Sunday was the first of six Sprint Cup Series races on TNT. The new music theme was "TNT" from AC/DC.
Lindsay Czarniak, Larry McReynolds and Kyle Petty started the show from the infield stage. The pre-race show contained a mix of features, live interviews and a discussion among the analysts.
Weather was threatening and hit on the pace laps. The race was red flagged and Czarniak and McReynolds moved to an indoor studio location that TNT would not disclose. They hosted the rain delay, despite experiencing an audio problem for several minutes.
The pit reporters were Ralph Sheheen, Marty Snider, Matt Yocum and Phil Parsons. These four arranged a lot of interviews with drivers and TNT mixed them with several features that were repeated, including "Wally's World" during the rain delay.
Once things got underway, it was Adam Alexander, Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach Jr. in the booth. This was the first outing for Alexander in this role. Alexander was calm in his approach, but kept the facts straight and did a good job of directing traffic.
Petty and Dallenbach had an on-going conversation. These two kept things upbeat, despite the fact that the race had long stretches with limited passing and few storylines. The booth did not mention the "start and park" cars. Before the restart with XX laps to go, the trio in the booth came back on camera for a recap.
TNT worked the pit reporters, but also offered a dedicated pit reporter (Jim Noble) for online viewers watching RaceBuddy at the NASCAR.com website. This four camera feed with some added features is a TNT creation and will be on all six races.
The network continues to add some additional graphics like plylons that mark pit out and other areas of the track. There was only one graphics crawl on the screen and it stayed consistent for the race. Additional graphics highlighted individual cars with live information.
This is a great opportunity for you to tell us how you liked the TNT coverage and the RaceBuddy application. To add your comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.
After this very long day, thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet with your comments.
81 comments:
I thought the coverage was decent, overall. PBP wasn't bad, I enjoy Kyle and Wally's two cents. Pit reporters did well. They did a great job of covering the Logano-Harvick shenanigans.
The presentation overall just looked better to me compared to FOX.
Never thought I'd even think this let alone say it but "Boy do I miss FOX"
What a sorry group of announcers. Thank god Wally and Kyle were there. I can't believe we have to listen to these clowns.
I like RB but it locked up at the end so I closed it down. I had the sound up on it earlier but never heard anything but maybe it's my computer. What a mess at the end of the race. Good first race on TNT I think AA needs, and along with VW, to read the book, Play By Play for Dummies!
Far superior from anything FOX did this year. Nice wide angles, actual coverage of pit road(a first this year). Actual coverage on stragity of the teams(a first this year). I got to actually see pit's with the pit reporters talking about the action I was watching. Wow-almost forgot what that was like. No obsessing on 20 and 30yrs ago from the booth. It was, here and now coverage and not slobbering about the past. So overall, very very far superior producting from TNT vs Fox's coverage. Thanks TNT-Very much enjoyed the race. Hope all those drivers are ok, that was a hard hit into a non-safer wall.
Good coverage that, unfortunately, fell apart in the end....both in the booth and in the control room.
Also a bad weekend for pit reporters turned PxP men.
OK I'm always going to be biased if AC/DC are involved but I really did think the TNT coverage was very refreshing compared to the stale offerings we've been served up by Fox this season.
As an overseas viewer I found wally's World track feature very iformative. I felt the music, graphics, presenting, reporting and commentary all combined excellently to freshen up the coverage.
Personally I felt that the most interesting aspect of the coverage was the way that drivers and crew chiefs responded to reporters questions throughout the broadcast. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I felt the majority of them were more open and showed more character throught the broadcast in comparison to the stale PR line we are fed when they're interviewed by fox reporters.
Sadly there didn't seem to be any reduction in advert breaks which are still far far far to frequent for us Brits. Although the over the mike ads did seem fewer.
Overall, the coverage was good except for Kyle Petty. He thinks he's the only one in the booth that knows anything about racing. He wants to be the center of attention like DW. He tried his best to take over the entire broadcast. It's a shame we're gonna have to put up with him now!!
There is a lot to nitpick regarding the coverage but I got what I wanted. I got to see the race and didn't have to use other sources to know what was going on on the track. I expected and got mistakes due to it being the first race and TNT doesn't do this on a regular basis. I'll take this race coverage with all the warts when compared to Fox's horrible camera work and loud mouthed booth.
Excellent camera work except last 20 laps when somebody discovered the in car/bumper cam button. :(
Still good pictures for the most part. RBuddy kept freezing up and at the end server crashed or something so turned RB off. Needs to be able to handle traffic or something..could see END of races on Racebuddy last year...needs some tweaking.
Not a fan of some on the air in booth or asking questions on drivers. Sheesh. TNT shoulda stuck with last years booth/pit guys imo.
I misse Ralph in the booth and Wally & Kyle didn't show a lot of their "Woah" stuff until last few minutes.
