Time For A Change In TV Land

On Monday afternoon reporter Nate Ryan from USA Today passed along the following information:

According to tomorrow's USA Today Page 3, overnight ratings for the Sprint Cup Series race at Texas on ESPN was 2.7, down 12.9% from last year on ABC.

This means that slightly more than 3 million viewers tuned-in to watch the action from Texas. Basically, each cable rating point equals 1.159 million homes and that includes live viewing and DVR results.

These results are not what NASCAR expected for the Chase. Regardless of whether the final ten races are on ESPN or ABC, the numbers should be significantly higher due to the nature of the sport and the tight battle for the season championship.

ESPN and NASCAR recently had a meeting in Charlotte, NC to discuss this situation. NASCAR's position was that the product being delivered to the TV network was solid and the action was made for TV.

ESPN's answer was that the network had exposed this product to a universe of 90 million cable TV homes. The telecasts had been produced in HD, featured a group of well-known personalities and had comprehensive pre and post-race shows.

Unfortunately, after Talladega and Texas it's clear that the final NASCAR TV product being delivered by ESPN is just not getting the job done. It's time for a shake-up in TV land.

We have seen SPEED switch things around on various NASCAR TV shows as the network auditions talent in new roles for next season. Sunday, we even saw a pit crew switched in the middle of the race simply for better performance. The bottom line is that it's the time of the year where there is nothing to lose.

There are twelve on-air personalities heading for Phoenix this weekend to work on the ESPN telecasts. This group will handle practice sessions, qualifying, two pre-race shows, a Nationwide Series event and then the Sprint Cup Series race.

Many of these on-air talent are very versatile. Some have previous experience in other roles in NASCAR telecasts than the ones they currently fill for ESPN. There are plenty of opportunities to shake things up and put people in different positions on some of the 13 hours of coverage that ESPN and ESPN2 will produce this weekend.

Inside the TV truck the situation is the same. It's time for another director to be given a chance to create a new perspective for the ESPN viewers and see how they react. The difference between the SPEED coverage of the truck series and ESPN's coverage of the Sprint Cup Series races from Talladega and Texas was stunning.

The sweeping camera shots, aerial perspectives, wide angles and focus on racing from SPEED was in sharp contrast to the tightly zoomed, carefully controlled and completely disjointed coverage from ESPN. It's time for a change.

Chad Knaus made a tough decision on Sunday that was based strictly on team chemistry and performance. He replaced one group of highly trained and experienced team members with another. No one ever mentioned that a specific member of the group was the source of the problem. It was simply time for a change.

ESPN is on the air Friday from Phoenix and originates telecasts through Sunday. This weekend is the next to last for the season. The finale in Homestead is always a bit different with lots of network management, public relations types and special guests in attendance.

If there was ever a weekend in which ESPN could shuffle the deck, shake-up the status quo and try some new things, this is it. Let's see if it happens. The first telecast is Friday at 2PM on ESPN2 with Sprint Cup Series practice. It could be a very interesting weekend.

We welcome your comments on this topic. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

TV Police: Sprint Cup Series On ESPN From Texas

This is the second week of honoring radio veteran Pete Pistone with our review and your comments of the TV telecast. This week, the Sprint Cup Series was racing at the Texas Motor Speedway on ESPN. It's time for the TV Police.

The pre-race show was certainly interesting. There were several long recorded features in the one hour program. One reviewed the military service of veteran owner Bud Moore and another used the Sports Science guys to detail horsepower and how an engine works.

Allen Bestwick led Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace through this hour with an emphasis on the three Chase leaders. It was a pumped-up Wallace and Daugherty who responded with high volume and lots of enthusiasm but not much more than that.

The highlight of this program was perhaps when Wallace explained that the monkeys brought in as a publicity stunt by TMS president Eddie Gossage had pulled a piece of paper out of Wallace's pocket and eaten it. "That was my Toyota contract!" he said.

ESPN has stuck with the same style of coverage for the entire Sprint Cup Series season. After Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree previewed the race, the three moved into concentrating on Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. Some may argue that once again the real emphasis was simply on Johnson.

Marty Reid immediately moved to watching the TV monitors in the booth as the endless tight shots from the director again forced fans of teams outside the top ten to simply follow the ticker on the top of the screen for updates. As usual, only a handful of cars would be featured.

The TV team missed several incidents on the track and again the delay between what actually had happened and what was being shown on the screen was substantial. Perhaps the most interesting was the incident between Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton.

Reactions ranged from Andy Petree saying quickly that Burton did it on purpose to Brad Daugherty celebrating the fact that the two drivers had briefly mixed it up after the incident. Burton's later explanation painted Daugherty as a fool.

