Too many commercials on FOX Sports One (and Two)! It makes watching difficult. As a viewer I feel I am constantly missing action on track due to the quantity of commercials. I found out on Wednesday it was more than just a feeling. I was listening to the radio broadcast during Wednesday night’s Bristol Truck race. Action was occurring on track and commercials were running on television.
On top of the glut of commercials, there’s the problem of the number of FOX Sports 1 ‘cutesy’ commercials. ESPN is to blame. They started doing ‘cutesy’ commercials (some might call them funny & while I see the attempt at humor they don’t tickle my funny bone). So now FOX Sports One copies ESPN’s programming format and it’s commercial concepts. Tacky. If all you’re doing is copying ESPN, why do we need another network? ESPN should just expand its programming.
And then there’s my other issue – why are the lollipop girls always yelling at me on FOX Sports One? We’re subjected to all of these news breaks – which are insane since a tiny, crowded, crawl is constantly scrolling along the bottom of the screen with the same info and quite often there a box on the right side of the screen – and the chicks are bellowing the same stuff.
Oh yeah and while I’m ranting, there’s the Michael Waltrip overkill. Please tell me his contract ends SOON and will not be renewed. I used to adore watching truck practices for the Larry McReynolds relief. Michael usually wouldn’t show up until race time so it was just Rick Allen and Phil Parsons which was restful for my ears. Now we are subjected to non-stop babble from Michael Waltrip. I used to like Michael Waltrip on shows, in small doses, as a guest. As a host (co-host) Michael Waltrip is a nightmare. Stop the madness.
FOX Sports One is trying entirely too hard and looking like chumps as a result. If I had an alternative for watching NASCAR I’d definitely use it. So far I hate FOX Sports One. I know its young/new, but it is off to a crap start. I hope they pay well so they’ll eventually hire real talent.
It is wonderful to start the day with NASCAR tv, in spite of all of the commercials. It’s even nicer to listen to Rick, Phil and Hammond call it. Happy 50th birthday Kenny Wallace!!
So now we’re in the good news/bad news place. Sprint Cup practice is on. Great news. Mike Joy is on. Even better news. He’s joined by Larry McRepetitive and Petty Kyle. Awful news. Mike Joy promised to talk about the news out of the morning media sessions, but the volume is on mute unless I see someone talking other than Petty Kyle & Larry. It bums me out, because Mike Joy is great and I enjoy listening to him, but he cannot overcome the aggravation of listening to Petty Kyle and Larry “I’m going to say something obvious, something everyone read in the press during the week, something someone just said, or something totally irrelevant.” McRepetitive.
Greg Zippadelli and Mark Martin did a press conference. We saw a soundbyte from it. Mike Joy perpetuated the story that SHR said they were a three car team and with Kevin Harvick coming there wasn’t a place for Ryan Newman and that’s why his contract wouldn’t be renewed. That statement would not preclude SHR becoming a four car team in the future. Mute. Larry Mc started out with “I can’t talk about the business side…” Then shut-the-hell-up and don’t talk. He’s not inside Stewart Haas Racing so obviously he can’t say anything definitive, so either give your opinion or shut up. He drives me mad! Between that sort of crap and the sentences that begin with, “It’s been well documented that…” If it’s been well documented it doesn’t need rehashing does it? SHUT UP!!! Find something new to say, or keep your mouth shut. Easy peasey.
Rain delay in Nationwide qualifying. David Starr was smoking heavily on his lap. Hammond thinks he might have an oil line problem that blew oil across the headers causing all the smoke. We join David Starr’s run at the end and almost immediately go back to commercial – within three minutes. Insane!!! I’m searching for some other way to see qualifying. This is ridiculous! Knockout qualifying with 8 people going home is interesting to me. I want to see this. Instead I’m mostly seeing commercials and catching a bit of the action between them. BOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I’ve seen three cars run so far and there’s a top ten in qualifying listed when we come back from commercials! That’s ridiculous, especially considering there was a rain delay. 15 cars have gone out and I’ve seen three…THREE!!! FOX Sports One needs to figure out a better way to do this.
Once again they come back from commercial with a top 10 graphic, but a top 10 listing does not make up for missing qualifying laps during commercial! The 19th qualifier was on his second lap when we came back from commercial. There was a rain delay so it seems a large bunch of the commercials should’ve been taken care of during it allowing for fewer commercials. Of course, since I’ve seen promo spots in a lot of the slots, the interruptions are even more exasperating. Hammond was going to say something conversational/amusing at the end of Brendan Gaughan’s run, but we had to cut him off to go to commercials again!
