Super Bowl XLVI (6pm, NBC) - As if you didn't know: New England Patriots vs. the New York Giants in Indianapolis. Madonna performs at halftime. Someone convince me to pull for their team and I will. If football isn't your thing, and you've already seen all the great commercials leaked online, there's always the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.

60 Minutes Presents: Three Remarkable Women (8pm, CBS) - Morley Safer profiles Meryl Streep, Anna Wintour, and Dolly Parton.

Downton Abbey (9pm, UNC-TV) - In episode 5, the household prepares for the war's end and the family looks forward to having a private home again -- unless cousin Isobel (Penelope Wilton pictured with Elizabeth McGovern) has her way. Also, in a remarkably "soapy" twist, a wounded officer makes a startling claim that could alter the Downton succession plan.

Luck (9pm, HBO) - In the second episode of the series (which has already been renewed for another season by HBO), Ace (Dustin Hoffman) meets with his parole officer and starts to line up potential investors as a public face for his next big venture. Also, Walter finds a seasoned jockey for his prized thoroughbred, much to Rosie's dismay.

Shameless (9pm, Showtime) - When Eddie Jackson's body turns up, Frank thinks he should be in line to claim his pension and insurance benefits.

The Voice (10:30pm-ish, NBC) - Season 2 debuts after all the Super Bowl hoopla, so the 10:30pm start time is fluid. Tonight is the first night of blind auditions, during which coaches Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton begin choosing 12 vocalists for their respective teams.

No matter who you're rooting for on Sunday, it seems the ultimate winner of  Super Bowl XLVI may be the grocery stores.

Consumer spending for the Super Bowl is  expected to reach an all-time high of $11 billion, roughly $63.87 per viewer, according to the National Retail Federation. Grocery stores are expected to check out about 71 percent of that figure, or $45 per customer.

A record 173 million Americans are expected to watch the Super Bowl, up 2 million viewers from 2011, according to the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association,

Fifteen percent of those watchers are also planning on hosting a viewing party, and chances are they'll need plenty of chicken wings, potato chips and team-color frosted cake on hand.

"It's a very busy time for us as a grocery store but also many of our vendor partners as well," said Christy Phillips-Brown, a  spokeswoman for Salisbury-based Food Lion.

She said Super Bowl Sunday marks one of the biggest weekends for frozen pizza sales of the year. Chips, deli trays and other snack items also see big sales, Phillips-Brown said.

Grocers are also promoting prepared foods to Super Bowl hosts. These items, like deli chili or potato salad,  usually produce high margins when packaging and waste is at a low, minimizing costs.
 

An aspiring actor from Goldsboro could have an audience of 250 million people on Super Bowl Sunday. But he needs your help.

Jason Walston (right), a 2007 Elon University graduate, is featured in one of the top five commercials – out of more than 6,000 consumer-submitted entries – for Doritos’ sixth annual “Crash the Super Bowl” contest. The top two vote-getters will be aired during the Feb. 5’s Super Bowl broadcast on NBC. Those are determined by online voting.

The commercial, called “Hot Wild Girls,” was produced by Brad Scott and Nate Watkin of Denver. In the ad, an actor shows off the power of his smartphone by asking for things like Doritos, which suddenly appear (our Tech Junkie blog has video). Walston’s character then asks for “three hot wild girls,” but the phone misinterprets his request and hilarity ensues.

Papa John's Pizza has rolled out a fun promotion for Super Bowl XLVI that is bound to be popular with frugal football fans.

There's a FREE large one-topping pizza and a 2 liter of Pepsi Max at stake.

Bill Maher's take on what makes the Super Bowl great (and the World Series not-so-great) is sure to tick off a lot of people. Warning: there's cursing here. "Real Time with Bill Maher" airs on Friday nights at 10pm on HBO.

Super Bowl (6pm, Fox) - Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Halftime entertainment by the Black Eyed Peas.

Dateline (9pm, NBC) - Tom Brokaw tells the story of adventurer Aron Ralston, whose ill-fated 2003 climbing excursion inspired the Oscar-nominated film "127 Hours."

Shameless (10pm, Showtime) - The family attempts to pull off a fake wedding when it is revealed that Veronica comes from a wealthy family. Also, Frank is given bad medical news and doesn't handle it well, and Steve goes cruising for a  new car.

Nancy Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (10pm, UNC-TV) - Judy Woodruff interviews former first lady Nancy Reagan, considered by many historians to be among the most influential first ladies of the modern era. Discussed are her childhood, her entertainment career, her marriage to and lifelong romance with Ronald Reagan, and her role as his most trusted advisor. Reagan would have turned 100 today.

