TV critic's picks: Wednesday 2/1

"Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials," Steve Martini in "The Jerk" and "Ice Age Death Trap."

January 31, 2012 at 9:44PM
Steve Martin in the 1979 movie "The Jerk."
Steve Martin in the 1979 movie "The Jerk." (Margaret Andrews/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Coca-Cola classic

CBS doesn't have the Super Bowl this year, but that's not stopping the network from airing "Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials" (7 p.m., WCCO, Ch. 4). I'll probably tune in if only to rewatch that Mean Joe Green Coke commercial and wonder aloud, "How come they don't make 'em like that anymore?"

The tao of Steve

"He hates these cans. Stay away from the cans." "The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!" "I was born a poor black child." These are just some of the reasons I'll be rewatching Steve Martin's 1979 classic, "The Jerk" (7 p.m., AMC).

Ice, ice baby

"Ice Age Death Trap" (8 p.m., KTCA, Ch. 2) would sound like a cheesy sci-fi movie if it weren't under the super-serious "Nova" banner. Cameras follows researchers who have discovered a cave in the Rockies with evidence of mammoths, mastodons and my boyhood collection of Archie comics.

about the writer

about the writer

Neal Justin

Critic / Reporter

Neal Justin is the pop-culture critic, covering how Minnesotans spend their entertainment time. He also reviews stand-up comedy. Justin previously served as TV and music critic for the paper. He is the co-founder of JCamp, a non-profit program for high-school journalists, and works on many fronts to further diversity in newsrooms.

See Moreicon

More from Minnesota Star Tribune

See More
In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece
Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune

We respect the desire of some tipsters to remain anonymous, and have put in place ways to contact reporters and editors to ensure the communication will be private and secure.