Maybe it's the cold medicine I'm taking. It's early in the second quarter of Fox's "Super Bowl XLII" telecast, and the most noticeable thing about the commercials is how many of them have me saying, "What?"

It's not just that too many of the ads tell you little about the product advertised, a frequent complaint about Super Bowl ads, but they also seem to inspire more "Huh?" than usual.

Case No. 1: A slow pan into a mansion finds an old man sleeping in a huge bed. He pulls back the covers to reveal dirt and the front of an old car. Cut to a new car in the driveway and the tag line, "Old luxury just got put on notice." Is it supposed to be like the horse head in a bed? Was the old car taking a "dirt nap" with the old man? If so, how come? And I have no idea what the new car was. Maybe an Audi. UPDATE: Turns out it is a "Godfather" parody, as I thought it might be. There are dangers in cultural references in TV spots, but given the target audience of this ad (upscale, wealthy), it probably wasn't very risky that it would sail over their heads.

Case No. 2: A girl sings "A Message from Your Heart," and I'm thinking it's an American Heart Association ad, so I'm prepared to rant about non-profits buying uber-expensive ad time during the Super Bowl. Then the Doritos logo flashes up at the end. Again, what? Doritos help your heart? How? Maybe it would make sense with a double dose of cold meds.

Case No. 3: The Tide pen ad shows a guy on a job interview and the stain on his shirt talks at the same time as he does making all the dialogue unintelligible. This one actually does a good job of making the point that if you go for a job interview with a stain on your shirt, the interviewer may see that and hear nothing you say. Point taken, but it's still a supremely annoying ad.

Overall, the Super Bowl ads were less potentially offensive than in the past. They were also less memorable. There were still some creative, clever spots, but nothing truly rousing or revolutionary.

My favorites:

Bud Light: An ad mock-claims Bud Light gives those who drink it the ability to breathe fire. A guy on a date lights candles romantically. Then he wrinkles his nose, asks if his date has a cat, sneezes uncontrollably and sets many things in the room on fire, including his date's hair. (Better than a sequel with a guy who can fly thanks to Bud Light and gets sucked into a jet engine.)

Toyota Corolla: Guy gets locked in a Toyota Corolla with ferocious sleeping badgers. To prove how quiet the car is, cannons are fired nearby, much to the imprisoned driver's dismay. The badgers do not wake up. But then the driver's cell phone rings and he's set upon by the angry badgers. It's hard to go wrong with badgers.

Bridgestone: Clearly inspired by the YouTube hit "dramatic chipmunk," a squirrel chases an acorn into the road, sees a car coming, makes a dramatic turn (as duh-duh-duhn! music plays in the background) and then all sorts of woodland creatures scream in fear. Some day advertisers will run out of funny animal commercials, but it will never happen during the Super Bowl.

Bridgestone: A driver rounds a corner in his car and swerves to avoid a deer; rounds another corner and swerves to avoid a rock star; rounds another corner, sees Richard Simmons exercising in his short-shorts, puts the pedal to the metal, but also swerves to avoid him at the last minute. Almost perfect. Almost.

NFL.com: An oboe-player becomes an NFL walk-on. Cute without being cloying; just very human and real.

Coke: During the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, giant balloons of Underdog and Stewie ("Family Guy") fight over a giant Coke bottle balloon until an uncharacteristically lucky Charlie Brown swoops in and gets the Coke.

E*Trade: Didn't care for the puke, but enjoyed the baby with a man's voice on a Web cam, especially in the ad where he hired a clown.

Noteworthy:

Pepsi: Justin Timberlake gets knocked around in this nonsensical ad about some contest to win MP3s. Nice special effects work and funny/uncomfortably weird cameo by "Saturday Night Live" star Andy Samberg as a cross-dresser. He was Timberlake's co-star in the digital short "D*%K in a Box."

Doritos: Homemade spot that features a well-dressed guy trying to catch a mouse using Doritos. Human in a mouse costume bursts through wall and beats up well-dressed guy. Admirable for its unexpected twist.

Budweiser: There always has to be a sentimental spot with the Clydesdale horses. This year a horse named Hank gets left behind, a Dalmatian trains him to the theme from "Rocky" and a year later, Hank is picked for the team. Hank and the dog give one another a high-five. Cute, tame, grandmothers will coo over it for days.

"American Idol": Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger sings (badly) "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)," dreaming of the chance for his musical break on "American Idol." A janitor channels Simon Cowell: "I loved that song until you ruined it." Cute enough, but seems like a huge waste of money. Does ratings-winning "Idol" really need a slick, specially-produced promo with a high-priced pitchman like Big Ben?

The worst:

Diet Pepsi Max: People everywhere nod off while head-bobbing "A Night at the Roxbury"-style. Probably wouldn't have been funny when that "SNL" skit was current more than a decade ago. The ad scores some points for Chris Kattan's "Stop it!" Too bad viewers likely agree with him.

GoDaddy.com: First, I can't believe this company is still in business. What kind of name is GoDaddy for any business? Second, they tease us and make us go to their site to see not a naked Danica Patrick but an even more juvenile ad that features gratuitous, gutter-level use of the word "beaver." Lame.

Fed Ex: Giant carrier pigeons drop their packages on a city street, causing disaster. Not awful, but disappointing compared to past year's Fed Ex spots.

CareerBuilder.com: Heart bursts out of a woman's chest, walks into her skeevy boss' office and declares, "I quit." Oddly, the woman seems to survive the loss of her heart. Huh?

Zantac: It will stop your heartburn, build a coffee house around you, give you a guy to have coffee with and somehow draw new furniture for your new hangout. Double huh?

Planters peanuts: Ugly woman draws attraction from men because she uses Planters nuts as perfume. Triple huh? With an added Yuck.