Okay, so I stayed tuned to the show with Regis that followed Nationwide Qualifying since Rick Allen said they would cover Bristol. On the positive side, a. Regis – I’m a fan & miss him on tv, b. the chick isn’t yelling (her accent makes her sound like she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, but that effect might pass), c. the guy on the end seemed to actually know something about sports. On the negative side, a. the guy with the ugly glasses – is he supposed to be funny too, or is he just a fashion victim, b. the ‘funny’ guy – firstly why do we need to mix comedy and sports – if the folks on the desk aren’t interesting enough to keep the fan’s attention get new people on the desk! The people who are supposed to bring the comedy rarely know where to find it, much less bring it. Regis is funny enough, but I don’t need comedy added to my sports. Sports are entertaining/exciting/funny enough on their own; if not, I change the channel. The comedic stylings of a variety of unfunny folks won’t convince me to keep watching a boring sporting event, because a bad comedian is one of the most boring things on the face of the Earth.
Knockout Qualifying is a passion of mine and it appears I won’t be able to see very much of it on FOX Sports One. Maybe it will get better going forward. I’ve never known FOX to get smarter with its programming decisions, just cheaper, so I don’t hold out much hope. Speaking of hopeless, I love the beginning of the NFL season on FOX. Baseball season is underway and Joe Buck is usually calling the baseball game and therefore not stinking up the show in football (he rubs me the wrong way – not personable). Unfortunately FOX Sports One keeps showing commercials with him in them. Let him go back to his ivory tower and stay there please.
So the conversations between Regis, the English chick and the African-American fellow on Crowd Goes Wild are very interesting and insightful. If we could get rid of the web chick (who seems like a cheerleader who failed at porn and got on this show instead), the guy with the tragic glasses (he looks like he’s trying too hard to look memorable, but he’s not added anything substantive to the show), and ‘funny’ guy from Detroit. If he knows something about sports and spends time speaking intelligently instead of trying to be funny he could be a keeper.
These little 10-15 second set shots with open mics in the midst of the commercial breaks on FOX Sports One are just DUMB. Why not actually let us watch the show instead of a barrage of commercials and promos?
You know professional broadcasting isn’t a job that ‘just anyone’ can do well. It requires talent. People can learn to read well, and can learn to dress appropriately, and can learn the moves/tricks, but without talent they will be lacking on air and need a partner. A talented broadcaster doesn’t need a partner/co-host. He or she is capable of handling a show solo. TV wants to blame the audience for declining ratings, but they need to look at the product also. Viewers used to trust television anchors. Viewers used to believe anchors were trustworthy and knowledgeable and capable. Now viewers typically consider anchors to be performers, not very different from reality tv people. Sadly, many of them have the talent, charisma, and ability of the average reality tv person. That’s a problem with marketing, promotion, perception and overall quality. Broadcasters used to understand and accept the responsibilities inherent in the job. They used to try to be top citizens in their communities and strive for class, intelligence and a pleasant personality. Now they just seem to want to get seen. If they were getting seen at their best I’d have no problem, but, like reality people they’re getting seen half-dressed and struggling for sanity. Hmph, it must be rant day today, because every time I think I’m finished ranting here I go again.
Darn! I’m late to watching qualifying. I couldn’t find it on the schedule. FS1 is really throwing things off for me. Sigh. Anyhoo, I’m watching it and so far I’ve managed to see two whole runs without a commercial, plus two interviews. I don’t think I managed that the entire time I was watching Nationwide Qualifying.
Doc Punch said most of the crew will fly back to Charlotte tonight, then fly back to Bristol tomorrow. They will then be able to work on Kyle’s car at 11am tomorrow. NASCAR has warned them they will have to put the car in the hauler for the night in a few minutes. Now over to ESPN (from ESPN2) for the Nationwide race. That was a rather mad qualifying session. Nicole, Ray and Rusty, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!!! Unfortunately Brad is there too.
You know it might seem like I don’t like comedy or funny things. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. I love to laugh and I think that’s the problem. I love to laugh and I get pissed off by unfunny. It’s all about the funny to me, but dumb isn’t funny, embarrassing isn’t funny, injurious isn’t funny, mean isn’t funny, ignorance isn’t funny, tacky/trifling isn’t funny, berating clothes & hair, not funny. I loved George Carlin, Mitch Hedberg, Richard Pryor, Sam Kinison and Bernie Mack. I love Lewis Black, John Pinette, Bob Marley, Chris Rock, Craig Ferguson, Jasper Carrott, and others. Like everything else in entertainment, I just ask you to have talent and learn your craft.
Ewwww Marty Reid. Yaaaaaay Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. DJ got his hair cut. Sharp-dressed men.
Next Race: Atlanta