FOX Sports today released its NFL on FOX broadcasting teams, as well as some changes to its FOX NFL Sunday studio show. Giving up the traveling studio show that had Joe Buck working double duty as studio host and play-by-play man, FOX NFL Sunday returns to the FOX Network Center in Los Angeles. Curt Menefee is the new full-time host, and he’s joined again by Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson, with funny guy Frank Caliendo and weather chick Jillian Barberie adding their segments.
Perhaps realizing the importance of having an actual “information guy” there to give the show some journalistic cred, former sideline reporter Jay Glazer joins the studio show on a weekly basis. Like the addition of Ron Jaworski to ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth, the networks seem to be getting the point that we hardcore football fans actually want intelligent insider analysis, not just a circus where guys shout over each other. Hopefully, Glazer will do better for FOX than Peter King does for NBC. That shouldn’t be hard.
Also joining FOX NFL Sunday is Barry Switzer, who’s going to be doing a weekly “Coaches Corner” segment with Johnson, analyzing the NFL games and the college football BCS standings. Switzer and Johnson are the only two coaches to win both a college national championship and a Super Bowl. You’ll recall that Switzer inherited Johnson’s Cowboys team in 1994 and won Super Bowl XXX despite his incompetence. Unless there’s some bareknuckle brawling between Johnson and Switzer (Who knows? It’s FOX), this is probably a segment I’ll be skipping.
Is FOX making the same mistake as NBC in overcrowding its studio show, making it virtually unwatchable? (Did NBC really need to add Keith Olbermann?) I guess we’ll see.
FOX’s game broadcast teams are:
Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver
Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa
Dick Stockton, Brian Baldinger
Sam Rosen, Tim Ryan, Chris Myers
Matt Vasgersian, JC Pearson
Ron Pitts, Tony Boselli
I will only watch Fox’s pre-game for the weather report. The total I.Q. on that set is usually about +2, but that number has been driven negative by the addition of Switzer.