Sunday, February 28, 2010

Mondays On SPEED About To Change


We finally received what is supposed to be the final revision of SPEED's expanded Monday night NASCAR block of programming Here is the official info:

NASCAR Race Hub will air at 7:30PM ET.

Nightly NASCAR show, set in the center of the NASCAR racing community (Charlotte, NC), pools the talents of SPEED’s extensive stable of on-air personalities to deliver a 30-minute casual visit with the sport’s hottest stars and most influential players.

Fast Track to Fame will air at 8:00PM ET.

It’s the wildest collection of talent ever assembled at NASCAR tracks. Singers, dancers, comedians and a whole lot more perform in front of three judges. The judges will be Riki Rachtman, a former rocker and host of radio's NASCAR 24/7; Hollywood talent manager Kathy L. Carter; and a weekly guest judge culled from NASCAR's many personalities. The show will be hosted by Michael Waltrip and Fox/FSN on-air talent Charissa Thompson. Fans looking to be contestants on the show should sign up for an audition at www.fasttracktofame.com.

The Racing Chef with chef Nicky Morse will air at 9:00PM ET.

Host Nicky Morse is a colorful, entertaining and talented five star Chef who will take viewers beyond the basics of grilling and tailgating. Each week, Nicky will find a variety of people to share stories, food and cooking tips. The Racing Chef will visit local establishments, prepare signature dishes and share the general love of NASCAR racing and food with the drivers, teams and fans.

Sounds of NASCAR hosted by Steve Byrnes will air at 9:30PM ET.

This all access show will give viewers the opportunity to see and hear the stories behind the race. This show will capture conversations with drivers, crews and officials not only during the race, but also during practice or qualifying sessions. It will be insightful and entertaining as viewers experience the perspective of those who participate in NASCAR. Although the racing radio conversations will present the most dynamic moments, it is the routine conversations behind the scenes which will give the show a unique texture.

NASCAR in A Hurry Monday Edition will air at 10:00PM ET.

This show recaps the highlights of Race day from the early morning through the victory lane ceremonies. It’s all the best moments edited into a fast paced review of the day. If you missed the race day, NASCAR in a Hurry get’s you caught up in 30 minutes!

What’s the Deal will air at 10:30PM ET.

Jimmy Spencer answers the often asked question around NASCAR racing, “What’s the Deal”. In a fun and sometimes teasing way, there are always a variety of events or moments which prompt you to ask “What’s the Deal”. As the saying goes, “it’s just one of those racing deals”, so goes this show. For Jimmy Spencer, it is easy to have an opinion and this show will provide a platform for him to talk to viewers/fans about NASCAR racing and other topics. Jimmy is passionate about NASCAR racing and he came from the “school of hard knocks” as he worked his way through the sport as a driver. Jimmy represents the fans who want to see their drivers put it on the line every race. His style is simple: be yourself and speak your mind.

SPEED released this information late on Friday morning. This perhaps suggests conversations continued this week about how best to put this line-up together.

TDP will update this post if any other information is available. In the meantime, what are your thoughts after reading about these new TV series on SPEED? To add your opinion on this topic, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, so please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Only good thing to say about it is that it's not more Pinks.

That talent show just sounds so mindless. Why do we need another show like this on any channel, let alone Speed?

The Sounds of Nascar sounds like it might have a bit of interesting pieces to it. I guess we'll see.

Scott W said...

I see Jimmy is batting clean up on Monday. I guess since Jimmy is the butt of a lot of jokes it's only fair to have him last in the Monday night line up. It will take a strong individual or someone one with nothing else to do to make it through that line up before turning the channel. Good luck Speed TV! Hope it works for you.

Newracefan said...

Love Mikey hate talent show so a skip for me. Like the idea of an entire evening of Nascar but except for the Sounds of Speed, Race Hub and maybe Nascar in a Hurry I'm not impressed. I see David Hill's hand in this big time, and not in a good way.

Donna DeBoer said...

Race Hub stays on my DVR list. I will give Sounds of NASCAR a try because it's supposed to be an extended version of Radioactive, a feature I really liked since I can't monitor everyone's scanner.

The rest of it I have already tried and rejected or have no interest in. Too bad about Racing Chef, I'd DVR if it were moved to The Food Network. Doesn't belong on SPEED.

West Coast Diane said...

