Sunday, February 11, 2007

Hollywood Hotel: Time For Change


When Fox Sports rolled out the Hollywood Hotel, it seemed that expanding the pit road presence to include a mobile studio was a good idea. The announcing team was new, the Fox presence in NASCAR was new, and most of the broadcast network audience was new as well.

Now, as Fox swings into the 2007 season, things have changed. SPEED Channel has its own at-track location for its myriad of pre and post-race shows. ESPN has come aboard, taking the entire Busch Series exclusively, and establishing a huge presence at every event. Internet bloggers and websites update video and information almost instantly from the track all weekend long.

The original need for the Hollywood Hotel is gone. A more effective pre-race show could be hosted by Jeff Hammond alone, and feature the four NASCAR on Fox pit reporters, and the broadcast team of Larry Mac and DW. Hammond has become a polished television professional, who is clearly under-used during his caution flag appearances and his hectic Cut-A-Way car updates.

With Hammond in the Hollywood Hotel, guests could be hosted without the corny and awkward antics of Chris Myers. There are a number of interesting people at every NASCAR racing weekend, and Hammond's down-home style and laid back manner would put anyone at ease. It certainly would be a welcome sight to greet a new guest and hear new opinions from the Hollywood Hotel, rather than face a grinning Chris Myers who consistently brings the racing intelligence level of the telecast down significantly.

With the Daytona 500 looming, it will be interesting to see if the lessons learned from the Bud Shootout result in any significant on-air changes at the Hollywood Hotel.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen!!! Chris Myers needs to head back to a sport he knows something about.

Anonymous said...

Somebody hire Alan Bestwick, because he is a class act. Speed made a big mistake when they got rid of AB.

Anonymous said...

AB is going to be a part of ESPN's coverage, I thought? Didn't they announce that last year when ESPN released their announcing teams? I don't believe he's doing play-by-play, but he will be handling pit reports and Victory Lane (a COMPLETE waste of his talents)

Anonymous said...

Chris is a good guy;but.....lets get someone in there that is more in tune with the racing public.

Anonymous said...

Somebody at Fox needs to grab Buddy Baker, fire Waltrip and beg Buck's boy to be a PhoneCup color commentator again. He told things as they were, something NASCAR didn't like and did it in a very humourous way. Just listening to Buddy tell a fast story "Flatout and Half Turned Over" makes me simle.

As to the "Hotel", I don't turn up the volumn on the TV until it's almost time for the race to start. Frankly, I can't stand the mindless drivel that the Pre-Race Show has become.