Television and Entertainment
The game was televised in the United States by CBS and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden (the latter making his Super Bowl debut as a broadcaster). The broadcast also featured the introduction of the telestrator to a national audience.
The game was one of the most watched broadcasts in American television history, with more than 85 million viewers. The final national Nielsen rating was a 49.1 (a 73 share), which is still a Super Bowl record, and ranks second only to the final episode of M*A*S*H in 1983 among television broadcasts in general. (Super Bowl XLV holds the record for total U.S. viewership, with an average audience of 111 million, but only earned a rating of 46.0 and a 69 share).
The pregame festivities featured the University of Michigan Band. Singer Diana Ross performed the national anthem, which followed a moment of silence in support of the Polish trade union Solidarity; following the crackdown by the communist government of Poland on the pro-democracy union. The coin toss ceremony featured hall of fame quarterback Bobby Layne.
Up with People provided the halftime entertainment featuring a salute to the 1960s and Motown. This was the first Super Bowl to be played in the Midwest.
60 Minutes was broadcasted after the game, representing the Super Bowl lead-out program.
Read more about this topic: Super Bowl XVI
Famous quotes containing the word television:
“So why do people keep on watching? The answer, by now, should be perfectly obvious: we love television because television brings us a world in which television does not exist. In fact, deep in their hearts, this is what the spuds crave most: a rich, new, participatory life.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)