May give "Sounds of NASCAR" a try. Like Steve Brynes. The other shows...nope. Not interested.

Shows like 24/7, Nascar 360 (think that's what it was called) are interesting because it is about the drivers and the sport. Those I would watch again.

Anonymous said...

Only shows in that lineup that actually are worth even checking out and and watching is Racehub and Sounds of Speed. Nascar in a Hurry is all right too but not that much difference is there between Racehub and Hurry? Sounds of Speed sounds cool though.

Seriously a cooking show and a talent show? Are you kidding me? Where's the correlation to speed? Will we viewers be timed to see who can turn the channel fastest? LOL

Dannyboy said...

At least there seems to be some organized thought going on. Whether you're interested in a cooking show or "NASCAR Idol" or not, the sequence seems intended for modern TV audiences, namely, short attention spans. See: Sesame St., Seinfeld, or NBC Olympics.

Will miss Pass Time, which even my non-racing wife enjoys here & there, but thank goodness for a night without Uniquely Dangerous Wrecked Chopped, Cut & Rebuilt Pink Supercars Exposed.

darcie said...

Oh my heaven, Speed is turning into a combination of Fox's American Idol and the Food Channel. Not what I want to see. Well, at least it's not NOPI or Hardtails.

What is it about Michael Waltrip that gets these guys so ferklempt? I thought Danica was overexposed, but now it Mikey all the time, and that's not good. Now I see that he's also writing a column for Nascar Illustrated. Sorry, but I cannot stand that man being shoved down our throats at every turn.

Race Hub and Sounds of Nascar will be the only shows I'm interested in and will be the only ones I Tivo.

red said...

sounds of nascar is the only possibility & that's only b/c of byrnes. all the rest? nope, not interested.

racehub has lost me, couldn't care less about "talent show", married to a chef so no to the cooking show, spencer gives me a headache.

what happened to solid shows about the SPORT of nascar? missing nbs 24/7 and nascar360 big time. i guess speed's bought into the "dumbing down" of nascar -- sad.

JohnP said...

Ferklempt. You made me run to the dictionary on that one. Lol. Good choise of words.

With this new line up I know there is nothing on Speed left on Monday nights.

Speed has become down right fatuous.

Sophia said...

never a fan of Hub.

Nor other new nonsense.

WILL try to remember Sounds of NASCAR only because I like SByrnes.

Hotaru1787 said...

Finally, official lineup. You have no idea how many different forms of the lineup (DVR guide, then Yahoo TV, and finally on here) I have seen. They all said different things (wrote the first version down, and now the paper is colorful, with all the revisions- in different colors!)

Like I've been saying, hardly any of these new shows interest me:

'Fast Track To Fail... I mean Fame'- Hate Idol since the beginning, so a definite miss for me. Plus, more Mikey! Do we really need more of his irritation? I think not.

'The Racing Chef'- Wrong network, uninterested.

'Sounds Of...' Possibly the only show of the new three that has to do with NASCAR. 1/3 of the ones premiering Monday... sad.

Glad they put the Spencer trainwreck on 10:30, I'm usually watching something else.

Let's face it, this schedule doesn't really have a lot of promise.

Anonymous said...

The only way I'd watch a cooking show on SPEED was if it was Gordon Ramsay from Hell's Kitchen...He could read all the vendor's the riot act at the track..."Your funnel cakes are S*#T!", now that would be worth a watch...

Uh oh, hope David Hill doesn't see this for a new show idea. "Hell on Wheels Kitchen!"

Anonymous said...

So the next Carrie Underwood, Daughtry or Jennifer Hudson is going to come from an unorganized talent show held in a tent at a NASCAR track with Riki Rachtman and Mikey Waltrip as judges on a niche cable network? Yeah... good luck with that Hill. Same with the joke of a cooking show.

Drive away all the auto racing fans from the auto racing network, fail at attracting new fans and leave no one at all watching the channel. Sounds about right based on David Hill's horrible track record.

Weak.

Anonymous said...

That line up sucks! I guess my distaste of Speed will continue on Monday nights until they come to their senses and bring back TWIN

Anonymous said...

TWIN was supposedly cancelled because it "wasn't connecting" with the NASCAR fans. And Speed's way of re-connecting to those NASCAR fans is Fast Track to LAME and the Racing Chef? REALLY??????

Anonymous said...