Still HUGE IMPROVEMENT over Fox's coverage (Due to THEIR DREADFUL selection from truck videos--my MAIN Gripe there!! so I quit watching races live) & I enjoyed just having the tv on for the most part ..and second screen of RB.
Today is the FIRST TIME I tried watching LIVE since Talladega, which I did not enjoy due to BUTCHERED camera work.
I enjoyed the entire race except for some BADLY PLACE in car cam stuff towards the end.
Thanks TNT
I have some old VHS tapes of Daytona 500's if these guys need to hear how great a race could sound on television. Ken Squier had (and still has) PIPES.
Cameras : A
Picture Clarity: A
Audio : B
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Welcome back TNT! They did the best they could with a typical Pocono race.
Kyle Petty: Welcome back! Slow down a little bit when speaking, otherwise I enjoy Kyle in the booth
Wally: Welcome back! Love his dry humor & he works great with Kyle.
AA: Sorry, but today was bad. Adam is a fantastic reporter, but I don't think he should jump to play-by-play so soon. Especially since Ralph did a great job last year and was already working with Kyle and Wally. Adam asked a lot of questions and did little play-by-play. The bad humor and cliches should be left in the Pocono Mountains. It seemed like he was trying to impersonate a play-by-play announcer with the painful cliches. Hopefully next week will be better.
Pit Reporters: They were used today! Loved the through the field updates. Yocum did great with the Kasey Kahne interview. Ralph did great with the Logano interview. Phil with Harvick...not so much. He let Harvick slide through with no hard questions.
Infield studio: It worked. I enjoy Larry in the infield and away from DW. Lindsey did great in the pre race and RaceBuddy.
RaceBuddy: I wish it was here all season long. The camera shots were incredible during the rainstorm
Ooops forgot to add 1 criticism.
Whenever the booth handed over to the technical guy in the pits the shot was much too wide and seemed to concentrate on getting the presenter in the picture rather than showing a close up on what he was talking about.
If you're going to break away from coverage to explain something to us then please show us the issue concerned and not some guy holding a bit of metal. For example the splitter issue. Ok I now understand about putting a spacer in the shock to limit travel - but why not show it close up so I can see what the mechanics have to do.
As I said in the Live Blog I like the overall TNT Product no hype just talking and showing racing AA could be better and yes we could have more PBP but I think TNT and Turner as a whole put out good broadcasts of all their sports properties and AA will probably get better with time ... if not Ralph gets a promotion
On a scale of 1 to 10, I'll give the overall TNT broadcast a 7. A few minor glitches, but not enough to over-shadow the great parts. I don't believe I ever gave Fox much more than a 5 this year.
Big improvement over FOX. I'm beginning to think PxP is impossible because of the director's choice to constantly shift cameras. JA choked a few times, but there were times when he started to talk about something that wasn't on the screen anymore, and that doesn't work either. Lack of post-race will be TNT's biggest flaw. They just don't care.
NASCAR.com sucks the big one. Made the mistake of going over for the "post-race show" that didn't happen. Tried to watch the Pressers, but they were inaudible. At least I know not to go back there, ever.
There were a lot of big stories at the end here. Too bad they'll never be covered in a timely manner.
I enjoyed all of TNT today. From the pre- race show that dealt with - the race! The rain delay was interesting, it had a good mix of the news, interviews, & the Richard Petty being interviewed was good to see again, since its been a year.
The wide shots ( oh there were wide shots!)
the non vertigo inducing single crawl on screen,a rodent free zone, all of it was really good. The few audio snafus were there but no big deal, considering how bad the weather was in the area. It could have been worse, way worse.
Then there was the end, we saw cars cross the finish & wrecking ( and got the update everyone was ok) We got post race interviews, We got good race coverage. Yes while watching & using RaceBuddy I had a few gripes, yet none were so glaring I remember them now, so it must have been nit picking.
I used RaceBuddy because I wanted to not because I had to for info.
Good job TNT & Thank You for a pleasant race to watch. Now I'm gonna read the comments to see what others thought. Thanks again.
Good job TNT! Great direction and camera work! Well done. Plenty of wide angle shots that showed us the racing. Only ding on the camera work was at the end when the sun started going down. Do the cameras not have a brightness adjustment? Or was somebody in the truck just sleeping? Some shots were looking pretty dark on my tv at the end.
I really like Kyle and Wally in the booth. Those two are so much better than DW and Larry in that role. Really fun to listen to. I know it was AA's first time as PxP, but he was the weak link. Hope he can pick up his game going forward.
Larry's niche is the role he is in on TNT's broadcasts. He was great with the cut away car and explaining the technical aspects.
Good pit reporting until the latter part of the race. Matt and Marty were very good all day. But it seemed at the end of the race the pit reporters, booth, truck and everybody else seemed to be lost as to the strategy that was going on the last 20-30 laps. I think Phil is the weak link among the pit reporters. He asked a lot of "softball" questions, especially after the race with Kevin Harvick.