Brick City (10pm, Sundance) - In this episode, police director Garry McCarthy is dogged by episodes of police misconduct. Later, Newark mayor Cory Booker neglects to mention McCarthy in the annual State of the City address, raising questions about the top cop's future in the administration. Here's more on this documentary series.

Glee (10:30pm, Fox) - While Mr. Schuester and Coach Bieste work to make peace between the glee club and the football team, Sue Sylvester devises a risky strategy to win the cheerleading Nationals. Look for a performance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and a cameo from Katie Couric. The start time on this post-Super Bowl episode of "Glee" is likely to change, so set your recording devices accordingly.

Ask around about favorite months, and some people might name June — a nice month for weddings. There’s also October (great leaf colors, depending on where you are), or March madness and the onset of spring.

Almost no one, however, will say January, which might be the most dreaded, hated month of the year. February isn’t too popular, either, but does at least have the advantage of being short. By contrast, January can seem interminable — 31 short dreary days and long frigid nights, with not much to do except contemplate another year long gone.

Or as an old-English rhyme puts it: "The blackest month in all the year is the month of Janiveer."

With so much stacked against it, it’s no surprise that January can seem...well, cranky about its lot. Now that another January is upon us, we rang it up for a chat.

Q: Hello, January, how are you?
A: Swell. Just...swell.
Q: What's the matter?
A: For starters, do you have to say my name like that? It almost sounds like you're holding your nose.
Q: I thought I was just saying it normally.
A: Yeah, that's the problem with my name. January. I've always hated it, you know. Other months have all the fun, and better names, too. "March," that's nice and short and active. Forceful, even. "June," same thing, almost sounds like "jump." "August," what better adjective could you ask for? And all those "-ber" months at the end of the year — September, October, November, December — they just roll right off the tongue. But my name, people almost wince when they say it.
Q: Where does your name come from anyway?
A: The Greek god Janus, whose name means "door." The god of beginnings. He also has two faces, one to look to the past and one to look to the future. February gets the god of purification, March the god of war, May the goddess of spring. But I get this two-faced freak who can't make up his mind if he's living in the past or the future. Just my luck.
Q: Don't you think you’re being just a little defensive?
A: Maybe so. But how would you feel if the only things people associated with you were hangovers, maxed-out credit card bills, busted new year's resolutions and Seasonal Affective Disorder?
Q: Oh, come on. You get all the good football bowl games.
A: But not the Super Bowl, not anymore. That little punk February gets it, the no good so-and-so.
Q: Do things get pretty heated among the months? Do you spend a lot of time ribbing each other?
A: God, yes. March still gets pretty uppity with me, since he used to be the first month of the year under the old 10-month Roman calendar. December is always such a pompous goody-goody. And ever since 9/11, September has been just insufferable. There's talk of retiring that date now.
Q: I'm sure lots of fascinating, important things have happened in January.
A: Name one.
Q: Uh...
A: The Challenger space shuttle blew up on Jan. 28, 1986.
Q: Oh, no.
A: Jesus was circumcised on new year’s day.
Q: Uh...
A: And the drinking straw was patented on Jan. 3, 1888.
Q: January, I think we're really reaching now.
A: See what I mean?
Q: Don't you get Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday?
A: Yes, there’s that — Jan. 15. I also get Mozart (Jan. 27) and Elvis Presley (Jan. 8). But also Richard Nixon (Jan. 9).
Q: Hey, a lot of people would probably call that a good thing.
A: You're too kind.

Looks like another local is hoping for fame and fortune via a Super Bowl commercial contest (Last year a Raleigh group won $650k for their Doritos commercial). Read more about Cary resident Kurt Squiers over at David Menconi's On the Beat blog.

Cary resident Kurt Squiers is still wishing, hoping, praying and dreaming that he can bring his AC/DC movie to fruition. But in the meantime, he's keeping busy elsewhere. Squiers collaborated on a Doritos spot called "Waiting Room," which is entered in a contest. If it finishes in the top-six, it will air during Super Bowl XLV.

I must confess I find it rather gross -- consider that a warning -- but my 15-year-old son thought it was hilarious. Check it out here, and vote early and often.

You know that awesome Google commercial that aired during the Super Bowl? Well, this is why I love the internet:

Google Commercial - Tiger Woods Parody - Watch more Funny Videos