TV Talk: Best/worst Super Bowl ads; Pittsburgh native Jeff Goldblum appears in 3

Advertisers largely avoided weird, non-sequitur ads in favor of celebrity-starring commercials during Super Bowl LVIII. And often the spots didn’t feature just one star — additional bold-name folks made cameos.

Pittsburgh native Jeff Goldblum not only starred in an Apartments.com ad but he also had a cameo in a Homes.com ad and could be briefly glimpsed in a spot for the upcoming movie musical “Wicked.”

Booking.com featured Tina Fey and Glenn Close (and the voice of Jane Krakowski). Aubrey Plaza starred in a Mountain Dew spot and then her “Parks and Recreation” co-star Nick Offerman had a cameo in the final seconds.

Kate McKinnon pitched for Hellmann’s Mayonnaise with a cameo by her fellow former “Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson.

Cast reunions in commercials was the other notable trend, including “Friends” stars David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston in an Uber Eats ad.

Of course, the mere presence of celebrities is no guarantee that an ad will be memorable or, better yet, actually encourage a consumer to take action. With a few exceptions, most of this year’s ads were fine but rarely remarkable; no jaw-droppers, only a few head-scratchers.

It’s previously been noted that Super Bowl ads feel less super now in part because so many of them get released in advance of the game, leaving few surprises for the telecast. To avoid that disappointment, I didn’t seek out the new spots in advance, tuning in to see the ads that aired between kickoff and the game’s end.

Best ad starring a Pittsburgh native: In a riff on his “Jurassic Park” character, Jeff Goldblum starred in an Apartments.com spot where he again plays a scientist, this time greeting two aliens and offering them an apartment, “One bedroom, two bedroom, I don’t want to presume.”

Most used song from a filmed-in-Pittsburgh movie: Nostalgia fueled many ads including the song “Flashdance What a Feeling” (from the movie “Flashdance”) which featured prominently in a commercial for Nerds Gummy Clusters and in a T-Mobile spot starring Jason Momoa, Zach Braff and Donald Faison with a cameo by “Flashdance” star Jennifer Beals.

Steelers player spotted: Cam Heyward was among the NFL players featured in an anti-bullying NFL ad.

Best celebrity weirdo ad: Michael Cera trying to convince a roomful of business executives that he should be the pitchman for CeraVe skincare due to his last name.

Oddest mini-trend: Two back-to-back ads were all about a celebrity’s speaking style: First a car ad featuring Christopher Walken encountering a valet, barista, dogwalker and tailor who all imitate his distinctive speaking style. Then the very next commercial featured TV commercial directors trying to get Arnold Schwarzenegger to correctly pronounce “neighbor.”

Best celebrity reunion: That “Like a Good Neighbor” State Farm spot starring Schwarzenegger ended with a Danny DeVito cameo, reuniting the stars of the movie “Twins.”

Oddest rerun reunion: Stars from “Suits,” a fine but unexceptional cable drama that inexplicably became a hit in reruns on Netflix last summer, reunited in ads for T-Mobile and e.l.f. cosmetics. 1994 Carnegie Mellon University grad Gabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams were in the T-Mobile ad and “Suits” regulars Gina Torres, Rick Hoffman and Sarah Rafferty.

Most unlikely spot for an In Memoriam: The Fan Duel ad featuring Rob Gronkowski and Carl Weathers, who died after filming the spot, ended with a brief memorial card, “Thank you, Carl.”

Best sequel spot: Dunkin Donuts’ sequel to last year’s Ben Affleck ad, this time featuring the actor visiting his love, Jennifer Lopez in a recording studio, was pretty funny as he embarrassingly tries to make music. Friend Matt Damon weakly said, “How do you like them donuts? I’m so sorry.”

Most over-exposed celeb: Enough with the Tom Brady-starring ads! He appeared in the Dunkin spot and in a BetMGM ad.

Most tantalizing movie ads: The “Despicable Me 4” teaser made cute use of bad AI images but the trailer that most made me want to see the movie was for “Wicked” even though I still resent that they’re making it a two-parter with one movie coming out in Novemeber 2024 and the second half of the story releasing in November 2025.

Most unexpected (and welcome!) ad co-stars: Beyonce and … Tony Hale (“Arrested Development,” “Veep”) pitched for Verizon.

Funniest rude response: The Paramount+ commercial featuring Patrick Stewart (“Star Trek: Picard”) was clever all-around and Stewart saying, “Shut your mouth, Barrymore!” to Drew Barrymore will never not be funny.

Chef’s kiss CBS promo: Stephen Colbert (“The Late Show”) and Taylor Tomlinson (“After Midnight”) stood in front of logos for “Blue Bloods” and “Fire Country” and stated, “CBS Friday: End your week with crimes and fire.” Pitch perfect!