Fox through the years, have had some amazing luck regarding their media directions. There was a time, which now seems forever ago, that Fox launched Fox Football -- let's be honest many at the time, thought it would not succeed. Fox was only known for The Simpsons, their next best thing was maybe In Living Color (and that's not saying much!) at the time, oh and then there was Melrose Place. But many of their programs were forgettable and there was a reason they trailed behind NBC, CBS & ABC by light years.
The thing is Fox Football was an instant success, even if it really has not changed much of it's formula since. Then came Fox Baseball, and the world will forever know the voice of Joe Buck (for good & for bad) in both spectrums. Since then Fox's regular programming even has had success as well, with shows like 24, Family Guy, New Girl, Bones & with the Simpsons still hanging around.
So as this summer came rolling through, it was a breath of fresh air to see that one of the big broadcast stations (FOX) finally get the balls to take on ESPN -- a sports monster that has really got fat & lazy, predictable, becoming stagnate, a shell of a network that it used to be. So to tell you the truth when I saw ads mentioning that Fox Sports 1 will be launching August 17th, I was intrigued and a bit excited. Like I said before Fox Baseball & Football have not really broke any new ground since -- it makes me root for someone else to take back the MLB Baseball rights at least, maybe TBS will get better at that -- plus I miss classic announcers like Vin Scully doing the World Series.
Anyways, so August 19th, I finally found what channel number on my cable service for Fox Sports 1, and have watched the morning highlights. I like the set-up, I like the former sports stars panel on the sofas -- they have Andy Roddick, Donovan McNabb, Gabe Kapler, Ephraim Salaam, and Gary Payton for example, headed by Charissa Thompson (an attractive blonde -- naturally). Maybe the lineup will shift up from time to time, don't really know... I like the discussions they have on the most part. The setup on the televison screen as in the graphics is pretty cool, with the highlights taking up most of the TV's left-center corner, while player profiles & interesting stats and facts are displayed as well on the right. On the bottom they have what's coming up, scores and more information shifting around.
I also like their 1 on 1 conversation/interviews that make the Sunday Conversations from ESPN look laughable -- The "1 on 1" interview of Micheal Strahan interviewing Tom Brady was excellent, with not the same typical questions; Brady went on to talk about his instant fame, and how it actually kind of freaked him out a bit -- it was good to see Brady in this light, and not as Mr.Giselle, or metro-sexual wanting to play-model.
Their clever usage of "1" with the Highlights being labeled the 1, and then there is "The 1 that Got Away" which is a blooper highlight, pretty cool ideas. Even these highlights looked better than the stale Top 10 from ESPN.
The one area I did notice that needs a lot of work is the two co-anchors Jay Onrait & Dan O'Toole doing the play-by-play highlights, they need to tone it back and be a bit more serious; because they are coming off a bit too cartoonish or like Saturday Night Live actors imitating ESPN sports anchors -- These two guys are acting as if they are already a success (their not, nowhere close). It's almost painful to listen to them, and they come off pretty fake -- it makes you wonder if these two guys got their jobs, because they happened to be some big whig's (from the corporate office) nephews. I'm yet to write them off, I'm anxious to see the feedback on them & see if Fox reacts by signing some bigger, more recognizable names (maybe steal a few from ESPN).
Another area of possible disaster (and from what I hear... a rocky start) is their 5 pm ET launch of Crowd Goes Wild hosted by numerous characters and headed by Regis Philbin. Yes, that Regis Philbin! I didn't even know he followed sports, I thought he knew more about Barbara Streisand than Baseball. So a few days later, I watched this show, maybe they were at their best when I caught it, but I was not overly impressed... than again, is Around the Horn or Pardon the Interuption anything great? No.
Fox 1 Sports will also get better once they add better sports that they can license with, unfortunately they have a ridiculous amount of Ultimate Fighting Championship type-stuff. I don't understand the people that are completely in love or like this idiotic sport where two men who beat up on each other like two over-sized buffoons; in fact I would imagine that apes have higher IQ's than these guys. The good news, and although I don't follow soccer (but do recognize it as a sport), I think they get a plus over the other networks on this, it's a growing rapidly in the U.S., and will only help improve the love affair. This network will win soccer fans.
I'm rooting for you Fox Sports 1, because I hate it when things become powerful (ESPN) and they get spoiled by their riches & start putting out a piss-poor products as the norm. I'm rooting for you guys, but you still have a ways to go, there is potential.
Want more, check out the review below that I found interesting & similar to what I was thinking.
A Review by "The Slate"
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