The bad:
I was hating the AC/DC song TNT by the third commercial break. That got old fast. I don't really understand why the networks all seem to need their theme music going into and out of commercials anyway.
I can't really think of anything else bad. I was a pretty boring race until the end. NASCAR needs to shorten this race to 400 miles.
All in all a good job by TNT. B+
I forgot to mention RB. I was having some minor problems with it freezing. And then the post race show I was having constant freeze ups. But during the race I enjoyed RB while it was working. Wish Fox and ESPN could use it.
I thought the broadcast was great. It's hard to fill gaps with a rain delay, but TNT did well. RaceBuddy was my favorite...and Twitterverse was a neat way to see tweets and it gave me something more to do while they filled the pothole.
The coverage was much better than anything Fox did.
Couple critiques:
Didn't like the choice of Mario Andretti for Pride of Nascar. He's definitely an open wheel legend but this was completely the wrong forum due to only having 14 Nascar starts in his career. In my opinion a true stock car racer would have been a more appropriate choice.
Also didn't like the graphics displaying the intervals both in seconds and feet for the featured battles on the race track. When there's just two cars on the screen and they're right next to each other a graphic showing .071 seconds or 5 feet 6 inches of separation is a bit of overkill in my opinion.
Comparing Apples (Fox) to Oranges (TNT):
On the whole, Oranges were a vast improvement over Apples broadcasts.
Some shortcomings here and there, but overall, a watchable and listenable (sic) show.
One broadcast does not make for a fair and balanced opinion, but Oranges booth guys were way better than Apples guys. The Orange camera shots were on par, if not better than the Apple images. The overall direction was Sweet Coconuts ahead.
It was like the Marx brothers at the end, but it was enjoyable.
Race on.
Number 1, I really enjoyed the camera work, after what fox forced on us. Not saying it could not improve, but it was so much better.
Number 2, sorry but I just can not take Larry Mac this soon after his stint on fox.
Overall, I enjoyed the race and did not have the urge to turn it off and do something else.
I thought TNT's coverage was a welcome, refreshing break from the garbage Faux tries to pawn off on us. No, they weren't perfect but there never is a perfect live event on TV. Kyle and Wally really click and like many have said you almost get the feeling they are watching it as fans. No agenda, no pulling for someone, no "Go Junier" like DW yelled at the end of the Daytona 500.
Adam did a OK job for his first attempt at PxP. I really felt like I watched a race instead of suffering through brain surgery that Faux puts us through.
Really enjoyed the looking back through the field and the pit reporters actually followed up on a lot of things happening in the pits. What a concept! When did Fox do that last?
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest I give them a solid 8.5.
Nice telecast overall. I'm glad they stuck around during the rain delay instead of going to a movie or something.
The only thing that I really missed was the pit road map showing which teams were to be covered by each reporter at the beginning of the race. TNT featured this in 2008 and 2009 and I hope they bring it back next week.
I enjoyed TNT's coverage and commentary way better than FOX's. Can't wait till next Sunday.
Liked today's coverage. TNT had a challenge with a race that went 4 hours 45 mins. without a 2 hour rain delay, and handled it very nicely. Alexander had a stellar debut, a few rookie mix-ups, but overall did very nice.
I think that when it comes to a balance between Play-by-Play and analysis and examples of good announcing period, all networks, FOX especially, should look at NBC's coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals. Great balance there-if this can be echoed in NASCAR we can be back to glory days.
One graphic I found really cool was the distance between cars in feet/inches as two cars were battling. I thought that was really cool.
Also liked the wider shots camera wise. Only saw in-cars used in replays and only a couple times after that. Usually saw at least 2-3 cars at once, with is really good considering how spread out they get at Pocono.
Overall loved today's broadcast and I am looking forward to next week's race.
I enjoyed the broadcast. For the past few years, TNT has really done very well. I also liked how they did during the delay. The only real problem I saw was the TORC car shots did not really show what Larry was talking about. And the weather in the backround was very distracting.
I watched coverage live all day, and must say it was refreshing. Felt like watching a race from 20 years ago. Unfortunately, much of the race was about as exciting as those from 20 years ago. I give credit for trying to keep things interesting, and I did not find anything annoying or making me want to change the channel. I will be a bit forgiving of AA, it is his first big go round, really needed more energy and excitement in his voice towards the end. Fortunately, Wally and Kyle seemed to be having fun from beginning to end. I must say, I think Ralph should have been the guy to go to, as he was a known quantity.
Overall, good presentation, way better than FOX, with some room for improvement, perhaps a better race will help (and I like Pocono as a rule! today, not so much)
Tom
Inverness, FL
For the first time since the season started, I could actually watch TV, listen to the guys in the booth, and KNOW what was going on --- without having to resort to mulitiple sources.
