TBS tries to jump on Beijing bandwagon with ad Olympics

Just when you thought it was safe to return to TV without the Olympics, TBS adds an Olympic element to its annual "World's Funniest Commercials" special by giving gold, silver and bronze medals for the best ads.

Hey, that's not half as gratuitous as the San Francisco setting for Kevin Nealon and his co-host wife, Susan Yeagley.

Yet, even with the pandering attempt to hop on the Olympic bandwagon following the Beijing Games, there's no way to mess this stuff up. The hourlong compilation of the best, the wittiest and, unfortunately all too often, the crassest and most scatological TV commercials from around the world is annually one of the top-rated programs on TBS, along with its "Funniest Commercials of the Year" December companion piece. This year's global edition, running at 8 p.m. today on the superstation, figures to be no different.

Even if it does seem to have been a lackluster year for TV ads worldwide.

I mean, really, if that annoying talking baby from etrade merits a mention, there must have been slim pickings.

As usual, though, some themes do emerge. Babies are always big, and if the etrade baby annoys, better is a French ad for Wilkinson razors that suggests that, with the help of a close, smooth shave, a neglected husband and father can have skin smooth enough to compete with a new baby for his wife's affections. It's a great idea, and to complete the presentation it's given a cool, stylish computer-animated look reminiscent of "The Sims."

It was also a good year for chocolate - both as food and as metaphor. An Argentine ad for a cologne turned a man into chocolate to suggest that he smelled good enough to eat. (Although what man would want to smell like chocolate?) Another ad for an actual chocolate suggested it was so good it made a woman competing for a no-blinking world record shut her eyes in ecstasy.

I have to point out, using TBS' own accompanying veryfunnyads.com Web site, they missed an even better chocolate ad from France, one that finds a woman climbing on a copying machine to pull down her boss' hidden stash of chocolate - and setting off the copier for a series of crotch shots as she's discovered. It even has a tasteful tag line: "Your weakness will be your downfall."

Speaking of crotch shots, I hope I'm not giving too much away when I reveal that skater Scott Hamilton pops in at the end to give the gold to a Rolling Rock Beer commercial in which a baseball foul ball ricochets off the groins of every man - player or fan - at a game. To quote one of my favorite lines from "Powerpuff Girls" villain Mojo Jojo: "Oh, that's classy."

It makes the Bud Light "Dude" series seem positively sophisticated by comparison.

We pride ourselves on our advertising in the United States, but like the Olympics, "World's Funniest Commercials" always points out that exceptional work is done elsewhere as well. One Israeli ad finds God sending a GPS device to Moses during the Jews' exodus in the desert, and some crafty editing turns a British VW automobile spot into something of a dubstep music video.

Still, for all the advertising ingenuity on display, Nealon and Yeagley just seem to be going through the motions as hosts. Since they can't compete with this sort of cleverness, they don't even try. Pretty as San Francisco is, it can't begin to make up for it.

Now, before anyone starts complaining about "World's Funniest Commercials" sullying the Olympic ideal, just keep in mind that we figure to be inundated with an onslaught of Michael Phelps commercials in the weeks and months ahead. We'll see if he can add to his gold-medal haul in next year's "World's Funniest Commercials."

In the air

Remotely interesting: Those suffering from Olympics withdrawal should tune in to CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" at 10:35 p.m. Wednesday on WBBM Channel 2, where he'll have Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor as guests.

Jeff Goldblatt has joined Fox WFLD Channel 32 as co-anchor of the 9 p.m. weekday newscast. Previously, Goldblatt worked nine years as Chicago correspondent for the Fox News Channel. ... WMAQ Channel 5 holds a "Back to School Supply Drive" from 4:30 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at its street-level studio at 401 N. Michigan Ave. in Chicago. Any school supplies donated will be sent on to Kelvyn Park High School or South Loop School in Chicago.

Get ready for next week's return of "The Shield" on Fox when the sixth season is released on DVD today with a list price of $60 ... HBO releases "Entourage" on Apple's iTunes today at $2 an episode.

End of the dial: Linda Lutton has formally joined WBEZ 91.5-FM as education reporter. She covered education for the Daily Southtown from 2003 to 2005 and since has freelanced and contributed pieces to 'BEZ's "Chicago Matters" series. She'll examine the dropout epidemic in Chicago Public Schools this fall by focusing on Robeson High School for a series called "Robeson Rising."