him get him through hours of lycra-clad dudes running around a grassy rectangle while random gentlemen say words like “first down,” “penalty flag,” and “sack.” My tortilla dip involves taking a shallow ceramic dish, and layering it with (from the bottom up) a block of cream cheese, a jar of salsa, a can of bean-less chili, and a layer of shredded cheddar. (If I’m feeling a little contoversial, I might even add some diced tomatillos!) Pop it in the oven at 350 for about 20-30 minutes, and (voila!) you’ve got yourself a diet-busting delight.
So that’s my food plan for Super Bowl Sunday, but what’s yours? Share your Colts-vs.-Saints menu in the comments below, and do tune in to PopWatch during the game, where my colleagues Wendy Mitchell and Darren Franich will be live-blogging all the non-game-related hijinks. EW’s Music Mix blog will be reviewing Carrie Underwood’s National Anthem and The Who’s half-time show, so don’t miss those hot-ticket items, either. And happy pigskinning to all! (Urgh, that didn’t sound right, did it?)
Image Credit: Brand X Pictures/Getty Images
'Man vs. Food Live': Let's start training
On tonight’s two-hour special Man vs. Food, Adam Richman will take the Don Shula’s 48 oz. Steak Challenge in Miami Beach….LIIIIIIIVE! Just like Dancing With the Stars! Our consumption hero won’t be alone if he triumphs — Shula’s website indicates that the 48 oz. Club contains 34879 beef lovers in America and counting — but he will probably be the only one to cop football-referee poses with a tough-guy face and incorporate the seldom-used steak-as-football motif for a Travel Channel TV promo. Even though this is a two-hour live event from 9-11 p.m. ET, Richman will still only have his regular allotted time of 20 minutes to finish. Since this challenge will be a cakewalk for the man who has finished a 72-oz. steak PLUS SIDES in the past, I’m hoping perhaps the other 90 minutes will be devoted to side dishes and maybe even a cool-down walk featuring cake instead of anything Super Bowl-related. (In your dreams, Barrett: The managers of Shula restaurants are referred to as “head coaches!)
Either way, I say this gives us all a great excuse to eat jumbo lump crab cakes and The Wedge salad and lobster mashed potatoes and creamed spinach all day. Maybe a few steak tips, to coat the stomach. You don’t want to go into the challenge starving; that’s poor form. In related news, I am starving. What will you do to train for Adam’s Super Bowl Wednesday?
'Cake Boss' gets third season: M'mm m'mm good!
TLC has hired hire Cake Boss for at least one more season. And in response to this incredibly wise move, I’ve decided to craft a “Congratulations” out of an imaginary piece of modeling chocolate for my pal Buddy Valastro. (P.S. He’s only a pal in my dreams. My tasty, sweet dreams.)
After all, I have been a fan of Buddy and his Hoboken, N.J., staff since I watched them create an epic recreation of New York City out of cake, modeling chocolate, and rice crispy treats. And then there was their recreation of the Leaning Tower of Pisa — not to mention their ridiculously sweet take on Dylan’s Candy Bar. How does he do it, PopWatchers?! (Well, he actually tells us how — another reason why I love him — but that doesn’t make his creations any less impressive.)
In fact, Buddy’s creativity so inspired me that I attempted to make spaghetti and meatball cupcakes for the birthdays of my mother and boyfriend late last year. (Thank you, Hello, Cupcake!, for the recipe.) And, just in case those didn’t turn out well — and, as you can see below, they didn’t — my family decided to purchase a birthday cake from Buddy himself at Carlos Bakery. And I can tell you that eating an entire piece of that beautiful cake (see below) was the best 2.1 seconds of my life.
Who else is happy that Buddy’s coming back? And have you ever picked anything up from Carlos Bakery? Or have been inspired to make your own inventive cake-based creation?
I hope this movie focuses on eating and sleeping
Sadly, the upcoming book Eat, Sleep, Poop is not a faux-self-help memoir penned by me, about living in New York during my Roarin’ 20s. This is especially sad because the parenting book, which was written by Beverly Hills-based pediatrician Scott W. Cohen and won’t be on stands until March 30, is going to become a movie. A MOVIE. DreamWorks has enlisted Matt Allen and Caleb Winston (Four Christmases) to write it. Quick, PoopWatchers, let’s help them decide how much to focus on each of these three essential life activities. As a relentless night owl, I’d personally go Eat, Poop, Sleep, even though what I said in the headline remains true. Feel free to explain your ranking system in the comments. Nothing has ever been more important than this.
Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett
'Big Chef Takes On Little Chef': Season finale tonight!
