Super Bowl XLVIII: commercials, football, and a Times Square spectacle – The Verge

Red Hot Chili Peppers explain why they faked Super Bowl performance

2014-02-05T10:18:50-05:00

Chili Peppers credit NFL

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea has posted an open letter confirming that the band largely faked its Super Bowl halftime show performance. The Chili Peppers joined Bruno Mars on stage to play their '90s staple "Give It Away," but viewers quickly noticed that both the guitar and bass were completely unplugged. In his letter, Flea revealed that only the vocals from singer Anthony Kiedis were performed live. "It was made clear to us that the vocals would be live, but the bass, drums, and guitar would be pre-recorded," Flea wrote. "There was not any room for argument on this," he added, as the NFL was apparently unwilling to risk any unexpect …

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Super Bowl broadcast was most-viewed US sports livestream ever

2014-02-03T23:24:18-05:00

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Fox Sports says its livestream of Super Bowl XLVIII, between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos, was the most-viewed livestream of a single sporting event in the United States in history. The internet broadcast - the third time the Super Bowl has been streamed live by a major network - attracted an average audience of 528,000 viewers per minute.

Fox says the number of viewers per minute was an increase of 4 percent over the average audience of 508,000 that watched 2013's game on CBSSports.com, and a 52 percent increase over the 346,000 that caught 2012's competition on NBCSports.com. FOX also earned a Super Bowl record for online a …

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Jerry Seinfeld’s reunion with George was TiVo’s most re-watched Super Bowl commercial

2014-02-03T14:30:00-05:00

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Now that the Super Bowl XLVIII is in the books, it's time to crown the other victors from last night's competition - TiVo has just released a report that pulls together the most re-watched commercials from the night. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a clip of the Jerry Seinfeld / Jason Alexander episode of Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee web series, which aired during halftime, ranked number one. This was probably the most public stage in which Seinfeld, Alexander, and Wayne Knight as Newman reprised roles from the seminal sitcom - though a much more extensive meta-reunion took place during Curb Your Enthusiasm's seventh season, HBO's rea …

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9/11 conspiracy theorist snuck past Super Bowl security to interrupt postgame show

2014-02-03T11:13:00-05:00

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The NFL's layers of security at Super Bowl XLVIII proved vulnerable to an expired festival pass and some social engineering. During MVP Malcolm Smith's postgame appearance, independent journalist and conspiracy theorist Matthew Mills rushed the stage and grabbed the microphone, exhorting viewers to investigate the truth about 9/11. Mills wasn't just hijacking a press conference, though: he had infiltrated a stadium that law enforcement hoped would be all but impenetrable. Before the event, police and the FBI had set up multiple layers of security in an attempt to identify potential terrorists, mixing plainclothes agents into the crowd and se …

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Fox teases Jack Bauer’s return with ’24: Live Another Day’ Super Bowl ads

2014-02-02T21:37:10-05:00

24 is coming back in May, four years after the conclusion of its eighth and "final" season. During tonight's Super Bowl, Fox aired several teasers for the upcoming 12-episode run. The "limited television event" - which is titled Live Another Day - is a major break from 24′s traditional format. Each episode will still represent an hour in real time, but fans can expect the show to jump forward in time between episodes. Kiefer Sutherland is reprising his role as the incomparable Jack Bauer, and other characters from 24′s past including Chloe O'Brien and James Heller are also set to return.

The teasers reveal that Jack's latest misadventure ta …

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Jerry Seinfeld reunites with George Costanza in Super Bowl ad

2014-02-02T20:18:44-05:00

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Jerry Seinfeld made good on the rampant speculation surrounding his and Jason Alexander's appearance at Tom's Restaurant by running an ad for his Crackle series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee during the Super Bowl. The ad featured Seinfeld and Alexander filling their classic roles from the '90s TV series, bantering like Jerry and George and, well, drinking coffee. Even Wayne Knight made an appearance, reprising his role as Newman for what was probably the best bit in the spot.

Seinfeld appeared on WFAN radio earlier this week to talk about the spot at Tom's, denying that it was an ad or an episode. Well, it turned out it was both. You can …

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The first trailer for ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ stars the Dinobots

2014-02-02T19:43:31-05:00

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The first trailer for the upcoming Transformers: Age of Extinction aired tonight, and it was as explosion-heavy as any Michael Bay film before it. The fourth entry in the series is the first without Shia LaBeouf, starring Mark Wahlberg and an entirely new cast. It already looks like the Dinobots will be prominent, so that's at least one reason to look forward to it when it hits theaters on June 27th. Because that's Optimus Prime riding a dinosaur if you missed it.

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U2’s new song ‘Invisible’ is free on iTunes for 24 hours in support of Red charity

2014-02-02T19:34:34-05:00

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For one day only, U2 is giving away its latest song for free on iTunes. "Invisible" was featured in a Super Bowl commercial that also welcomed Bank of America to the Red HIV/AIDS charity - a cause close to Bono's heart. For every download of the track, Bank of America will donate $1 to Red and the fight against AIDS. The song will be available for free until 11:59PM EST on Monday. U2's next album - the band's first since 2009's No Line on The Horizon - is expected to see release this spring. Bono recently told USA Today that "Invisible" is not intended to be the first single from that album. Instead, he said it's "sort of a sneak preview - t …

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Radioshack’s Super Bowl ad raids the ’80s with Hulk Hogan, Alf, Chucky, and more

2014-02-02T19:22:28-05:00

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In a similar vein as Delta's recent in-flight safety video, electronics retailer Radioshack plumbs the depths of 1980s nostalgia for its Super Bowl spot. If you grew up in the era of Kid 'n Play, Chucky, and Twisted Sister - or you're just a fan - you'll love this one.

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Beats Music taps Ellen DeGeneres (and bears) for Super Bowl spot

2014-02-02T19:21:35-05:00

Ellen DeGeneres Beats Music ad

Coming off a rocky launch, Beats Music is spending big to get the word out today with a Super Bowl ad featuring popular television personality Ellen DeGeneres dancing with bears. It's a modern take on the Goldilocks tale, where Ellen finally finds her mix using Beats' "Sentence" feature, effectively a Mad Libs for finding music you might like. The ad is co-branded with AT&T, which is offering Beats on customers' lines for $14.99 per month for up to five users on a family plan.

See the full ad below:

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