Underplayed Gems

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker (2000)

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker poster
Directed by
Rawson Marshall Thurber
Genre
comedy film
Country
United States
Runtime
5 min
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Short comedy films show a former football player working in an office. He tackles and roughs up employees who break company rules.

over-the-topsillyenergeticphysicalabsurdfast-pacedplayfulexaggerated

What happens

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker was a series of short comedy television commercials created by Peter Arnell and the Arnell Group, for Reebok, based on a short film pilot created in 2000 by Rawson Marshall Thurber. Tate was first shown at Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003. The short films feature Lester Speight as "Terrible" Terry Tate, an American football linebacker who "gives out the pain" to those in the office who are not obeying office policies. Originally, Reebok produced six episodes between August and December 2002 with another episode Terry Tate, Office Linebacker: Sensitivity Training being made on February 1, 2004. Even Reebok in the United Kingdom made an episode called Late Lunch on January 22, 2005. There are a total of nine episodes. The advertising campaign was one of the most successful of those in the history of the Super Bowl halftime shows. Though successful in attracting viewers and attention, the ads' ability to increase recognition of the Reebok brand has been questioned, with only 55% of respondents on an on-line poll indicating they realized the ad was affiliated with the company. Despite being aired only once on national television, the short was downloaded more than seven million times from Reebok's website. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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