DennisMansfield.com

NOW & "THE" Super Bowl 44 Focus on the Family Ad

2010-02-08T15:55:22-07:00

In case you haven't heard,Terry O'Neill, current president of NOW had much to say; to quote LA Times website... "I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it," she said. "That's what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I don't find it charming. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself."

WOW, did we all watch the same commercial? I mean I was stuck in snowmaggedon, but CBS are you listening? I think you are in trouble. BIG trouble. I'm flying today, but I bet CBS is practically shutdown with all people boycotting their programming. I feel really bad for KBOI TV in Boise, everyone please take candles down to the station.

Den

How Jay Leno and Dave Letterman pulled off the Oprah/Super Bowl Commercial

2010-02-08T12:22:53-07:00

A story suitable for the CIA...

I loved reading this from Entertainment Weekly, as I hope you do, too.

Rivals can always be professional...if they choose to.

Den

David Letterman joined late-night rival Jay Leno as well as Oprah Winfrey in a 10 second Super Bowl commercial.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

CBS offered 'The Late Show' another 10-second spot in the Super Bowl
To top the last one, Letterman got the idea of including Jay Leno
In order to pull it off, Leno had to be flown in wearing a disguise
'Late Show' producer: if you have the opportunity to do something funny, you should

RELATED TOPICS

(EW.com) -- EW talked to "The Late Show" executive producer Rob Burnett about David Letterman's surprising decision to include Jay Leno in a promotional spot during the Super Bowl.

Entertainment Weekly: Why did you decide to do this?

Rob Burnett: Well, the 10 seconds we did with Dave and Oprah for the Super Bowl in 2007 went pretty well and CBS came back and said we got 10 seconds again for this one. Nothing is more simultaneously exhilarating and fear-inducing than hearing you have 10 seconds in the Super Bowl.

We were banging heads together. How do we come close to topping the last one? Then Dave got this idea. My first call was to Oprah -- she got it right away -- and then I called [CBS Corp. Chairman] Les Moonves to make sure he was OK with Jay being on CBS.

I have to give Les credit ... he got it immediately. And then I called [Leno's executive producer] Debbie Vickers ... who said, 'Dave and Jay, in the same room?' She laughed for a good minute and said Jay would want to call. I hung up, and two minutes later it was Jay. He said 'This is the way show business should be.' Debbie then cleared it with NBC Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin and NBC-Universal CEO Jeff Zucker.

Entertainment Weekly: How did you manage to pull it off without the press catching wind of it?

Burnett: We began having logistical meetings that would make the CIA proud.

We had to figure out a way to keep it a surprise. NBC arranged to have Jay fly on the NBC jet at 7:30 in morning on February 2 and he was at the Teterboro Airport [in New Jersey] at 3:30 p.m. We snuck him through the front door on Broadway.

Jay wore a disguise ...a hooded sweatshirt, dark sunglasses and a mustache. Fifteen minutes later, Oprah arrived ... but not in a disguise. We shot it in the balcony of the Ed Sullivan Theater.

Entertainment Weekly: What was it like when Leno and Letterman first saw each other?

Burnett: It was great, very professional, very cordial.

We shot it in 25 minutes, and it went really, really well. It felt like one of those things where you wake up and say, "I had the strangest dream." There was no frostiness. We were focused on trying to execute the joke. It would have been a more taxing event had it been us all going out to dinner. If anything was awkward, it was how it wasn't awkward.

It's interesting... there was a lot of internal conversation about whether this was a good thing to be doing from a PR standpoint. Are we rehabilitating Jay's image?

Dave has a simple edict:If it's funny, we do it. When CBS says it needs 10 seconds, it's incumbent upon you to do the funniest bit you can do. Then we learned we had another five seconds. That may not sound like a really big deal but let's face it ... that's someone's college education [given how much the typical per-second spot goes for during the Super Bowl], so we were really thrilled about that.