The only one that sounds remotely interesting is Steve's show.

@red--agreed! The 24/7, 7 Days, 360 shows were GREAT! One of my favorite 7 Days was the Indy one and how they do the personal banners for each team and stuff.

@anon 2:11--*giggle* I know I'd LOVE to see Gordan do that! That would be so hilarious!

I want to time warp back to 2K/2K1/2K2/2K3 where I could turn on SPEED and *hold on to your seats ladies and germs* actually SEE racing related shows! Regardless of the day or night! That's where I fell in love with the Rally boyz.

Peg Wiggins said...

No Thanks !
What the heck has happened to SPEED's NASCAR coverage?
Sunk to a new all-time low.

I'll be watching the Weather Channel.

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't "Sounds of NASCAR" be called "Sounds of the 48, Junior, and the winner"?

No thanks.

The Loose Wheel said...

Like someone said already, this is a lineup directed at short attention span viewers. Shame shame shame, the only must watch for me in this mix is Sounds of NASCAR. Sounds like an NMG piece which always does quality race racap/informative shows.

Sally said...

Someone is kidding, right? No one really thinks that a 'talent' show and a cooking show are what fans of racing want to see. I find I'm highly offended that anyone would think this mindless pap is appealing. Methinks that Speed needs to return to it's roots....which used to be covering all sorts of racing, not peddling 'lifestyle' shows.

GinaV24 said...

Well, the new show "sounds of NASCAR" hosted by Steve Byrnes would be the most promising of the shows for me. RaceHub has disappointed me lately and the talent and cooking shows aren't going to be "must see" tv for me.

The time changes may help since it isn't so early in the evening when they come on.

Jonathan said...

I cant stand American Idol and all the other shows like it! Why a talent show on speed???? this is stupid. But hey i guess ill have to watch it first and see but just glad to see speed adding more nascar shows. The pinks and barret stuff drive me insane!

darcie said...

I will say if this stupid talent show can fine ONE person who can sing the National Anthem without butchering it, then maybe it would work. Why is it that when anyone sings "Oh, Canada",they never, ever try and put their own spin on it. It's sung the way it's supposed to be, without jazzing, rapping, or screwing it up like they do to our anthem.

Richard in N.C. said...

Monkey see, monkey do. It sure seems that every channel now has a food and/or contest show since they've been successful elsewhere. I guess programmers have to recycle old ideas before moving on to considering new ideas. On the glass-half-full side, at least SPEED is willing to devote more airtime to NASCAR.

Word Verification = brest. No comment.

Anonymous said...

red- In 3 sentences you solved the puzzle that Speed still can't put together.

Do I want to watch a cooking show on a racing channel? No. That's for Food Network

Do I want to watch a talent show on a racing channel? No. Make it a 15 minute gag on Trackside.

Do I want to watch NASCAR in a Hurry and watch the same footage again? No. Thats for Victory Lane & Race Hub

Do I want to listen to Jimmy Spencer go off on random rants in a cramped set with an overwhelmed Ray Dunlap? No.

So what should Speed be looking for? Let us see the crew men and women at the shop that make it possible to come to the track and perform each week. Let us look back at the history of the sport. Let us see any type of racing.

smokegurl14 said...

Glad Steve Byrnes has a show. I like him. That's about the only other one I'd watch along with Race Hub. I don't like talent shows,I don't cook so dont care about a cooking show,don't care for Jimmy S, watch and read enough about NASCAR I don't need the other shows.

red said...

@buschseries61: what i just can't wrap my head around is this: there's SO much history available to speed and it could make for a fantastic show! i've said it before; these men & women aren't going to be with us forever & sadly, suitcase jake's recent death just confirmed that yet again.

why not do some version of the humpy wheeler show? sit 'em down, ask a question, then sit back & let 'em tell their stories. it's be perfect for longtime fans and a GREAT introduction to our sport for newer fans.

seriously: how tough could this be? there's got to be two dozen places around the speed studios where two chairs and a lighting package could be set up and it'd be un-freakin'-believeable!

but nope. we get "programming" that's insulting to us as fans. i guess it's a case of "hey! we have options! let's do something unbelieveable! let's copy network tv and cable food programs! that'll work for nascar fans!"

uh, no.

Anonymous said...