Over the weekend, I became obsessed with saved-up episodes of Big Chef Takes On Little Chef and grew very upset when there were no more on the DVR. Tragedy! But the final installment of the short 2009 UK series airs on Planet Green tonight. This show is a bit like Kitchen Nightmares, except the restaurant is part of a large chain and the visiting chef isn’t a total lunatic. Despite its Little People, Big World-esque title, the show is not a little person-vs.-big person kitchen showdown, as I had originally suspected…and hoped. Basically, Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal was given six months and a bunch of money to revamp the menu at Little Chef — which, from what I can make out, is like the British version of Denny’s: There’s one in every town, and it’s sort of beloved in a nostalgic way even though the food is gross. Blumenthal took over the branch in Popham, which it turns out is really fun to say in a British accent while thinking about Entenmann’s Pop’ems. There’s not a lot of high drama, as Blumenthal is even-keeled and cares DEEPLY about bringing free-range eggs to the commoners. There is, though, a profound sense of The Office’s David Brent-iness in Blumenthal’s Little Chef boss Ian Pegler, an absolute joke of an executive who’s fired off inconsistent nonsense toward the earnest chef all season. He’s such a publicity-mongering tool; you can’t look away even though you want to because he is physically disturbing as well.
Tonight’s finale is called “Did Heston Change Little Chef?” I am dying to know that! (I’ll also be forever wondering why you would ever get rid of a side called fried bread, part of Little Chef’s former Olympic Breakfast. I understand that the Little Chef version of fried bread probably sucked, but why couldn’t Heston just retain the essence of fried bread and make it classy like Tyra makes it fashion?) Big Chef airs on Planet Green at 8 p.m. ET and repeats all week; check listings here.
I'd see Russell Brand and James Marsden's new movie 'I Hop' if it were retitled 'IHOP'
James Marsden clearly doesn’t want to be the star Mandi Bierly thinks he is. That’s someone who “after playing solid, decent men in Superman Returns and The Notebook, shouldn’t have to revert to a man-child who hangs out with a CGI rabbit that probably won’t be as funny in the US as he is in the UK.” You see, Marsden is signed on to co-star with Russell Brand in the live-action-CGI hybrid comedy named I Hop. Marsden plays an out-of-work slacker who accidentally injures the Easter Bunny, who will of course be Russell Brand. That sounds crazy. You know it does when my proposed film centering around two IHOP employees who engage in a year-long Create-A-Face Pancake battle sounds less crazy than the real movie. Whoever whipped-creams more sublime smiles, through which you can tell that the pancake is truly happy…WINS!
Which movie would you rather see? Do you want James Marsden to be the star Mandi Bierly thinks he is?
Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett
Image credit: Brand: Albert L. Ortega/PR Photos; Marsden: Sylvain Gaboury/PR Photos
'Cougar Town' recap: Keep On Loving You
On last night’s Cougar Town, everyone had a bunch of sex and most of them shared a bunch of feelings and it was all so touching that I now have this weird bite mark on my knee. Ellie threw “Mr. McNeedy” a bone, Travis took time out from hanging with his country music superstar guy friends to camp out with his twiggy girlfriend Kylie, Laurie slept with Grayson again (“It was raining! And REO Speedwagon rocks so hard!”), and Jules “used Bobby like a sexual get well card” to get over Scott Foley. In the process, nearly all of the characters poked their heads out from their protective curtains of quippy sarcasm to be honest about their feelings. Travis told Kylie how glad he was that his first time was with her, and that HE LOVED HER OMG. Ellie offered Andy a rare nugget of appreciation by telling him she relaxes when he walks in the door — and yet he still apologized for his nonexistent “tude” and guessed incorrectly that her long boring speech would end with sex. As for Jules and Bobby — who’s really grown on me as a viable character, by the way, and could maybe fill in as the heart of the show should something ever happen to Busy Philipps’ rack — Jules loves Bobby but not in that way anymore. “We’re just not gonna end up back together again.” Oh, god! Did you guys see his face as he hopefully suggested she take some time to reconsider? This marks two episodes in a row in which Jules has turned down what could have been a stable relationship with someone who’s really into her. Is she really destined to be with Grayson, her “someday guy”? Even if he continues to be, according to Laurie, the only man who gets less sexy when he plays guitar? Discuss in the comments; meanwhile, my 10 favorite moments…. (Read full post)
You may now eat the bride, who is somehow not yet sick of cake
Just Monday, I blah-blah-blahed into cyberspace that I would love it if some weirdo with a dream and a corporate card would special-order a Kate Hudson Golden Globes Dress Cake for an upcoming episode of Ace of Cakes. And suddenly, poof! Sound of an electric mixer! There’s this cake wedding dress on the internet. They turned the CAKE into a DRESS instead of the other way around. I’ve seen dress-cakes before but never on this scale. How does she pee? My mind is blown and I need some insulin. So forget cake-centric televison; clearly this needs to be a challenge on Project Runway.
Are you in or are you out? Also, which recent famous-lady frock would you like to see in cake form? Actually, upon a closer inspection, I now think Diane Kruger’s Globes gown was actually an ice cream cake. Drew Barrymore’s lacked volume, but it’s a good color for icing, and decorative sea urchins would seem more appropriate atop a cake than on a dress…
More photos of Lukka Sigurdardottir’s cake/dress design at Gather and Nest [via BridePop]. It’s a full-on mosaic up in there!
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