Entertainment Weekly: You and Dave must have realized you had the potential to upstage the Super Bowl.

Burnett: Well, that's not our problem! [He laughs].

I've been asked the question more than once about all these advertisers who spent millions of dollars on their ads. My response is: They had a year, millions of dollars, and 30 seconds! We had one week, no money, and 15 seconds.

The bottom line is, if you're a comedian and you have the chance to do something funny in front of 100 million people, you should do it.

New Orleans Wins! The Who win! Zak Starkey on the drums for The Who wins!

2010-02-07T20:08:49-07:00

What a show!

What a Half Time.

What a Game (x44) !!

My earlier rumblings about Zak Starkey playing drums for The Who came to pass.

It was a night of "New Orleans music" to the soul of America!

And America needs it right now, doesn't it.

Den

The Saints Are... HERE!

2010-02-07T20:05:50-07:00

Whodat baby!

Lee here living it up, Red Beans & Rice and all that. Saints didn't just make the Superbowl, they totally rode the ponies all the way. The 1st quarter was shakey, but Shockey, Porter, Brees and the rest of the guys really made us Saints fans proud!

I was watching things with my son, Alex, and his friend Stephen Estes (we call him Lil Chad). So many amazing plays (kickoff after halftime blew my mind), but the one that is over the top is the interception of Manning by Porter, which I called 6 minutes prior to the play. Here's my tweets to prove it...

Then after the play a friend tweeted back..

Now I'm watching MVP, Drew Brees, say God is great - oh yeah now I'm going back to Ying Yang's Crunk.

God is great, Saints won the Superbowl, 40+ years wanting, waiting, wishing...GONE! Family I'll be there this Saturday, save me a spot on Bourbon Street I'll bring the beads!

Tim Tebow's Pro-life ad on the Super Bowl: It was a fake draw!

2010-02-07T18:36:10-07:00

How great is this: Tim Tebow's ad with his Mom was a fun, tender ad about the quality of life...and the hard early years...and it NEVER mentioned Abortion.

NEVER!

And all the pro-abortion people panicked this week and HAD TO show their hand, anticipating some type of culture war attack...which never came tonight.

Instead throughout the week we had to watch a whole host of pro-abort people justifying the termination of life...and Americans probably scratched their heads, wondering what the HELL they were combating...

What a fake by Tebow and Focus on the Family!

Den

The Who plays at the Super Bowl...possibly with Ringo Starr's son, Zach Starkey,on the drums...on the very anniversary of the Beatles arriving in America (in 1964)

2010-02-07T14:39:58-07:00

The rumors are out there that Ringo Starr's son, Zach Starkey, may be playing drums at the Super Bowl's 12 minute music half-time Who" show.

What a taste of history that would be.

Especially since today is the exact anniversary of the Beatle's "Assault on America" - when they first arrived in the US at JFK Airport in 1964. (Though Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali didn't quite buy the assault).

Just a rumor? We'll find out in a few hours. Daltrey and Townsend are mum...

Den

A Real Son of New Orleans Speaks - Geaux Saints!

2010-02-07T01:58:02-07:00

Lee here, dropping a few words as Dennis encouraged me recently to do. I've lived in Boise for quite a few years, but as the title says...

Yep - born in New Orleans in `66, family has lived in New Orleans since the mid 1800's, so I have some history. I actually did go to Saints games and wore the first, unofficial, game attire - a brown paper bag. If you don't know that whole bit, just go Bing/Google "Aints" and New Orleans.

My food for tomorrow's Superbowl? Tami's Red Beans & Rice. My drink for tomorrow (if I could buy them here) would be Barqs in very cold GLASS bottles. Those who know, know what I mean, so I'll have to just wait a week. I'll be there, in my first city, on February 13th. I tried to get down there yesterday, but the airfare was too costly. I tried to explain to friends what it would be like to "be in that place" if the Saints win tomorrow. I'm sure the city and my family will still be enjoying things and I'll just coast into a wonderful reunion. If the Saints lose on Sunday, then I'll just have to relish in the fact that we are no longer part of the group of teams that has never been to the Big Game and I'll look forward to next season to go all the way.