Thank you for that, TNT.
The camera choices were spot-on until the end when the wheels seemed to come off. But overall, camera choice was good.
Someone mentioned Larry and the cut-away car. I, too, wished the camera would get close enough that I could what he was talking about or showing us. I know what Larry looks like, TV truck.
Kyle and Wally just clicked. Adam had the "yips" --- just a bit anxious about doing PxP, I guess.
I thought the coverage was pretty solid, but there were several things that I was disappointed with ...
- The Countdown to Green did not feature the pit reporters as much as it used to. I thought that shortening the pre-race from 90 to 60 minutes would have tightened up the program, but, while the features and discussions were good, there weren't many pit reports until the rain delay coverage began.
- I also felt like the pit reporters weren't used as much as they could have been during the race. Pit stop coverage was AWESOME, but there were only 2 "Through the Field" segments and they only covered the Top 10 each time.
- Adam Alexander did an okay job ... I'd rather see him switch places with Ralph Sheheen though. It wasn't bad, but at times, the booth got quite and they stopped talking about what we were seeing.
- As others have said, the in-car cameras were definitely overused, at times, and there were a number of times that minutes went by with just one car on the screen.
- Too many commercials, as normal for the network.
- For taking their time after the race ended, there weren't many post-race interviews. I was a little disappointed with that. Lots of BS about the wreck and Hamlin, but no reports from many of the Top 10.
Despite this list, it was nice to NOT hear Waltrip, for a change. The booth focused on the racing, not themselves. Lindsay and Larry contributed rather well. Pit reporters were on their A game, and so was the production truck, for the most part.
I thought that the person calling the camera shots did a super job until the last few minutes of the race. Direction-A minus
The booth crew was refreshing. I think this shows why it would not be a good idea for one network to have all the races. People tire easily of the same diet and a change of menu is welcome. AA did a solid job. Just a little too quite at times. I always enjoy Wally and Kyle but the balance of talk seemed to lean towards them too much.
Booth--A minus
It was great to see the pit reporters utilized more and I thought that they all did a superb job. I always enjoy LarryMac's insights.
Pit Reporters -- A
RaceBuddy was neat. I did not have the chance to play with it last year. This would be great to have for every race. Took a little time to figure out the nuances.
RB -- A
It seemed that there were less commercials. I did not miss boggity boggity boggity but I did miss Crank It Up.
Overall a very solid first outing. Rain coverage was good. Pre-race show was enjoyable. I thought Lindsey did a good job. ESPN had better watch out, I think the bar has been raised.
Just want to throw this out there... the same person produces the Fox broadcasts and the TNT broadcasts... the difference is we have an actual race fan directing the TNT broadcast instead of having to suffer through Artie Kempner's obsessions for nice shots over race storytelling.
Watched the race. Actually watched and listened to it. Big change from first part of the year. No need to build up a gap so you can fast forward through. AA is learning about PxP. I would love to have seen Ralph kicking butt and taking names like last year.
I don't miss Fox Commercials with race breaks. I don't miss DW trying to interject himself into any angle he can. I don't miss cheerleading for his driver or sponsor.
Larry Mac supplied us with some good knowledge. The booth was good. Kyle/ Wally was great.
The positives far outweighed the positives on the previous coverage.
Left out-- The after interviews were great. Seemed to have many. Interviews throughout the day seemed alot more open and relaxed than other broadcasts.
NASCAR cannot continue to put Larry McReyolds on. He is a great person and he tries hard...the problem?.....he CAN'T speak correct english. NASCAR has to take the hillbilly out of the telecasts. Its a joke.
I enjoyed the coverage. I have to admit, I was NOT impressed with Lindsay as pre-race host. I think she does a much much better job as a pit reporter.
Phil Parsons in my opinion really has no business being on pit road. I think the column I read on Yahoo.Com sums it up pretty well.
I think Adam did an ok job. I give him a pass this week, to my knowledge this was his first time EVER as a PXP for a network broadcast.
Overall it was a nice broadcast. I always enjoy Wally and Kyle. I think they have really good chemistry, and give their opinions as needed.
One final question im still trying to figure out. Where did that studio come from that Lind. and Larry were in for the race? Was it hidden in the production truck somewhere?
I don't really have a ton to say about the broadcast than this; Bravo to Kyle Petty for not only admitting his wrong and putting the blame on Harvick, but apologizing for it. That is simply something you just do not see often in television.
I only caught the rain delay part of the broadcast. The "undisclosed location" had to be a trailer mounted studio that wasn't tied down. I was almost getting seasick from all the vertical motion in the windows.
Lindsay and Kyle did a good job on their first rain delay. They had enough stuff in the can and backup material from turning it into a painful ad-lib fest.
Mario Andretti is not a good spokesman for NASCAR because he didn't drive in enough races?
