TV dads have been undeniably great (though sometimes chaotically inept and awful) characters throughout television history. A scripted treasure trove of personality gold, the bits of the good with the bad, the humorous and the deep-thinking, each dad or father figure has helped shape the stories that carry a show from episode one to the finale.
(Have you already started thinking about your favorite or favorites?)
They teeter on disaster and success, something of a vicarious element through which so many can get behind and root for or against, too—all the reflective journeys that make fans tune in again next week while going about reality’s daily grind in the interim.
Mike Brady, Danny Tanner, Phillip Banks (Uncle Phil to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, aka Will Smith), even Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, you hear the name and immediately see the face or the character’s persona.
Example: I only need to say, “Doh!” … and many of you have mentally left this article for the cartoonish town of Springfield.
And that type of overwhelming popularity and recognition hasn’t decreased in the current television landscape, with the new batch of TV dads attracting fan bases of different generations while adding a new line item to the resume: Super Bowl commercials.
As more big-name celebrities jump into the commercial space throughout the year, it only makes sense that an attractive portion of the timeframe would be on advertising’s biggest stage. We’ve seen that just in the past few big games, where, to name a few, the likes of Billy Murray and Jason Mamoa have been joined on Super Bowl Sunday by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Anna Kendrick, and “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis.
And while not necessarily playing their TV dad character, last year’s crop of A-list talent in Super Bowl commercials included stars who many would say have booming popularity thanks to that fatherly role; not a bad casting choice when brands only have mere seconds to win the audience’s attention.
As part of Ad Meter Rewind—and a hello to Father’s Day—let’s take a brief trip back in the Super Bowl commercial vault, to the 2022 lineup that included these two ads with TV dads, plus another that paid homage to an iconic patriarch…
Nissan “Thrill Driver” — Staring Eugene Levy (Or: Johnny Rose, “Schitt’s Creek”)
Greenlight “I’ll take it” — Starring Ty Burrell (Or: Phil Dunphy, “Modern Family”)
Chevrolet “New Generation” — Starring Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Or: Tony Soprano’s daughter, Meadow, “The Sopranos”)
More from the Super Bowl commercial world:
How much does a Super Bowl commercial cost? Here’s the average breakdown since 1967
5 highest-rated car commercials in USA TODAY Ad Meter history
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