The Super Bowl has started at 6:30 p.m. Eastern for as long as anybody can remember. And yet the number one question this time of year is: what time is the Super Bowl?
A big reason for that is that the pregame show starts, well, hasn’t it already started? No, actually, it doesn’t begin until noon Sunday, but it only seems to go on forever.
Season retrospectives keep us occupied the first two hours before the Fox pregame show begins in earnest at 2 p.m. Eastern, which is only slightly absurd when you consider that means we’re looking at four and a half hours of analysis of a game that including commercials and a 29-minute halftime show will go right at three and a half hours.
The analysis from Terry, Howie, Jimmy and the cast of thousands does get interrupted briefly by Bill O’Reilly and President Obama, who will dance around the issues of the day live at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
The good commercials don’t begin until about 6:25 p.m. Eastern, and the really good ones come at the first in-game commercial break, roughly 6:40 p.m. Eastern.
The halftime show, forgettable as it will be, no doubt, with Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, will probably hit around 7:45 p.m. Eastern.
(Which means you can change the channel to the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet until about 8:15 p.m. Eastern.)
Around 10 p.m. Eastern, we’ll know who’s going to Disney World, and will be able to begin to clean up from the party.