He won the bleeping DAYTONA 500! And he won it when it was the undisputed king of NASCAR races.
Anyway, I watched about 75 laps & had to go somewhere so I didn't get to see the end. What I did see was pretty much what I expected. I don't dislike any of the personalities involved and they did an OK job.
I'm really glad DW was tweeting from his living room, because I was able to go back and look at parts of the race and enjoy what DW had to say about it. Larry Mac & Lindsay were a nice change from the FOX crew, though there's not much chemistry yet, and the technicals were OK too. I thought some of the camera angles grew tired over the course of 500 miles, and TNT might think about a situation where they can maybe switch to alternates later in the race.
One comment slightly off topic: I watched the late replay of Victory Lane and found that contrary to what some folks on Twitter thought, Jimmy Spencer didn't say anything I thought was out of line in any serious way. I'm sure if you were a Joey Logano fan, or an AJ Almendinger fan you might have a different opinion, but I have no axes to grind in this regard.
Their interviews with the major players were well done.
I thought McReynolds did the best job throughout the broadcast. Double A did fine for his first outing. Lindasy was really rough. Speaking extemporaneously isn't her strong suit nor is her choice of words("Gil Martin 'operated'(?) Kevin Harvick to the top of the point standings..."). Wally didn't add anything but generalities we've heard a million times. Listening to Petty for 5-6 hours is an ordeal. He talks WAY too much and too fast. He steps all over everyone else. I thought TNT avoided taking on the weather issue in the pre race broadcast. Fox would show the weather radar and tell you what to expect. I knew we were in trouble when an hour before green flag,the cars were covered up in the garage.The booth avoided the issue. Kudos for helping us to see McMurrays accident by having a pointer on the screen showing the #1 car. It aggravates me when they show a replay and the accident is over before you can find the cars involved. Where was the interview with Almandinger after his stupid move at the end of the race??? A bunch of Chase contenders took a big hit with AJ's move. The lap tracker at the top of the screen,again had problems. They showed the exact same intervals for the top three for several laps before it got updated. Bottom line....tell Petty to keep it short and sweet!
Best race coverage of the year. You can actually enjoy the race, because you can follow the cars around the track, no jumping from in car to in car, not knowing what you are looking at. Great direction and you felt like a race fan again, you were informed not lectured. Kudos to KP for the apology, never hear that from DW and he is usually more wrong than right!
I can not remember much about the commentary which is a good thing The race isn't about the guys in the booth, it's about the guys on the track. The Fox guys think they are the show, the TNT guys realize they are there to highlight the show.
Didn't see as many graphics and clutter on the screen as Fox bombards us with. Another good thing.
Loved the consistent running order always with timing intervals. Nice.
Loved the wider shots (BLIMP SHOTS---where have you been all these years?)
Still puzzled as to why Sheheen wasn't kept in the booth this year. Adam didn't do terrible really, but Sheheen would have been SOOO much better.
Never get sick of hearing Wally and Kyle. I wish we could listen to them and Dale Jarrett ALLL year.
Was it just me, or was the video 'sharper' than Fox's? I'm on Dish Network, with a new Samsung I bought in the off season. Same provider, same set, but to me it looked like TNT's images were much sharper and of a higher resolution than what I've been seeing in the previous 13 races.
Also, I thought the blend of sound was skewed too much toward the cars. I often had trouble hearing the booth team over the engines.
Not a bad job of filling the rain delay, although I think they would have run into trouble if it had gone much longer.
Bottom line is, this is the worst track in NASCAr and it produces the worst racing.
Tv suffers as a result
Finally, decent coverage, decent commentary, decent camera work overall. Not nearly as many gadget shots as Fox. None of Jaws making the boradcast about himself. Larry only speaking when spoken to. None of moronic Myers nonsense. Considering I gave Fox an F- for their efforts, or lack of effort, TNT definitely had to come in with at least a B+ in not an A-. A few minor thing to work on but overall a great broadcast when compared to what we were served up by Fox band of buffoons.
On a side note, Mario Andretti was selected as the top driver of the 20th century, which says a lot. AJ Foyt came in at #2.
TNT coverage was just head and shoulders above Fox. I do not mis the big mouth of DW because he is always talking and does not watch the race. I even think Larry Mac did a good job when he does not have the clown DW next him. It was nice to hear race coverage and not DW talking about himself. Fox should watch TNT and see what a real race broadcast can be.
Huge improvement over Fox's coverage. TNT covered the race which is why I tune in, not to hear stories of DW's exploits. Professional broadcast that used the pit reporters and covered the stories of the day.
Adam was OK, but he seemed stuck in reporter mode to me, rather than doing the PXP, so I tuned over to MRN to get that part of things. It was his first time doing this for TNT so I'll give him a break, but I'd like to see that part improve.
