Somewhat of a tradition

I don't think last night's commercials gave me a lot to work with, but there's something to be said for sticking to a tradition. I wrote down some notes before I went to bed, but I spent the day reading reviews, so my biases may have shifted. Oh, it's easy to be a critic...

*Since there was a ton of animation, I feel like I need to make a special category for that. My award for coolest CGI goes to the Coca-Cola picnic. I especially liked the butterflies as coke bottle effect. (Disclaimer: One of my favorite childhood stories was about a can of root beer in a park.)

*The commercial that made me stop and watch was the Hyundai commercial with the various languages. I don't know that it had a lot of sticking power, but it caught my attention initially.

*The updated mean Joe Green commercial with Troy Palamalu hurt me. I couldn't tell how many from my party even caught the reference.

*The Godaddy ads were painful to watch on tv. I broke down and went to see the "Too hot for TV" versions. As far as I know, they weren't too hot for tv, but at least they made sense online. Godaddy needs to get a real strategy. This one trick pony should be put out to pasture.

*I thought the cars.com commercial with the guy who had it all going his way showed a lot of promise, but the payoff was cars.com and that seemed like squat. Nothing like having your product come off as a disappointment to drive people to your site.

*I liked the John Elway twist at the end of the Heroes promo ad.

*The women at my party didn't seemed pleased with the talking flowers ad, but for my money it was right on. How can I buy boxed flowers now?

I don't really have a favorite ad this year, but the one that was just one stray alien tentacle away was the Alec Baldwin hulu.com ad. He had me until he became an alien. I was perfectly happy with a Baldwin sucking my media-addled brain, but as soon as he became otherworldly it had all gone too far.

It's a fine line. Or at least that's what I think.

What a game.