Fox will offer a potpourri telecast Sunday

PHOENIX – Here’s the thing: If you care about the particulars of Super Bowl XLII, you will know all there is to know by 3 p.m. Sunday.

If all you care about Sunday are the commercials, guacamole and a fruity cocktail or two, you didn’t want to know the particulars in the first place.

That’s more or less Fox’s theory as it plans its pregame extravaganza.

The more its people explained it here the other day, the more sense it made.

“To me, four hours on one game just doing football is pretty narrowcasting,” said Scott Ackerson, the four-hour show’s producer.

“There will be plenty of football, but it’s not your basic pregame show. There are a lot of celebrities and a lot of stars, so let’s get them on the air, take advantage of that … The NFL Network alone is doing 240 hours on the game. Really, what can we possibly say that hasn’t been said already?”

Fox’s news release last week promised “to mix the safety blitz with Hollywood glitz.”

Or, as host Curt Menefee said, “Instead of doing the economic impact or tailgating parties, the same old crap, OK, let’s do celebrity interviews. I’d rather hear Adam Sandler being goofy for four minutes.”

Enter Ryan Seacrest, who happens to host a show on Fox that is reasonably popular.

At times Menefee will throw to Seacrest, the show’s “entertainment host,” who will interview celebrities as they enter the stadium, red-carpet style.

Menefee said he’s fine with that.

“The reality of it is he’s on the No. 1 show in America,” he said. “He has an audience that is different from our demographic … Now if he wanted to do Week 16 in the studio, we have issues.”

The festivities also will feature Jordin Sparks, the reigning “American Idol,” singing the national anthem and Paula Abdul, an “Idol” judge, performing her new song, “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow.”

“It’s going to surprise a lot of people,” Ackerson said of the song.

In what way?

“It’s going to be good. I know what everybody thinks, and they are going to be wrong, because I know what it’s going to be.”

The challenge for Seacrest will be making the celebrity arrivals seem interesting.