And I don't miss Fox - not one little bit. I deliberately didn't watch Raceday because I didn't want to be subjected to the annoying duo of Kenny Wallace and Darrell Waltrip.
The best thing about TNT is RaceBuddy!! If only we could have that all season *sigh* with summer activities I'll be using it & not TV most of the time to watch races live. We were disappointed that it didn't work on iPad due to the Flash issue, we'll still have to lug laptops. I didn't have to use MRN at all, but I still used scanners.
This was a tough opener with rain delay, I thought TNT did well. I find MIS to be waaaaaaayy more boring than Pocono so we'll see how next week is handled. Personally I don't like LindsayC at all but thats just my taste. I thought a feature on Andretti in a NASCAR pre race was totally out of place! I HATE that TNT doesn't do hardly any post race, maybe more will be included online, RaceBuddy was active for quite awhile after.
"Refreshing" seems to be the word of the day, does it not? :-)
As much as I enjoyed the telecast for being much easier to follow due to far better camera use and traditional-style announcing, I must also say that this was not quite up to par with how TNT ended last season.
To focus on one element...at times, Adam Alexander was very good and, for some reason, reminded me of how Eli Gold used to handle races on TNN. At other times, he was very flat and getting into the type of monotone that we got from Dr. Punch in the play-by-play role or the 2010 version of Mike Joy. At times he seemed to fit right in with Kyle and Wally and properly hand off to them for discussion while at other times it was like he was not even in the same booth.
That being said, this was still miles better than what Fox gave to us this season on all fronts. Maybe I'm fooling myself but I get the feeling that TNT cares and at least tries to improve while Fox clearly shows that they think they know best no matter how many people complain or how far off the ratings fall. I also hold great hope for Adam and that he will grow very quickly into his role. It's just a shame that he only gets a mere handful of races in which to do it.
I know a lot of us wanted Ralph back as he was superb on short-term notice last year. Still, I'm pulling for Adam to make it work.
I personally am a huge fan of FOX's broadcasting, but I think TNT did an amazing job under the circumstances. They picked up on the most boring race of the season, the week after the two biggest. So overall I give them an A.
I thought the coverage was the best of the year. The guys didn't talk down to you, Larry Mac had a decent level of voice (not yelling the whole time) and the pit reporters were good. As far as I'm concerned, TNT needs to cover the whole season. Thanks TNT for treating the fans like we know something about racing. So wonderful to have Wally back. To make it perfect, put Allen Bestwick in the booth year round, and it couldn't get any better.
I enjoyed the race yesterday. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the fact that for the first time this year we saw a spin out live instead of a replay. TNT was smart enough to see Logano and Harvick racing hard and kept the camera on them until the inevitable. I have a feeling had it been Fox, they'd have been at commercial or showing the leader only at that point. I think TNT understands something Fox doesn't - the leader isn't doing the racing, the racing is going on behind him. And they did good at showing us the racing.
One promise they broke was when they said they'd give us an upate on the drivers in the wreck, but we didn't hear anything about them, except KK.
All in all it was very enjoyable.
Better than what Fox offered,the only bad thing for me,was no HD.I have cable and get the big 4 networks in HD.
We had family reunion yesterday and thanks to the rain delay,I got to see most of the race.
Terry
I was very surprised to see Phil Parsons doing interviews once the race started. I figured he would just do a few pre race interviews, then once the race started wait until the 3rd lap, unplug his microphone, collect his paycheck and go sit in his motorhome.
Race Buddy worked great for me - no freezes, no lockups. I wish we had it for every race, not just the TNT races.
What an improvement over FOX. I enjoyed the interaction in the booth a great deal. It was far more laid back; it was like the conversation I'd have with my buddies watching the race with a few beers. Loved Wally's World, but his constipated sounding "oohs" and "whoas" when he sees action on the track make it sound like he's in need of a whole lot more fiber in his diet.
awesome coverage but a few problems:
i tried race buddy for the first time and it hardly worked. and when it did work it sucked. it was terrible it was 10 laps behind the live coverage. what a waste
second where was the online post race ? still waiting on tnt to deliver on that promise
AA was a rookie. let wally talk over him. need ralph back
pre race was EXCELLENT. Awesome job actually talked about the race not pizzi.
I would love to know how the last poster was able to get RaceBuddy to work, because I never did. The video part never worked. As I reported yesterday in the live blog, it only worked for five seconds at a time after 15 to 20 seconds of buffering. I also had to keep refreshing the leaderboard.
That left me with the TNT coverage, which was not bad. I did not notice the overuse of in-car cameras; then again, maybe the producer and director were as bored as the rest of us between 20 laps to go and the Logano-Harvick crash.[sigh]
I will also be patient with Adam Alexander. It's possible that Ralph Sheheen told the network that, despite his splendid work last year filling in after the firing of Bill Weber, that he preferred to return to the pits.
