THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507150482
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
DATELINE: PASADENA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
As the Fox Broadcasting executives gathered here in the shadow of the purplish San Gabriel mountains, they pondered this question:
Should there be even more professional football on television? Is it enough to have NFL games on Sunday and Monday, occasionally on Saturday and Thursday, too? Is it enough to have pre-game shows on Fox, NBC, ESPN and a pregame and a postgame show on TNT?
Is it enough to have a midweek recap on Home Box Office? ESPN's primetime NFL studio scoreboard show on Sunday? ESPN's ``Monday Night Football'' preview? CNN's 11 p.m. wrap-up on Sunday? ESPN's ``Prime Time Monday'' expanded by six shows in 1995 in order to cover the training camps later this month?
Did I mention that ESPN is also enlarging its ``NFL Game Day'' to 75 minutes so as to start at 11:45 a.m., and thereby get the jump on Fox by 15 minutes?
That's a heap of NFL stuff.
Isn't that flood of programming enough NFL for even the maddest of the football-mad couch potatoes?
In less time than it takes a blitzing linebacker to sack a quarterback, the bosses at Fox came up with the answer here the other day.
No, there is not enough NFL on the tube.
Fox plans even more in 1995.
Starting in the fall, Fox will put on still another scoreboard show on the FX cable channel Sundays at 11 p.m. (It's available on cable systems in Hampton Roads).
The name of the show, and its host or hosts, have yet to be determined, said Fox Sports executive producer Ed Goren.
His announcement to TV writers gathered here for the semi-annual press tour came just days after (1) ESPN announced an earlier start time for ``NFL Game Day'' and (2) Turner Broadcasting said it was expanding its pregame show to an hour, increasing the postgame wrap-up to 45 minutes or so, and signing up Minnesota quarterback Warren Moon to be part of both shows.
That announcement about Moon slightly stunned the TV writers - about a 3.0 earthquake in TV terms.
How in the world will Moon, a quarterback who leads his team into battle each Sunday, be able to serve as a broadcaster on game day?
Sounds like it will be difficult for Moon to stay focused.
I know of one former coach who wouldn't go for that.
When the subject came up before Fox analyst and former Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson as he met with TV reporters, Johnson said he'd never allow his quarterback to double as a TV journalist on game day. Heck, he even forbid his Dallas Super Bowl champs to do a music video until after they clinched the championship.
Moon said he can handle being a NFL quarterback and a network broadcaster all on the same day.
``But it will be a challenge,'' he said.
Moon says it should be no problem to do TNT's pregame show on Sunday night because the Minnesota game will be over by 7 p.m. if the Vikings play at noon or 1 p.m. And what if their game is scheduled for 4 p.m. as part of a NFL doubleheader? ``We're working out some ideas now,'' said Moon. Cue the tape machines.
He said the Vikings don't even know about this new TV deal of his.
Moon has worked in TV in the past, even reporting on pro basketball, but only in the offseason or during the postseason playoffs after his team had been eliminated.
The Vikings will be understanding, said Moon.
``I know exactly how much time I need to prepare for a game. And after I'm through playing on Sunday, I have nothing to do but lay around and heal my wounds.
``But instead of doing that this season, I'm getting into broadcasting. It will not take anything away from my game on the field.''
Moon admitted frankly that after 12 seasons, his NFL career is just about over, and he wants to build career No. 2 in broadcasting. It will be a hoot to see Moon on TV taking shots at players he will face in the weeks ahead. ``Hopefully, the other players will know I'm just being honest,'' he said.
Goren of Fox said the ratings for his network's pregame show on Sunday afternoons (``Fox NFL Sunday'') were so good last year that he invited Johnson, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and James Brown to return to the studio in 1995, but couldn't find room for Lonnie Lardner from last year's team.
That Johnson, he of the every-hair-in-place 'do, is still working in TV is a surprise to many football insiders. They figured that by now the man who won back-to-back Super Bowls in Dallas would be off coaching or even sharing ownership of another NFL team. Johnson said he missed coaching last year, but now he no longer lusts to coach as he once did.
``I am completely happy with what I am doing,'' he said in Los Angeles, a city in which pro football is just a memory. The Rams and Raiders have left town, leaving behind the second largest TV market in the U.S. MEMO: Television Columnist Larry Bonko is in Los Angeles for the twice-yearly
Television Critics Association.
by CNB