One thing `bout Saints fans I think all should know; this goes beyond passion, beyond reason, beyond faith, beyond anything you can imagine. The Saints are more than a team to the diaspora of New Orleans folk; they are our family, they are the one thing that our hopes and dreams are connected to. Now don't get all religious here - this is sports, not Jesus. But when you are a group of people that should have been wiped off the face of the earth many times in the modern history of 500 years, you get an attitude. When as a recent son, born between "Hurricane Aunts" Betsy and Camille, and you have close relatives that lose everything and have to rebuild over and over again, you get an attitude. When as a city you are looked at as so stupid to live in a bowl of bayou with the Mississippi constricting around just waiting to receive the next disaster - it gives you an attitude... that maybe, just maybe, this is our moment to LIVE! This is our moment to BREATHE! This is our moment to see the SUN!

Who Dat, Who Dat, Who Dat Say They Gonna Beat Dem Saints...

To hear/stream all the kewl & krazy Saints songs head over to wwl's website - my favs are Bring Em to the Dome, Who Dat & Ying Yang Twins Crunk, plus the whole punk-ish style of "The Saints are Coming" by U2 and Green Day, makes me think of the movie Boondock Saints. Remember when #17, Robert Meachem ripped the ball from Washington's #41 who had just intercepted Drew Brees throw? Yeah, look out, The Saints Are Coming...

Super Bowl: Tim Tebow, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama

2010-02-06T22:53:58-07:00

Last Thursday morning, Tim Tebow also spoke at the morning event I attended, in Washington, DC.

Tebow joined Sec. Clinton and President Obama at the podium. I enjoyed seeing him and hearing his passion for life.

And on Sunday during the Super Bowl, Tim Tebow's about to become as
controversial as the other two are - and for the same reason: the life or death of a baby.

His pro-life TV ad is really the story of his own life - or at least the start of it.

And America will be watching him just as I watched him, face to face, on Thursday.

He's an honest man with a story that's real. America will see that his Hail Mary pass is a TD.

Just like in the film, "Children of Men", the battle-front of warring parties WILL stop at the cry of a baby.

Even the Super Bowl will stop...at least for a moment for just such a cry.

A profound moment, indeed.
Den

"Snow, snow, snow"...the pace of Washington DC's life today matches its progress?

2010-02-06T10:32:21-07:00

The DC Valentines-Week Blizzard of 2010 continues and the thought hit me:

Maybe it would be best for the nation if the entire Federal Government would stay shut down for a WHOLE lot longer...

hmm.

Den

"Dennis Mansfield is a limp-wristed liberal weenie"

2010-02-05T21:36:13-07:00

So, I was reading recent comments on my Blog and came across the piece below...and howled!

No kidding..it was SO funny. William Higgenbotham apparently doesn't like me because?

Of my years of writing pro-life legislation? Nope.

Or because of my years of being the voice of conservativism in the Legislature, on the radio and on KBCI TV (CBS)?

Hmm...nope.

Because I'm a limp wristed, liberal weenie.

Uh, huh.

Read it and have fun with me.

Dennis "liberal weeine" Mansfield

PS: My parents weren't siblings...so I suppose I'm not inbred, either...tee hee.

------------

"why is it you limp wristed, inbred liberal swine always have no problem slinging garbage, but when it gets slung at you, you evil little heathen trolls unleash a wave of hate mongering rhetoric which can only seem to point directly to your own impotence - verbally and sexually - it's sad, really sad - did your mommy not love you enough? did your dad yell at you alot? would the girls not chase you in the school yard? success frighten you? don't answer, these are the answers - go back to the woods, weenie"

William Higgenbotham