What I find curious was the hiring of Phil Parsons as the fourth reporter in the pits. His utter lack of experience in this area showed yesterday. Why not Wendy Venturini or Bob Dillner?
RaceBuddy operates on Flash technology. Flash is not supported by iPad, but works on all other computers after a simple download.
When arriving at the NASCAR.com page for RaceBuddy, you should have been prompted to download Adobe Flash to make the video and audio streams work.
I ran RaceBuddy on a laptop for the entire event with no problems other than a lag that eventually grew to almost 30 seconds by race end.
There are five more TNT races using this feature. Please download Flash and then follow-up with us after the Michican event on this issue.
Thanks,
JD
I thought the coverage was pretty solid. I expected them to put Ralph Shaheen in the booth due to his experience in a PxP role but I have to say that AA did a solid job for his first time. I don't think he was as bad as other people did.
Remember Wally's first time in the booth? Now that was bad, but he's become a solid color guy and I think with a few races under his belt, Adam will be a solid PxP guy. And let's not forget, anything is better than Bill Webber, right?
I thought TNT did a great job, the piece on the pre-race about Mario Andretty was informative, I didn't even know he raced in NASCAR let alone won the Daytona 500.
The race coverage was good even during the rain delay. and I like AA in the booth along with Kyle and Wally. Kyle seems humble like when he admitted he doesn't know as much about the COT car because he isn't racing. DW seemed to think he knew everything and all he ever talked about was himself, Micheal Waltrip Racing and Dale Jr. I noticed in the last couple of Fox races Mike Joy who was there bright spot kept getting cars and drivers mixed up, something you wouldn't expect from a veteran. I could do with less of Larry Mac though, every time he opens his mouth he sounds like an idiot.
Note to Adam: You can Kurt Busch or Kyle Busch, OR You can say Kurt or Kyle, BUT you cannot say just Busch. EVER!
We don't know which one you mean and it's not our job to figure it out, it's YOUR job to be clear.
I enjoyed most of the race, I will say, it bothered me the lack of follow up as some have noted--Obviously some of that was being delayed. 'Dinger helped cause a big one and they really should have talked to him (or tried to.) No one even seemed to care to mention the 1 & 6 at any point after it happened. I think we need to give Adam some time; no one is perfect their first time out. Also, I've talked to at least one person who preferred his low-key delivery to some of the others. I don't think everyone will ever agree on *all* the broadcasters since we like different styles, but I thought Wally & Kyle were okay. Someone mentioned Kyle's little 'stutter' thing yesterday and it is true but I don't know who you break that; didn't really bother me. I think their banter with Adam will work itself out, knowing who's going to talk when, etc.
The wheels fell off a bit at the end, but considering NASCAR hadn't even figured out where everyone finished, it was not that surprising.
It was great to get away from Fox and DW. I thought Larry did a better job because he did not have DW there. I do not mind the way he talks or the fact that his English may not be perfect.
A couple of times I noticed they were showing one thing on the track but talking about another group of cars. Out of sync several times that way. Kyle Petty is like DW in that he jumps to conclusions sometimes rather than waiting for replay to describe what happened. And he needs to speak more slowly and calm down some. He does get hyper. Wally was great and Adam did an okay job. Overall, I think TNT did a good job and I am sure there will be improvement next race. Good pit reporting also.
I thought the TNT broadcast was top notch and far better than the horrible product that Fox puts out. No DW droning on all about himself and Toyota was refreshing, and the race had a lot better flow on TNT. I hope Fox was watching and taking notes.
Now if we can just get back to old school racing and real stock based cars to go along with the refreshing TNT coverage.
If FOX does not learn from this in 2011, they can all burn themselves. Despite a few questionable announcers, TNT did great. I liked Wally, Kyle, and Phil Parsons's jobs. But, these are a few growing pains after ESPN came in and seemingly took half of TNT's crew. You can't expect the best if you have to replace that many people. FOX, on the other hand, keeps the same crew and goes on the downhill.
I can't describe how refreshing it was not to constantly hear a Waltrip talking over everyone. That alone makes the TNT broadcast MUCH better.
Just my opinion:
I enjoyed the anthem. I think the singer should be named the official anthem singer of NASCAR.
The main thing for me is camera work. I want to see the race. TNT does a good job of showing me the race. As others have said, “I just want to see the race”.
The pre-race and the rain delay were done well.
I always enjoy Kyle and Larry Mac. I think the program was done well, as a whole.
Play-by Play Auditions:
I wasn’t thrilled by either one.
This was their first outing and I will judge after a few races.
Comparing them with Rick Allen isn’t fair. He is a veteran and wasn’t great when he first started.
I cringed when I saw Stewart being interviewed by Parsons after the race. I wonder what Tony the car owner thinks about Phil the start and parker.
