I have a few nits to pick with AB here (e.g. Nance/Romo is not the best duo, Michaels is not the best announcer in history, and did not strictly speaking replace Cosell, both because there was I think two seasons between them, and because Cosell of course was not a play by play guy), but overall totally agree with him. ESPN has done its best to degrade MNF, both by overcharging for itself and under investing in the show. ESPN’s culture hates when any announcer becomes as important as its content, such that MNF is indistinguishable from some low-tier mid-December college bowl game.
Many years ago now there was a list member, I think a woman (the memory fades) who I had a longish argument with about sports on broadcast TV. She was angry that her shows were preempted by sports, especially during postseasons, and wanted all sports to be moved to cable. I was very much opposed, arguing that many households did not have access to cable (at the time true, not sure how much so today) and that various government subsidies and supports for big time sports justified making it available on the public airways. Over the years though, the NBA moved almost all its national and postseason games to cable, and MLB moved a big portion of theirs, and MNF went to ESPN, and in my mind I conceded the point to my interlocutor. If MNF moves back to ABC it may signal that my concession was premature. MLB and NBA ratings are not nearly as high as the NFL of course, but the continued erosion of broadcast market share may mean that the networks would prefer a reliable if relatively small sports rating to the gamble of developing new programming that could easily have cratered ratings. On Mon, 28 Dec 2020 at 1:46 AM JW <[email protected]> wrote: > From the Chief: > > https://www.primetimer.com/barnhart/mnf > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKSNnOH-UT9OFzt8qMiWd2Db4NLRBiPB-HUE0%2B4p7Ji%3DpChK7Q%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKSNnOH-UT9OFzt8qMiWd2Db4NLRBiPB-HUE0%2B4p7Ji%3DpChK7Q%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJRUdw4gh9PCTx8BY%3DBzLSaStS7XwQQNw13Uut3TXAHMQ%40mail.gmail.com.
