That's $66,000 a second

What’s $2 million buy you these days? About 30 seconds of TV airtime last Sunday.

The Best

1. FedEx – An instant classic. A caveman gets fired for using FedEx, even though it hasn’t been invented yet. Typical lazy-boss reaction. The spot comes with two extra jokes at the end: the caveman takes out his frustration by kicking a little dinosaur, then gets squashed himself by a big dinosaur.

2. (tie) Burger King and Hummer – These two spots are mesmerizing if only because they’re so fearlessly weird - like that deeply odd Snickers spot where a guy's called out at work for using Snickers bars for a toupee. Here, an elaborate Busby Berekley musical number with dancers wearing the ingredients of a Whopper is like a fry cook acid trip. And the disturbing union of two Japanese 60-foot-tall monster movie archetypes – the evil robot and the angry lizard – yields an unexpected baby: a red Hummer. Huh?

4. MasterCard – Dipping into 1980s nostalgia is a pretty familiar tactic at this point (the Cheese Fry thinks it heard Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” used in children's back-t0-school ads last fall), but recruiting actor Richard Dean Anderson to reprise his MacGyver personal to sell credit cards really is priceless.

5. Bud Light – There’s always a screwball beer spot and this is it: an employee’s decision to hide Bud Lights around the office turns the workplace into Lord of the Flies. Love the one guy punching holes into the drywall with his bare hands.

6. “Lost” – Another dip back into the 1980s pool, this one tweaking the lyrics to Robert Palmer’s hit so it sounds like he’s singing “Might as well face it you’re addicted to Lost.” Cheesy, yes, but it’s a clever valentine to fans of the show.

7. V for Vendetta – This buzz on this movie suggests it could be extremely kick ass. Consider yourself warned.
The Worst

1. Gillette – “Are those scientists unlocking the secrets of quantum physics with the use of a particle accelerator, colliding blue and green energy?” “No, they’re making a razor with five blades.” “...Oh.”

2. Pepsi – The continued inexplicable anthropomorphization of Pepsi products continues. First we had the New England Patriots “drafting” a Pepsi machine and now P. Diddy is turning a Pepsi can into a hip-hop star. The "brown and bubbly" tagline sounds just like the kind of thing a 55-year-old executive would think is cool and trendy.

3. ESPN Mobile – For the first few seconds, it was kind of fun to see this guy on his phone being passed on the street by all kinds of sports activities, showing us what ESPN’s new service provides. But then the commercial goes on. And goes on some more, without a trace of humor, just smug seriousness as if they were selling something important, like a five-blade razor.

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