*As promised, we’ve got a new MTM Podcast for you… Please CLICK THIS for a lesson in Super Bowl Economies and how the Big Game is Bad For Toilets!
When Giselle Bundchen disclosed that Tom Brady couldn’t throw and catch passes by himself, my beloved Giants went on to win SB 46 and led the way to NBC’s unveiling of “The Voice.” I don’t really know what that means. But Networks carrying that year’s Super Bowl have traditionally used the huge lead in audience from the Big Game to debut new hot shows on that network. Some examples…
A year earlier, the Packers beat the Steelers to become NFL Champs and served as the appetizer for the debut of “Glee.” I’ve never seen this show. 
After other more recent premieres like “Alias” and “Undercover Boss” failed to excite anyone (I’m sorry–are any of you excited by the CEO of Little Caesars breaking down pizza boxes?) Networks have failed miserably to debut a real winner after the huge SB lead in. But it wasn’t always so off the mark.
After John Riggins steamrolled the David Woodley led Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII, we as a nation were treated to the premier of one of the All Time classic small screen shows. That’s right, BA Barakus and Face and George Peppard were the A-Team, and these guys knew how to solve problems. Mr. T was epic in this show for years.
After Mike Shanahan’s last Jon Elway team won it all in January of 1999, Fox debuted arguably the greatest written show of all time-Family Guy. If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you! With possible due respect to Giants such as Seinfeld, The Odd Couple, All in the Family and more recently Curb Your Enthusiasm, Family Guy has no equal. Seth MacFarlane is brilliant.
But my all time favorite new program to debut after a Super Bowl, came after Doug Williams blew the doors off the Broncos in SB XXII. It was on that Sunday evening that we were introduced to the intoxicating charm of Winnie Cooper. It was American Suburbia at it’s best, set in the early 1970s, and Kevin Arnold was great as a New York Jets jacket wearing regular kid who crushed on Winnie his entire life. Plus Dan Lauria was classic as the gruff emotionally detached Father.
So enjoy this year’s Spectacular right here in our backyard, but don’t expect much after the game is over. 
And one last warning to heed. For four straight years, the city of Buffalo went crazy as its Bills went to 4 straight Big Games. The percentage of Buffalo households tuned to the Big Game each year ranged from 94-98% of all Buffalo households. So when there timeouts and TV stoppages, etc every Buffalonian would naturally do the exact same thing. Simultaneously. That’s right. Local residents and Bills fans conspired unintentionally to destroy the city’s infrastructure by bombarding the Sewer system in Buffalo. Legend has it that a man flushed his toilet in Lackawanna, and 10 minutes later the head of Brown QB Bernie Kosar was found floating in a cesspool in East Aurora. It was weeks before a toilet could be flushed with Buffalo city limits, and this should serve as a cautionary tale to stagger our Bio breaks more judiciously.
Winnie Now!
Feel free to opine below, be sure to check out yours humbly and Short Matt in our new Meet The Matts Radio Episode today and come back tomorrow for someone we’d all like to see in a teddy, Cookie.
