Super Bowl commercials 2018: ‘This Is Us’ is forcing everyone to contemplate the inevitability of death
One team’s fans are probably going to feel like dying after the game anyway, so maybe it’s appropriate.
Every network that gets to air the Super Bowl chooses an episode of one of its most prized shows (or the premiere of a new show that it wants to do really well) to air after the game. Which means that throughout the entire game, there are promos for whatever show and episode that is.
Sometimes those promos involve Sydney Bristow kicking ass and taking names in a pivotal Alias episode. Sometimes the commercials will try to convince you to stick around for the premiere of some new animated series called Family Guy before The Simpsons comes on. Sometimes it’s reminding you that there’s a special one-hour episode of The Office coming on after your team wins or loses and that will make you laugh and feel better if the game didn’t go your way.
This year, the show that comes on after either the Eagles or Patriots win is This Is Us, NBC’s sophomore smash hit about a family living and learning with each throughout multiple generations.
Now none of what follows should be construed as me having any sort of vendetta against This Is Us, but this is a terrible idea. The show itself is a perfectly serviceable network drama with various strengths, weaknesses, and great performances. But that this particular episode is the one they’re airing after the Super Bowl seems like poor decision making.
Because it’s about death. We’re all going to be shown a dozen commercials throughout the game promoting an episode about a beloved father seemingly dying horrifically in a house fire as the rest of his family escapes. Doesn’t that sound like something you want to watch late on a Sunday after you’ve overloaded yourself with wings and chip dip?
The last episode ended with the fire starting as shots of the family’s happy life together were interspersed as the flames spread. The final shot of the hour was the fire licking up the staircase to the second floor as everyone slept peacefully. Ah, yes, definitely a cliffhanger I want to follow up on right after the big game wraps.
The commercials are going to be depressing, and just in case you thought NBC wasn’t doubling down on the sadness when promoting this tragedy you can watch the commercial above and prepare for a parade of 30-second ads reminding you that after the game A FATHER DIES.
A Groupon commercial starring Tiffany Haddish. So funny!
NBC WANTS TO REMIND YOU THAT A LOVING FATHER DIES. TONIGHT!
Danny DeVito swimming in melted chocolate? A little weird but mostly fine...
FOLLOWED BY A HORRIFIC HOUSE FIRE THAT DESTROYS EVERYTHING THIS FAMILY OWNS PLUS THEIR DAD DIES.
Something something celebrity rap battle for some reason.
REMEMBER THAT A DAD WILL DIE. SOON. YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS. DEATH. PAIN. FIRE. HE PROBABLY DIES BECAUSE HE’S SAVING HIS DAUGHTER’S DOG. DO YOU LIKE MILO VENTIMIGLIA’S FACE? GOOD. BECAUSE YOU CAN WATCH IT WHILE HE PERISHES IN AN INFERNO CREATED BY A FAULTY CROCKPOT. TONIGHT AFTER THE SUPER BOWL. HOPE YOU’RE ENJOYING THOSE NACHOS. DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE DEATH EPISODE THOUGH!
They’re also promoting it with “This is the episode ...” and nothing more. Not “This is the episode where everything changes” or “This is the episode you’ve been waiting for” or anything like that. Just an open-ended promise and/or threat that you’re going to settle in for some good old-fashioned death television before you get ready for your Monday morning.
So if you don’t already watch this show, you’re going to get bombarded with commercials throughout the entire Super Bowl about a character you have no attachment to horrifically dying. If you do already watch and love This Is Us, you’re going to get more than a few reminders of how sad you are going to be in a few short hours.
Nothing matches the mood at a raucous Super Bowl party like a bunch of commercials about losing a parent in one of the worst ways possible and how that loss scars every member of the family for the next two decades of their lives. Great times!
Some 25 million-plus people are going to watch an episode of This Is Us on Sunday night. Some of that audience will have made that decision based solely on commercials focused on sadness and pain. I’m very worried about those people.
