Is the Super Bowl a football event that drives TV ratings? Or a television event that brings a huge audience to a football game only marginally interesting to anyone but fans of the Colts and the Bears? A strong argument for the second theory can be found on “Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials 2007” (8 p.m., CBS).

Football champions come and go, but the 1980 commercial image of a kid handing Pittsburgh Steeler “Mean” Joe Greene a bottle of Coke seems to endure forever. Or at least that’s the verdict of every viewers’ poll taken over the past five years.

I’m rather partial to the Big Brother Apple commercial directed by Ridley Scott that aired way back in 1984.

Perhaps I watch too much television, but I tend to forget most Super Bowl ads. There’s just so much room in the old hard drive, and why should I cling to images of former politicians selling chips and soda? Or ads for dot-com fly-by-nights that blow their meager budgets on one spot and then go belly-up? Whatever happened to that pet puppet? I do remember something about Bob Dole leering at Britney Spears back when she was still jailbait (and not the demure mother figure she’s since become). But what were they selling?

Viewers have chosen the 15 classic spots that will try to knock Greene off his pedestal. I think Mean Joe is more than even money to retain his crown, at least until Super Bowl L. And that’s IX years from now.

¢ The Super Bowl may be two nights away, but some networks already have gone into counterprogramming mode by offering marathons. Sci Fi unspools four episodes of the 2003 cyber series “Jake 2.0” (7 p.m. to 11 p.m., Sci Fi).

HBO offers viewers three opportunities to catch up with “Rome” (7 p.m.). What better way to put you in the mood for the only annual TV event that counts in Roman numerals?

The most appropriate mini-movie-marathon of the day takes place during the daytime hours. The 1993 comedy “Groundhog Day” (Comedy Central) airs three consecutive times, at 9:30 a.m., noon and 2:30 p.m. That will give viewers plenty of time to relive the day over and over. “All right, campers, rise and shine! – and don’t forget your booties, ’cause it’s cooooooold out there today.”

¢ It seems that every other “American Idol” wannabe auditions with “Lady Marmalade” by Patti Labelle. The Grammy Award-winning singer who turned “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi” into a household phrase renders unto Cesar on tonight’s “Dog Whisperer” (7 p.m., National Geographic).

LaBelle brings her 150-pound guard dog to Cesar Millan as a last resort. Bearing fangs and dripping saliva, the high-strung marauder can’t seem to tell LaBelle from an intruder. And Lady Marmalade is scared out of her Itchy, Gitchy, Ya Ya Da Da!

Today’s other highlights

¢ Prime-time stars Jon Stewart and Cheryl Hines (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) guest star on the daytime kid’s show “Jack’s Big Music Show” (11 a.m., Noggin).

¢ Melinda encounters a drag-strip poltergeist on “Ghost Whisperer” (7 p.m., CBS).

¢ Ed attends an anger-management workshop on “Las Vegas” (8 p.m., NBC).