…was the original name for the McDonald’s commercial with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. I’ve discussed the problems with the original production, mainly MJ’s dumbass wardrobe, his being late and not making up the time, and the total lack of a shooting script. Despite all that, the commercial has become famous being one of the most popular Super Bowl commercials of all time, and THE most popular on most lists.
The great Billy Wilder once said, ‘Never do a sequel.’ I should have listened because I’ve done a horrible bunch of sequels to that spot.
One was a modest version of place kickers, football. Simple. Not bad.
Another was a overproduced version adding Charles Barkley and some space suits.
Disaster.
Then, one with Joe Flacco and Colin Kaepernick (before genuflections). Bow wow. The two guys had little charisma and Flacco brought his pregnant wife and she demanded he leave early (before we were finished). Somehow (begging) I got him to do the two shots we needed.
The interesting one was with LeBron and Dwight Howard (for the Super Bowl).
Interesting?
For many reasons.
It was for Jay Z’s agency and in a prior year, he (not Jay- Z, a minion) sandbagged another spot at the last minute for political reasons. It’s an interesting story that has to wait for another time.
I had worked with Dwight before and he was a terrific guy, not at all like his ‘now’ reputation. LeBron was a little standoffish, probably because he knew ‘I liked Mike.’ He did what he had to and the two connected and frankly did a better job technically than Bird and MJ.
What am I trying to say?
The LeBron spot was better produced than the Bird/ MJ spot but ran on the Super Bowl to no acclaim. The Bird MJ spot won the poll. There has always been this ‘competition’ of G.O.A.T. between LeBron and MJ but MJ’s spot was a home run and LeBron’s was a grounder to third and LeBron was out on a bang bang play at first.
Michael has a charisma that I’ve seen in Cindy Crawford, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and few others, an ability to get directly to the public’s heart.
MJ is the G.O.A.T.
What did Bird say about MJ, ‘It’s just God disguised as Michael Jordan.’
Sorry, LeBron.