Halftime Show

Florida House members want a different type of halftime show when the Super Bowl comes to Jacksonville next year. The House passed a resolution yesterday asking for a musical salute to those who fought in World War II during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXIX on Feb. 6, 2005. At the Super Bowl in Houston earlier this year, Janet Jackson sparked an uproar when Justin Timberlake tore off part of her costume near the end of the show, exposing her right breast on live TV. Rep. Stan Jordan, R-Jacksonville, said the House should use its "power of persuasion" to convince the NFL to use the Super Bowl for what he called a "fitting" tribute.

For millions of fans, Super Bowl XXIII offers some of the most exciting moments in television entertainment - and not all of them come during the game. Each year, big-league advertisers spend a healthy chunk of their annual promotional budgets producing elaborate one-time-only commercials for the costly time slots during halftime and between quarters. In years past, Apple Computer has sandwiched the halftime highjinks with a now-famous satire of George Orwell's "1984" and scenes of "computer lemmings" diving over a cliff.

THE PRODUCTIVITY of the Philadelphia area plunged last week as well over 800 Daily News readers dropped what they were doing to fill in the empty caption of a Signe Wilkinson cartoon on the notorious Super Bowl halftime show. Readers from Souderton to Sacremento cheerfully took a shot at Janet Jackson, the NFL, TV, pop culture and, of coarse, the Daily News, which ran Jackson's fully exposed WM-double-D (thanks to many readers) on Page 1. Among the excellent also-rans: Several like "The stars at night are big and bright - deep in the heart of Texas!"

The Downingtown High School cheerleaders were all smiles as they left their Miami hotel for a halftime performance at last night's Orange Bowl. But, according to principal Walt Kottmeyer, it was hard to tell if they were smiles of excitement or relief. "They have kept a hectic schedule," Kottmeyer said yesterday from Miami. "Since they got here, they haven't done much of anything but practice. " The squad was one of 30 cheerleading teams from across the nation scheduled to take the field for a 22-minute halftime show during the national college football championship game between Oklahoma and Florida State at Pro Player Stadium last night.

THE EAGLES will be bringing a version of the halftime show you can watch at home to Lincoln Financial Field. As part of an NFL initiative, the league is making its highly popular NFL RedZone Channel available in every stadium this season. Each team can decide whether and how often it wants to use the live video. The Eagles have built a studio inside the Linc and will air a live halftime show on the video boards and television monitors inside the stadium, according to Tim McDermott, an Eagles senior vice president and the team's chief marketing officer.

NEW ORLEANS - As the Superdome's energy provider and stadium management try to determine what caused a 34-minute power outage at Sunday's Super Bowl, local officials are hoping the incident won't leave the city with a black eye or prevent the league's big game from coming back to town. And, no, it wasn't Beyonce's fault. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell spoke Monday morning about the power outage, confirming that the halftime show had nothing to do with the power going out. Larry Roedel, a lawyer for the state board that oversees the Superdome, said Monday that the outage did not appear to be related to work done on the stadium's electrical system in December.

Eight years after Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction, some unexpected controversy returned to the Super Bowl halftime show. M.I.A., appearing on stage with Madonna and Nicki Minaj to perform "Give Me All Your Luvin'," flipped the middle finger to a camera before a cutaway. The song contains an inappropriate word, which she did not say, using the middle finger in place of the word. NBC went to a wide view of the stage, but it was too late as M.I.A.'s middle finger gesture could be seen.

For all the pomp and excess of Madonna's Super Bowl halftime extravaganza, a single extended middle finger by guest singer M.I.A. is likely to be the most remembered piece of the show. The gesture, accompanied by a barely disguised expletive, came during a performance of Madonna's new single, "Give Me All Your Luvin'. " At the end of her lines, M.I.A. appeared to sing "I don't give a [expletive]," although it was hard to hear clearly. The incident was reminiscent of Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" on CBS eight years ago. The brief exposure of Jackson's nipple during the 2004 halftime show raised a storm of controversy.

There's a distinct Philadelphia feel to the staff that new St. Louis Rams coach Dick Vermeil has assembled. The three latest members, announced yesterday in St. Louis, all played for Vermeil with the Eagles. Vermeil coached the Eagles from 1976 to 1982, and John Bunting, the Rams' new linebackers coach, played for him that entire time. Defensive-line coach Carl Hairston was an overachieving seventh-round draft pick. Running-backs coach Wilbert Montgomery was a sixth-rounder who ended up as the team's career leading rusher with 6,538 yards and three 1,000-yard seasons.

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia has overruled the FCC's $550,000 fine against CBS for the infamous Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. In applauding the ruling, CBS expressed hope the FCC would be more restrained in policing public taste. The Parents Television Council, however, denounced the decision. "It borders on judicial stupidity," said Tim Winter, council president. Singer Janet Jackson's breast became briefly exposed during a performance with Justin Timberlake, and the Federal Communications Commission fined CBS $550,000 for negligently contributing to indecency.