David Hill and Speed should put JD in charge. He used to work on a TV you know! JD, you should post your resume and some of your ideas up here on the site so DH knows who you are!

C'mon people, whose with me?

GinaV24 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
GinaV24 said...

Anon 9:00 p.m. -- I'd vote for putting JD in charge! But only if he wants it.

the word veri is "unrest".

Yes, NASCAR fans are fomenting revolution and unrest. Down with David Hill and lousy programming on Speed.

GinaV24 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Daly Planet Editor said...

Anon 9PM,

I first met David Hill when he was still a sports producer for an Aussie TV network. Nice guy.

Talked to him once since then about the British Touring Car Series.

Hill has put lots of good things in place on this side of the pond and made an impact on the American TV scene.

I am certain his oversight of SPEED will lead them in new directions. We are seeing that already on Monday nights.

JD

Anonymous said...

What a disaster ... Wish TWIN was still on. And after tonight's Trackside where they all acted like a bunch of junior high school boys, I'm seriously thinking of canceling my subscription to SPEED.

Anonymous said...

How many of these shows will DW pop up on? I'm definitely suffering from DW fatigue.

Peg Wiggins said...

Great comment, share your DW fatigue!
He can be so insightful; but then on the other hand, goofy.

bknotts said...

Years ago, when cable TV grew rapidly, we had a number of new channels, which meant there was now an opportunity to "narrow-cast" more than in the past.

It looks like we've gotten past that phase, and now, with more channels than ever, we are returning to Lowest Common Denominator programming everwhere, but now on 200+ channels.

To those who complained about TWIN...are you happy now?

Anonymous said...

To Goat at 12:51

I am probably one of those people to whom you asked your last question. However, like most people who complain about the loss of TWIN, you misstate the facts. People like me did not complain about TWIN----we complained about Michael Waltrip. MW went off the deep end after Ken Schrader left the cast. The show was only called TWIN. A more accurate name would have been The Michael Waltrip Show.

People like me noted the deterioration of the show along with the growth of MW's ego and bad manners. When we criticized MW, his fans suggested we stop watching if we didn't like him. And we did stop watching. Are YOU happy now?

My personal view is that Speed should have followed its own rules and ditched MW from TWIN this year because he was no longer an active driver. They could have replaced him with someone else, anyone else. I think many of the fans like me would have returned.

However, someone at Speed seems to think that MW is the franchise. And that no doubt is one of the reasons nobody ever told him to tone down his act.

Am I happy that TWIN is gone? The question is irrelevant. It doesn't matter to me. I haven't watched it for three years. It makes no difference to me whether Speed airs the Michael Waltrip Show or not. It does not matter to me what other people watch.

I do confess to some mild amusement at the wailing and gnashing of teeth by MW fans. They thought MW was the franchise, and he became that. But if he was the franchise, its failure in ratings must be laid at his feet.

bevo said...

The only show I watch now is Inside NASCAR on Showtime. The producers have put the reigns on MW and the result has been excellent. Pemberton has been a great addition and even Myers has pulled back from his shtick although he still manages to get one or two idiotic pieces of "humor" through.

Hope even Jimmy Spencer can read the writing on the wall that's crashing down on him. Once SPEED dumps him that will be it for him on tv.

Unknown said...

Singers, dancers, and comedians? Oh my! I thought that's what we got on NASCAR Raceday built by the Home Depot. Kenny Wallace is an idiot, thinly disguised as a race driver. So why would I watch the same thing on Monday nights?
Kenny Wallace:"Race fans, I am going to talk to you as if you are in the third grade. Also, I am a name dropper. The late, great Dale Earnhardt once told me..... blah blah blah."

Chris from NY said...

Pros:

Leaving "Race Hub" as is

Moving "What's the Deal" to a late slot where I won't watch

Addition of "Sounds of NASCAR"

Cons:

"Sounds of NASCAR" should be after "Race Hub"

The fact that "Fast Track" and "The Racing Chef" even exist. "Fast Track" should never have been conceived and "The Racing Chef" sounds like it belongs on Food Network

Peg Wiggins said...

To Anonymous @ 3:32 am, though I do not know who you are, I agree with you totally & completely!
I missed Ken Schrader after he left. And when I answered a question on Twitter in regard to Michael Waltrip, he blocked me forever!
At first I felt shunned; but it turned out to be a relief.
I should have 'unfollowed' him sooner.