In the later portion of the race, Hendrick Motorsports swapped pit crews with the #24 team now servicing the #48 car. This threw the TV team for a loop. No one could gather any facts, present any compelling pictures or even put this move into a historical perspective. It took Dr. Jerry Punch stepping out and getting involved to finally present some facts that put the move into context.

Bestwick often was used coming out of commercial to sort things out for the viewers before returning the telecast to Reid. It is very unfortunate that Reid is slaved to following the confusing and often misleading pictures from ESPN. Time after time, cars would appear on screen that had never been seen before.

As the race progressed, the classic situation continued. ESPN had to concentrate on the Chase and exclude the race. Fans of teams not in the Chase and not in the top ten were upset that their teams were never mentioned. This included Dale Earnhardt Jr. and other popular drivers. As we have said before, they simply cease to exist.

The TV pictures were fantastic as was the audio. ESPN has been having a great year in terms of television engineering. Also, thanks to Dr. Jerry Punch, the pit reporters played a key role in this telecast instead of being relegated to the background.

We all know the problems ESPN has been experiencing due to a variety of reasons. It's just frustrating that with declining interest and falling ratings this race was not used as an opportunity to bring some change to the TV telecast format.

There are only a handful of races left, so give us your comments on what you thought of this race telecast. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series From Texas (2:00PM - ESPN)

Last week the Sprint Cup Series put on the kind of show at Talladega that used to draw a full house. Instead, the stands were noticeably empty and the TV ratings fell almost 25%. This has been a very tough year for NASCAR, ESPN and the Chase.

Today, the later start time for the TMS race will allow both the pre-race and the race coverage to be on ESPN. There have been no changes in the network's on-air line-up despite the struggles with the ratings. That has been the style of ESPN for the last four seasons. Changes are made in the off-season.

In the NASCAR Countdown pre-race show, Allen Bestwick and his endless enthusiasm for the sport are mixed with the offbeat comments of Rusty Wallace and the politically correct words of Brad Daugherty. This trio has accomplished little in the past four seasons.

Wallace arrived in the infield after a fractured stay in the broadcast booth. His role as the lead analyst was quickly changed after his comments proved to be driven by his personal relationships with the drivers, teams and owners involved. In the end, ESPN removed him for the fresh presence of Dale Jarrett.

Daugherty came along in the new TV contract and was quickly dubbed "The voice of the fans" by Bestwick. Daugherty may be politically connected and a current Sprint Cup Series team owner, but on TV he is a dud. His enthusiastic back-slapping for the sport adds nothing in terms of information and he has worn out his welcome.

Bestwick ends his segments by passing the telecast to Marty Reid, the new play-by-play announcer for NASCAR on ESPN. Taking over from Dr. Jerry Punch, Reid came in with support from fans and the media, including this blog. After a relatively harmless Nationwide Series stint, the wheels came off for Reid once the Sprint Cup Series coverage began.

Now openly taunted by fans online, Reid's issues with the longer races and his lack of NASCAR knowledge surfaced quickly. When Jarrett and Andy Petree are not providing him information, Reid struggles to provide the kind of exciting commentary for which he made his name. Whether driven by orders from the management of lack of chemistry in the TV booth, Reid has simply been watching the TV monitors and talking about what he sees.

Jarrett and Petree continue to provide solid information and analysis, but have not meshed with Reid in terms of creating dynamic live sports television. It should be interesting to see what ESPN shakes-up during the winter.

As most readers of this blog know, the veteran NASCAR on ESPN producer was terminated after being arrested in Connecticut several weeks ago. ESPN's other line producer had already left the series for personal reasons. Now, the producing of the races is up to a young lady who was serving in a management role.

Last week at Talladega it became very clear from communications overheard from the TV truck that things were a mess. The producer was unclear several times on who was leading the race. The situation on the last lap left her in a lurch. Her lack of leadership and problem solving ability was the buzz all week long.

Texas poses the challenge of action that unfolds quickly on a track that will test the patience and the tires of the teams. Goodyear is nervous because of the speeds, NASCAR is nervous because of Chase implications and ESPN is nervous because of the ratings.

Dr. Jerry Punch, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch are the pit reporters. For all the drama in the booth and the TV truck, the pit reporting team has flown under the radar. No incidents with drivers this season, no big errors and no hype-driven agendas. It seems that the presence of Punch has brought this group together.

While SPEED is making all kinds of changes in on-air personalities to set-up next season, ESPN is going to finish the season with this team intact. It should be very interesting to watch the chemistry and hear the conversations between all the participants in this ongoing soap opera.

Thanks to Martin Truex Jr. and his team for the picture of the special car that he will run today in support of a $250 thousand dollar donation to the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation from NAPA. The car has the names of over 2400 survivors and victims of breast cancer written in pink on it.

This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from the Texas Motor Speedway. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.