NEW YORK --- The Patriots weren't the only ones seeking history on Super Bowl Sunday.
Fox hoped New England's pursuit of an undefeated season, coupled with the underdog New York Giants, would break the record 94.08 million viewers who watched the 1996 Super Bowl.
Before the game, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest rolled out a red carpet, Idol judge Paula Abdul performed her first new song in a decade, and Idol winner Jordin Sparks sang the national anthem.
Of course, the Super Bowl already had its American Idol : the dashing, unflappable Tom Brady. Fox cameras never strayed far from the Patriots quarterback, and the network was rewarded with what was, at halftime, a competitive, if low-scoring contest.
With so many young, attractive celebrities both on the field and off of it, halftime performer Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers seemed a world apart.
Though no over-the-top showman, Petty was a welcome bit of understatement, calmly playing on a heart-shaped stage.
Petty and the Heartbreakers produced an excellent show, including old classics I Won't Back Down , Free Fallin ' and Running Down a Dream .
Together, the hard-nosed game and the strong halftime show were enough to make Fox's telecast a seamless and successful one.
Fox, owned by News Corp., opened Sunday's coverage at noon, with the official pregame show beginning at 2 p.m., live from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Curt Menefee anchored the regular Fox Sports cast of Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson.
Fox's commentators were play-by-play man Joe Buck and analyst and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman.
Seacrest set up a red-carpet scene a half-mile from the stadium and talked to celebrities John Travolta, Nick Lachey, Lawrence Fishburne, Hugh Laurie and John Krasinski.
BEST OF THE BEST
NEW YORK --- It's often called the "game within the game" -- the ads that battle it out for viewers' attention during the Super Bowl.
Here is an account of the efforts of major marketers:
BEST REFERENCE TO A CLASSIC MOVIE SCENE: Audi. In a replay of a vintage scene from The Godfather, an older man wakes up in his luxurious bed and senses something amiss. In the movie, it's a severed horse head which turns up under the sheets -- here, it's an oil-soaked grille from another car. "Old luxury just got put on notice," the tag line says, as a spanking new Audi speeds off.
MOST ALARMING USE OF A COMB-OVER: PepsiCo Inc. Guy nodding off while sitting at the bar in a diner, sending his massively exaggerated comb-over flailing in all directions. His state of sleepiness -- along with a factory worker who's watching a line of bobble-head dolls go by -- is soon cured with a dose of PepsiCo's Diet Pepsi Max.
BEST USE OF FURRY CREATURES: Bridgestone Firestone North America. When a car comes rushing up on a squirrel munching on an acorn, a chorus of creatures unleashes terrorized screams that alert the driver to swerve and avoid the squirrel.
MOST BLATANT USE OF SOUTH ASIAN STEREOTYPE: Salesgenie.com claimed it hoped to be named worst ad in the Super Bowl for the second year running. One of its contenders for Super Bowl XLII: A spot featuring an Indian salesman named Ramesh who has seven kids.
CLEVEREST USE OF SWEDISH WORDS: Procter & Gamble Co.'s Tide to Go, for inserting Swedish words into the babble-talk spoken by a distracting stain on the front of a shirt worn by a job applicant.
-- Associated Press
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