So I was in Taiwan during the Super Bowl, and I didn't get to see any of the commercials. Heck, I didn't even get to see the whole game. I woke up late, then had quite a time trying to find the game on TV (I ended up watching it on NHK and not understanding the Japanese commentary...except for when they said the names of whatever player was being shown at the moment). And then we had to head down to breakfast and whatever we were supposed to do that day. I tried to avoid the score until my dad bought the afternoon newspaper, and there on the cover of a Chinese newspaper was Eli Manning celebrating (wow, even in Taiwan you can't avoid the Super Bowl apparently. But then, why the heck was it relegated to a Japanese channel??) So of course that evening, instead of letting my parents watch news talk programs going on about Makiyo and her friends beating up a cabbie for the umpteenth straight day, I got to watch the end of the Super Bowl, including the Patriots basically giving up and letting Ahmad Bradshaw waltz into the end zone (yes, I know they were trying to maximize the time on the clock. Still, it's pretty pathetic. Actually, thank goodness the Patriots are pathetic. I still haven't forgiven them for Spygate and for beating the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. Basically, I'm glad the Giants won.)
Anyway, for some reason I was surfing around a couple days ago, and I thought I'd go onto YouTube to watch some performances of "Brotherhood of Man" from the musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". It was the first musical I ever saw; it was the high school production when I was in seventh grade, and I found the play hilarious and the tunes catchy, especially "Brotherhood". Of course, I found a movie clip of Robert Morse performing way back when. I also found Daniel Radcliffe of "Harry Potter" fame performing it at the Tonys last year. And then below all that I found a commercial of NBC stars performing it before the Super Bowl. And it was amazing.
The banter between the "30 Rock" characters was hilarious. And then Alec Baldwin starts singing (okay, so this will be a "30 Rock" commercial). And then, a surprising cut to "The Office", then "Parks and Recreation", and then "Community" (okay, so maybe a Thursday night comedy collaboration for the Super Bowl). And then there was Alec Baldwin introducing "Smash"...holy crap, is that Mariska Hargitay and the "Law and Order:SVU" cast letting loose? The "Today" show? Brian Williams?? David Gregory, Harry Smith, and the main NBC News stalwarts??? Wow, they went all out. And it worked.
If this was aired during the Super Bowl, I would've thought it was one of the best Super Bowl commercials ever put together. All that star power joining forces, being silly, and singing! to promote their network was no small feat. And only NBC could've pulled this off. CBS, ABC, or even Fox wouldn't have been able to--though Fox probably would've come up with something raunchily funny. And I guess David Letterman making a commercial with Oprah and Jay Leno was pretty awesome.
NBC is struggling, much like ABC was for a while a few years back before "Lost" and "Desparate Housewives", and then Fox before that when it was trying to find its footing. Maybe because NBC is not doing so well they were able to take chances like this. But I love how their talent is so well suited for this kind of stunt, including their comedy casts, especially "30 Rock" and "Saturday Night Live", and how their news people, and even soap opera stars, don't take themselves too seriously and are able to have fun with this as well.
