UNDERRATED/OVERRATED

Super Bowl commercials: Ordinarily these overblown ads would land squarely on the other side of this column, but we never realized how much we appreciated the occasional flashes of invention Madison Avenue delivered until we sat through this year’s many spots that were just trailers for longer commercials online. Fun idea, but we won’t give your our time twice just to watch “the whole movie,” thanks.

Yeasayer: It’s only February, but an early favorite for this year’s indie breakout pick is this Brooklyn quartet, which released its sophomore album, “Odd Blood,” last week. Filled with odd noises, lush world music textures and anthemic melodies born for a summer night road trip, Yeasayer’s eccentric but warm way with a song could do for Peter Gabriel what Vampire Weekend did for Paul Simon.

Valentine’s Day: With apologies to jewelers, movie studios and chocolatiers who count on us showering our loved ones with gifts for this magical 24-hour period, we encourage you all to fight the hype. Honor and adore your special someones, certainly, but do the same on any given Sunday. The commercial frenzy of this day strikes us as the romantic equivalent of New Year’s Eve: amateur night.

Animation’s TV evolution: We’re big fans of what the animated medium can do with storytelling, and judging by this year’s best picture nod for Pixar’s “Up,” we’re not alone. But someday this evolution will translate to TV as well. There’s a good series idea somewhere in FX’s spy spoof “Archer,” for instance, but we’ve already got a “Family Guy” for over-the-top frat house humor. Show us something new.