Edition: U.S. / Global

During Halftime Show, a Display Tailored for Video Review

Published: February 2, 2004

The Super Bowl halftime show is the traditional (although not, perhaps, sensible) answer to a tricky question: How do you keep well-lubricated viewers in front of their televisions while the teams regroup in their locker rooms? The idea is not to produce a program that everyone will enjoy. The idea is to produce a program that no one wants to miss.

Yesterday's halftime show, organized by MTV, neatly illustrated the difference between these two ideas. The show itself was a rather uninspired medley of hits by Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake and others. But it ended with a moment that may generate more discussion than the game itself. Timberlake ripped off the right side of Jackson's bustier; the result was the day's most spectacular fumble.

There were signs that this was not an accident. It happened during Timberlake's song, "Rock Your Body," in which he promises his dance partner to "have you naked by the end of this song." Jackson's choreographer, Gil Duldulao, had told an MTV interviewer to expect "some shocking moments." And some Janet Jackson fans were, no doubt, disappointed to see that a body part they were eager to see was obscured behind a silver star, more evidence that Jackson might have been planning ahead.

Still, shortly after the performance, MTV released a statement: "The tearing of Janet Jackson's costume was unrehearsed, unplanned, completely unintentional and was inconsistent with assurances we had about the content of the performance. MTV regrets this incident occurred, and we apologize to anyone who was offended by it."

Timberlake released a statement, too: "I am sorry if anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl. It was not intentional and is regrettable."

In any case, the moment was reminiscent of another recent MTV surprise. It was only five months ago that Madonna kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards; as Madonna must have known beforehand, the kiss made her and Spears (though not, for some reason, Aguilera) the stars of the show, while simultaneously ensuring that no one would be talking about her performance.

By now, who can even remember what song she was singing at the time? The kiss turned a musical performance into a purely visual moment; when MTV replays it (and the network still does, with ruthless regularity), the sound is usually turned off.

If Jackson's bust-out was intended to cause some controversy, it worked. CBS (which is owned by Viacom, the same company that owns MTV) released a statement claiming to have been unpleasantly surprised; the statement read, in part, "The moment did not conform to CBS broadcast standards, and we would like to apologize to anyone who was offended."

Joe Browne, the N.F.L. executive vice president for communications and public affairs, released a more harshly worded statement: "We were extremely disappointed by elements of the MTV-produced halftime show. They were totally inconsistent with assurances our office was given about the show. It's unlikely that MTV will produce another Super Bowl halftime."

It seems unlikely that Jackson's fans will be able to muster similar indignation. When she released her first solo album, in 1982, she was known primarily as Michael Jackson's adorable little sister, and she has never quite shaken this image, despite more than two decades of bold, often sexually provocative music and imagery.

In 1993 she appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone with two male hands doing a job more traditionally done by a bra; the ensuing excitement hardly hurt her career. Flashing that shy smile, speaking that whispery voice, she has always seemed like the pop provocateur next door.

If it had not been for the eye-popping ending, the halftime show would have been forgettable. Jackson is working on a new album, but she did not sing a new song — and viewers who watched her lips might have wondered if she sang anything at all.

This was the year that hip-hop took over the halftime show. Jackson, who has found innovative ways to enliven her R&B with hip-hop rhythms, and Timberlake, the hip-hop-influenced former teenage pop star, were joined by P. Diddy, Nelly and Kid Rock, who ran through truncated versions of their best-known songs.

The day's strangest musical moment came before the game, when the young crooner Josh Groban presided over a surreal spectacle meant to pay tribute to the astronauts who died in the NASA Columbia catastrophe one year ago. While he sang, someone in an astronaut costume climbed onto a small model of the moon and got ready to plant a United States flag.

The Jackson controversy also overshadowed the day's most remarkable musical performance: Beyoncé's national anthem. (She was escorted to the stage by Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; they made an unlikely, but fetching, couple.)

Her version had a stiff, slightly military beat, but she found ways to add swinging counter-rhythms and a few gospel-influenced ad-libs, giving it exactly the right mixture of pomp and groove; the result was one of the best national anthems of the past few years.