The NFL championship game of Seattle vs. Denver (Fox, 6:30 p.m.) in New Jersey will certainly be the most watched and already is the most overblown event of the year. Whatever happens on the field it will be surrounded by overpriced commercials that will likely tell us something unhappy about our culture (and many of which have already debuted online).
What else surrounds the event? Opera star Renee Fleming will show how the National Anthem is sung. Queen Latifah will sing “America the Beautiful” (and not preside over any group marriages).
Bruno Mars heads up the Halftime Show, one of the more low-wattage names in recent years, but he is certainly an entertainer. (The NFL may have been counting on him winning more Grammys than he did last week though). The Red Hot Chili Peppers will be among the acts that join Mars in his 12-minute mark on the culture.
We make fun of E! for stretching out the red carpet preshow, but Fox begins its coverage at noon. Main anchors Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long begin talking about 2 p.m. before driving to New Jersey at 4 where Michael Strahan joins them at the MetLife Stadium (once known as Meadowlands).
Silly celebrity interviews are planned about 3 p.m.; Bill O’Reilly will be rude to the President in an interview slated in the 4 p.m. hour. Entertainers slotted to peform as the afternoon winds on include Phillip Phillips, The band Perry and the cast of “Rock of Ages.” Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are announcers for the game.
Counter-programming is largely critter programming, with the “Kitten Bowl” (Hallmark, noon) coming first, followed by the grandaddy “Puppy Bowl X” (Animal Planet, 3 p.m.), which will feature its own Keyboard Cat doing a Bruno Mars song at halftime.
New to the mix is the promisingly surreal, Warholesque first time “Fish Bowl” (Nat Geo Wild, 6 p.m.<) featuring a goldfish swimming around for four hours.
“Downton Abbey” for one is back with a new episode on “Masterpiece Classic” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings). Even more significant is the final episode in the super-short season of “Sherlock” (PBS, 10 p.m., check local listings).
Prince may have given one of the best halftime shows in 2007. Tonight, he’s special guest on the new post-Super Bowl episode of “New Girl” (Fox, approximately 9 p.m.). Also getting the high profile slot is the recent Golden Globe winning comedy “Brooklyn Nine Nine” (Fox, approximately 9:30 p.m.).
HBO has given up on putting on new episodes of anything tonight — “Girls” (HBO, 10 p.m.) and “Looking” (HBO, 10:30 p.m.) premiered their new episodes Saturday. But Showtime plows ahead with new episodes of “Shameless” (Showtime, 9 p.m.), “House of Lies” (Showtime, 10 p.m.) and “Episodes” (Showtime, 10:30 p.m.).
Sunday Talk
ABC: Rep. Paul Ryan. CBS: White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Rep. Eric Cantor, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. NBC: McDonough, Sen. Tim Scott, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, former WHite House press secretary Robert Gibbs. CNN: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Fox News: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.