What game?

I hear there's a game on today. Nah, I'm just messing with ya. I know today is the Super Bowl. Here's the thing: I don't care.

In fact, on of my list of five things I couldn't care less about, four of them are the Super Bowl.

It won't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me, despite my rigorous workout routine of Double-Double's and Neapolitan shakes, that I'm not the sports guy. I'm the movie guy. The theatre guy. The concert guy. The comedy club guy. The TV bingeing guy. The horse racing guy. The car racing guy. The "let's drop everything and go to Vegas" guy.

The football guy? Not so much.

My feeling is every year, Super Bowl Sunday is the best day to do anything else. Between 3:30pm and 7pm, you'll never have a better day to go shopping at the mall. See a movie. Go to Disneyland. Try that restaurant you can never get reservations at. Traffic is non-existent. Crowds disappear. And parking is plentiful.

Of course, because I'm in advertising, there's pressure and a certain amount of obligation to watch the Super Bowl commercials. Every year, ever since the brilliant, industry-changing, Ridley Scott directed Apple 1984 spot, clients blow a shit-ton (technical term) of cash on their Super Bowl spots.

There's a lot of creativity on display. But that's also a lot of cash that could've been better spent much more effectively in any number of different ways. Or maybe not as effectively. As one of my creative colleagues at the agency told me, "Do you have any idea how many banner ads no one looks at that kind of money could buy?"

As I write this, it's about an hour and a half into the game. Here's my take so far:

The Doritos/Mountain Dew spot with Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman in a lip-synced rap battle is pretty fun.

The Tide series of spots, with Stranger Things David Harbour show a surprising amount of creativity for a brand not known for it with the premise every ad is a Tide ad.

The Pringles spot with Bill Hader tries way too hard to recreate the success of "Wasssupp!" from a few years ago, only now the word is "Wow!" I think the word is "Yawn."

The Australian Tourism spot with Danny McBride and Chris Hemsworth was going along nicely, until the shot of original Crockadile Dundee star Paul Hogan, who's 78-years old and looks every second of it 'mate.

I'm not offended easily, but in what I believe will be a monumental backfire I'm fairly certain Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. never intended his voice and words to be used selling Dodge RAM trucks.

Obviously I haven't seen them all yet, but I can already tell you my favorite, whether I like it or not, will be the one my agency did (Team player, hello?)

Super Bowl is also where the studios break out trailer premieres for their most anxiously awaited films. It's a testimony to the enormously talented Ron Howard—who was brought in after original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired with only weeks to go in production—that the Stars Wars movie Solo looks unbelievably awesome.

Who couldn't use a movie where dinosaurs are running amok—again. Thankfully, Juraissic World Fallen Kingdom looks like it's going to fill that vacuum just swell.

Towering Inferno pedigreed Skyscraper with Dwayne Johnson looks like a few hours of mindless fun (just like my high school girlfriend).

That's all I have for now. I'm going to get back to not watching the game and thinking of unencumbered places I can go for the next two hours while it's on.

Right after I don't watch the Justin Timberlake halftime show.

Getting the hang of Parenthood

Like many shows that've become favorites over the years, I got my first glimpse of Parenthood thanks to my wife. I'd caught a little bit of one episode she was watching, and I decided to binge the entire series with her (I know, so out of character for me).

It's an exceptional series.

If you've been following this blog for any amount of time, I think it's safe to say we know one thing about me: I'm a sap. So the idea of a show that leaves me in a reduced state of blubbering like a baby and searching for the Kleenex every week is right up my alley.

What the show gets so right is everything about what being a parent means - wanting the best for your kids, sharing their frustrations, soaring at their successes, the day-to-day frustrations that come with the job of being a parent. It also speaks to the unending ties of family, which, being an only child, I related to less but found myself wishing I'd had three siblings. That doesn't happen often. Ok, never.

The show's produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, and is based on the Howard's movie of the same name. The cast, writing and direction would be exceptional for a cable network like HBO or Showtime, but they're extraordinary for network television.

Craig T. Nelson, or as I like to call him, Mr. Incredible, is the patriarch of the Braverman family. And he is magnificent. Bonnie Bedalia, or Holly McClane from Die Hard, is his wife. Peter Krause, Lauren Graham, Dax Shepard and Erika Christensen play their adult children. The show's pedigree is remarkable, and the chemistry between all of them is genuine.

Because I'm late to the party on a lot of shows, Netflix is a beautiful thing. Especially when you can find six seasons of a show the caliber Parenthood just waiting to be discovered. Of course, the problem with bingeing six seasons in a row is once it's over, you're hungry to find the next series to commit to.

But like I said, I'm late to a lot of parties. Hello Arrested Development.

Hollywood's other Clint

You’ve heard the saying - you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family. All you need to do is take a good look at your family, especially after Thanksgiving dinner, at Christmas time or the reading of the will to know it’s true.

But if I could choose my family, I’d choose Ron Howard to be my older brother. Look how well it’s worked out for Clint.

In case you’re not familiar with Clint Howard, he’s the freakishly ugly, bald brother of Ron Howard who looks nothing like him, and appears in virtually every one of his movies.

But he wasn’t always that hideously ugly.

He started his career on a tv show called Gentle Ben, about a boy and a bear. He played the boy. He was a cute kid back then, but time and God both have a sense of humor, and what he grew up to look like wasn’t exactly leading man material.

Ironically, in a business consumed with looks, his haven’t been a handicap. Neither has having Ron Howard as his brother.

He’s become kind of a cult Where’s Waldo/Spot His Brother figure in Ron’s films. When his face appears onscreen (and by the way, seeing it in 70mm does nothing to improve it), there’s always laughter and a smattering of applause.

Here’s a list of the movies Ron Howard has directed. The bolded ones are the ones Clint has appeared in:

2013
The Dark Tower (announced)

2012
The Dark Tower (TV series) (pre-production)

2011
The Dilemma

2010
Presidential Reunion (video short)

2010
Heidi Montag Says No to Plastic (video short)

2009
Angels & Demons

2008
Frost/Nixon

2006
The Da Vinci Code

2005
Cinderella Man

2003/I
The Missing

2001
A Beautiful Mind

2000
How the Grinch Stole Christmas

1999
Edtv

1996
Ransom

1995
Apollo 13

1994
The Paper

1992
Far and Away

1991
Backdraft

1989
Parenthood

1988
Willow

1987
Take Five (TV movie)

1986
Gung Ho

1985
Cocoon

1984
Splash

1983
Little Shots (TV movie)

1982
Night Shift

1981
Through the Magic Pyramid (TV movie)

1980
Skyward (TV movie)

1978
Cotton Candy (TV movie)

1977
Grand Theft Auto

1969
Cards, Cads, Guns, Gore and Death (short)

1969
Deed of Daring-Do

1969
Old Paint (short)

Years ago I had a close encounter with Ron Howard when he was first starting out. He was directing a film called Grand Theft Auto for Roger Corman, and through some connection I don’t even remember, I got a job as a production assistant on the film.

My big break lasted two days until I came down with a horrible case of the flu and had to bow out. Come to find out I was extremely easy to replace on a moments notice – a lesson I’ve learned many times since.

Anyway, more power to old Clint. He's carved out a career for himself, he's a cult figure and he loves his big brother. How many show biz siblings - not counting the Bridges, the Afflecks, the Baldwins or the Coens - can you say that about?

Besides, as Damon Wayans says, “This town is built on nepotism.”

He should know. He has five brothers to prove it.