Anyway, below is the video (the uploader disabled embedding, but trust me, the video's awesome): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJuAvwtmXuw
And just in case you need to know who's who, it's a pantheon of NBC All-Stars:
0:01-Al Michaels (voice)--Sunday Night Football, NBC Olympics, NBC Sports
0:06-Tina Fey, Scott Adsit, John Lutz, Tracy Morgan, Alec Baldwin, Jane Krakowski, Kevin Brown, Grizz Chapman--30 Rock
0:23-Jack McBrayer--30 Rock
0:27-Keith Powell--30 Rock
1:00-John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson, Craig Robinson, Phyllis Smith, Oscar Nunez, Angela Kinsey, Paul Lieberstein, Kate Flannery, Brian Baumgartner, Mindy Kaling, Zach Woods, B. J. Novak, Ellie Kemper, Ed Helms, Creed Bratton--The Office
1:21-Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Rob Lowe, Aubrey Plaza, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, Jim O'Heir, Chris Pratt, Aziz Ansari--Parks and Recreation
1:32-Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Ken Jeong, Jim Rash--Community
1:53-Katrina Bowden--30 Rock
2:07-Judah Friedlander, Sue Galloway--30 Rock
2:28-Katherine McPhee, Megan Hilty, Jaime Cepero, Raza Jaffrey, Jack Davenport, Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Anjelica Huston, Brian d'Arcy James--Smash
2:38-Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer, Kelli Giddish, Danny Pino, Dann Florek, Ice-T--Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
2:46-Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton--The Voice
2:47-Jay Leno--The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
2:50-Monica Potter, Dax Shepard, Lauren Graham, Peter Krause--Parenthood
2:52-Whitney Cummings, Chris D'Elia--Whitney
2:53-Chelsea Handler, Laura Prepon--Are You There, Chelsea?
2:56-Maya Rudolph, Will Arnett, Christina Applegate--Up All Night
3:03-Donald Trump--The Apprentice
3:05-Al Roker, Ann Curry, Matt Lauer, Natalie Morales--Today
3:10-Kristen Wiig, Kenan Thompson, Bobby Moynihan, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen, Jay Pharoah, Vanessa Bayer, Abby Elliott, Taran Killam, Nasim Pedrad--Saturday Night Live
3:19-Brian Williams--NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, Rock Center with Brian Williams
3:23-Top Row (L-R): Drake Hogestyn and Deidre Hall--Days of Our Lives; Savannah Guthrie--Today; David Gregory--Meet the Press; Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb--Today; Lester Holt--Today, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Dateline; Kate Snow--NBC News; Jenna Bush Hager--NBC News; Harry Smith--NBC News
3:26-Alison Sweeney--Days of Our Lives, The Biggest Loser; Bob Harper and Dolvett Quince--The Biggest Loser
3:28-Carson Daly--Last Call with Carson Daly, The Voice; David Giuntoli--Grimm; Kathy Bates--Harry's Law; Howie Mandel--America's Got Talent
3:37-Bob Costas--Football Night in America, NBC Olympics, NBC Sports; Jimmy Fallon--Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
And some hilarious/cool parts to notice:
-Alec Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy talking about friends Clark and Martha Fancypants attending their son's trial in Aruba.
-Tina Fey, her huge bowl of guacamole, dip, and chips, the faces she makes, and her comments (especially disagreeing about how mediocrity is not a mortal sin).
-Jack McBrayer's character Kenneth Parcell taking pride in being a lowly errand boy, or an NBC page.
-"Cold corporate setup" is almost the same as what J. Pierrepont Finch says before he breaks into "Brotherhood of Man" in the actual musical.
-Tracy Morgan's character Tracy Jordan being out of it (responding to "leading lady" and saying "bla-dork-able [black, adorable, and dork]).
-Tina Fey referencing past Super Bowl commercials, including the Budweiser Clydesdales playing football and Betty White in a Snickers commercial.
-Judah Friedlander's hat says "Touchdown There", and Scott Adsit tries to not get blocked by Jane Krakowski and Alec Baldwin.
-Katherine McPhee and Megan Hilty are amazing singers, of course.
-Oscar winners Anjelica Huston and Kathy Bates appear.
-Lauren Graham has a cute way of clapping.
-Basically everybody's faces and actions.
-"Oh aren't you proud to be/Right here on NBC?"
-Alison Sweeney, Bob Harper, Dolvett Quince, Carson Daly, David Giuntoli, Kathy Bates, and Howie Mandel were obviously added via computer. I'm neutral about it, since it's cool that they participated, but the computer is kind of offsetting.
-The Radio City Rockettes (who perform at Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center, where NBC is headquartered) make an appearance.
So basically, after saying all that, I love the commercial. Good job NBC. Now if you could apply that same hilarity and creativity to all of your shows, you should be back on top in no time.
