(Image: x17 Online)

Nantz: "Hello friends, we have an injury report on Jason Glaspie. As you can see, his girlfriend has removed his spine, rendering him incapable of watching the game."

Girlfriend: "Come on, silly!"

Nantz: "Boy, that's hard to watch."

Many people had an even harder time watching this year's Super Bowl ads. Both men and women took offense at depictions of spineless, downtrodden men, over-sexed single women and grouchy, harping girlfriends. But are these commercials sexist or just silly?

We're looking at perspectives from The Today Show, The Guardian, Slate, the Washington City Paper and The Early Show.

On The Today Show, advertising guru Donny Deutsch proclaimed the 2010 Super Bowl the year of the dumb guy.

"It was men acting stupid. For some reason, this was the year, like, let’s show the American male at his stupidest, acting goofy. There was an ad for Dodge and there was an ad for Flo where it’s men whipped, talking about their miserable lives and how, you know. I don’t know what it was in our society that this year, let’s knock the guys."

But an editorial in The Guardian took a darker view of the same commercials.

"For me, the night's overarching message was clear: by choosing the brands (of television, tyres, soap and automobile) men can reassert their masculinity, escape their nagging, domineering wives and girlfriends, and be free. Buying the right kit, men, will make it easier to tolerate having to carry your girlfriend's lip balm or put up with her criticism of your slack-jawed buddies."

And a Slate "Ad Report Card" pointed out that both men and women could have cause for offense.

"'I will be civil to your mother, I will put the seat down,"

"...much of [one section] centers on how unbearable it is for men to listen to the opinions of, and on occasion respect the wishes of, women."

"Is it me, or was this year's dose of casual misogyny a little rawer and angrier than usual?"

Though men voiced much of the anger over this year's ad content, women also had concerns. On "The Sexist" blog in the Washington City Paper, writer Amanda Hess knocked GoDaddy.com for their commercial starring Danica Patrick.

"This ad could have been a clever subversion of standard Superbowl bodice-ripping if Patrick’s character had been allowed to point out how totally [expletive] weird this is. Instead, viewers are asked to head online to check out the even sexier action. Just a reminder that even women who excel in traditionally male fields (a girl who’s really good at driving!) are still forced into traditionally female representation (boobs!)."

But on The Early Show, USA Today reporter Laura Petrecca said that the ad failed to even capture viewer interest.

Anchor: "What were some of the ones that weren’t so popular, that maybe missed the mark a little bit?"

Petrecca: "Skechers, which is a sneaker company and GoDaddy ended up much further down on the Ad Meter list."

So, are this year's Super Bowl ads sexist? Or are they just silly?

Writer: Elizabeth Eberlin

Producer: Nathan Giannini