Bravo to TNT for their efforts at a very long and boring race at Pocono. Usually the last 40 laps are the only ones worth watching. Why 2 races there??? Lindsey was fine, as she seems to recognize her limits, and wanted to be on board with the pros in the sport. Kyle is Kyle, and as always will tell it as he sees it, and back off if he realizes he made an error. Wally seems a natural in an announce booth, and Larry Mac is where he does his best work with chassis and engines. There can always be some glitches in live TV, but with TNT, not near enough to not watch, like it is with FOX. Fox could stand to take lessons as they have been outdone by a large margin.
Bravo to TNT for their efforts at a very long and boring race at Pocono. Usually the last 40 laps are the only ones worth watching. Why 2 races there??? Lindsey was fine, as she seems to recognize her limits, and wanted to be on board with the pros in the sport. Kyle is Kyle, and as always will tell it as he sees it, and back off if he realizes he made an error. Wally seems a natural in an announce booth, and Larry Mac is where he does his best work with chassis and engines. There can always be some glitches in live TV, but with TNT, not near enough to not watch, like it is with FOX. Fox could stand to take lessons as they have been outdone by a large margin.
No "boogity-Boogity-Boogity"! It gets an "A" just for that.
TNT's coverage was good for the massive amounts of nothing going on around the track. Adam did a good job for his first race in PxP but they really need to put Alan Bestwick back in the PxP position. Also i would love to see FOX go to daytona in July and TNT take the second half of the season and NASCAR drop ESPN because that coverage sucks
I followed the last half of the race on Race Buddy and really enjoyed it, except for no replays. Except for just a couple of momentary video breakups, I had no problem at all with R-Buddy, and really enjoyed Jim Noble. I t did take me a little while to get used to silence during commercials.
Except for Phil Parsons being in the pits, I enjoyed TNT's handling of the race - and don't feel I have to dislike FOX or TNT to enjoy the other.
Pocono is truly a dichotomy of a track for the spectator. If you've been there live, the first thing you question is, "Why did they build the grandstands on the backstretch?"
It's like watching a slow-moving tennis match on a HUGE court for the live fan. Binoculars, a telescope and NoDoze packed - check!
Pocono is also one of the high-teen-or-so 'best' cup events of the year if you like 500 miles of qualifying. Snore......
It's also a track where due to its configuration and length, the unexpected is expected, and to this end it usually delivers.
That said, I viewed only the TV presentation - "no frills", i.e., no Race Buddy or MRN, etc.
TNT coverage:
The Video - Very Good continuity; it's why we watch! Wide & wider shots place the participants so we can follow groups of racers and place their relative positions.
This was quite good video for a race where the participants get spread out quickly. TNT looked for groups of racers, which is what we do following a race when we're sitting in the grandstand.
Although a live fan has but one 'camera' (his/her eyes), their directional ability + peripheral vision can follow the race as it unfolds. TNT did a good job presenting this relational viewpoint.
Additionally, multiple camera selections and angles did well to place the viewer at different locations in the grandstands without losing the perspective of the racers' locations.
The Audio - Not all that bad, as in the booth guys. The close racing (restarts) was well described, although it was the director who 'described' it for us with the visuals, as it should be.
It's always easier for the guys in the booth when they have good direction and the powers-that-be don't set a predetermined storyline (hint.)
Discussion was spirited by the booth, and welcomed, when the cars spread out. The viewer was not denigrated to the lowest common denominator, which was a plus.
It's Always "Well Done" when the viewer at home can actually follow the event as it unfolds. THIS, after all, is why anyone watches a sports presentation.
Rough edges? Sure.
A fine telecast? Given 480 miles of non-race, You bet.
Nice job, TNT.
P.S. -
I just realized - DW is 'NASCAR on Fox's' version of Joe Morgan on 'MLB on Fox' - "It's All About MEEEE."
It was wonderful to hear some professional announcing and not having to mute the TV.
It would be much welcomed by me if FOX never televised another race with that set of Booth Baffoons that they have.
They spent more time trying to promote themselves and a midpack race team (MWR-what a joke) than any real race coverage!
I liked it. Lindsay and Larry genuinely seemed to enjoy working together. Kyle and Wally were Kyle and Wally, which is good. A decent first effort from Adam, and I hope he can build from that with a little more experience. The pit folks were OK, but Phil just seemed a little off.
It was kind of hard to gauge what kind of broadcast this was since most of the race was just boring. One thing I did notice is they did not lock in on just one driver and continually sing his praises.
I'm a little late to the discussion, but if there is one thing I cannot stand on a television broadcast is when the announcer simply says "Oooooh" without any reference to what it is about.
In the last 100 laps of this race, you would have thought the announcers were getting their teeth pulled! Seriously it was nothing but "oooooh! ahhhhh! ah-ah-ah-ah-ooooooh-whoa!" It was just plain awful after awhile.
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