The sorry state of 'Monday Night Football'—a review in four quarters

[TMC]

https://tv.avclub.com/the-deep-insec...all-1839348219

Monday Night Football was a big deal when it was on ABC. But on ESPN, which pays billions for the rights to the NFL, Monday Night Football has been often stuck with the worst games, such as Monday's matchup between the 0-6 Miami Dolphins and the 2-4 Pittsburgh Steelers. Yet ESPN keeps trying to pretend that Monday Night Football is still special. "Monday Night was the one game every week that pitched itself to a nationwide audience; there was no regular-season experience quite like it," says John Teti. "But now there is Thursday Night Football, and NBC’s Sunday Night Football, which gets dibs on the top-tier matchups that used to be Monday Night’s stock-in-trade. Once, Monday Night was the climax of an NFL week. Now it often feels like a last gasp. Monday Night isn’t special anymore, but the production never formed a new identity to contend with that reality. So there’s a lot of pretending. We all must pretend it matters when, say, a running back gains more yards in the third quarter of a Monday Night Football game than anyone has before. It’s not clear why the Monday Night-ness of an achievement matters to anyone in 2019—though, did it ever? Regardless, part of the lore of Monday Night Football is that the lore of Monday Night Football is very important indeed." Teti adds that announcer Joe Tessitore "is dedicated to huffing and puffing on the embers of Monday Night’s aura, and that is a big part of why he has his job. His misguided desperation to inflate small moments is an echo of Monday Night’s general desperation to seem bigger than it is. His schmaltz is a salve for the show’s deepest insecurities. Without him, Monday Night Football might have to stop pretending."

Monday Night used to be something special. When it debuted in 1970, and for decades thereafter, it was the lone weekly primetime showcase for NFL football. The singular platform of Monday Night gave games a special charge. The splendid opening titles for that first season in 1970 showcased the awesome human and technological effort of the ABC production truck, zoomed in on a TV screen in the control room, and transitioned to a slideshow of football action as seen through the scanlines of a cathode-ray tube. These images spoke to an attitude that became part of Monday Night’s DNA: The broadcast is the real event, more so than the game itself.

For a long time, this swagger was justified. Monday Night was the one game every week that pitched itself to a nationwide audience; there was no regular-season experience quite like it. But now there is Thursday Night Football, and NBC’s Sunday Night Football, which gets dibs on the top-tier matchups that used to be Monday Night’s stock-in-trade. Once, Monday Night was the climax of an NFL week. Now it often feels like a last gasp.

Monday Night isn’t special anymore, but the production never formed a new identity to contend with that reality. So there’s a lot of pretending. We all must pretend it matters when, say, a running back gains more yards in the third quarter of a Monday Night Football game than anyone has before. It’s not clear why the Monday Night-ness of an achievement matters to anyone in 2019—though, did it ever? Regardless, part of the lore of Monday Night Football is that the lore of Monday Night Football is very important indeed.

• Monday Night Football pulls the plug on its much-derided "Genesis Halftime Show" musical performances
  Steelers and Dolphins decline to participate in NFL Films' "Monday Night Mic'd" segment after New York Jets QB Sam Darnold was caught on mic last week saying he was seeing ghosts

[MrCleveland]

I wanted to make a film called Dawg Pound...which is the football's answer to Major League.

I wanted the Cleveland Clowns to play all their games on Sunday at 1 p.m., but since the film would be set in 2021, he insisted that I have one game on Monday because he hates October 10th! The 10th was when his ex-fiance got married...so I HAD to have one game on the 11th, since no one gives a **** about Monday Night Football anymore...but I did have a scene where the Browns play the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.

I sooooo wanna make the film Dawg Pound...here's some of the songs that I'd have on the soundtrack if I can clear the rights....

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by MrCleveland

since the film would be set in 2021, he insisted that I have one game on Monday because he hates October 10th! The 10th was when his ex-fiance got married

Who?

[MrCleveland]

Originally Posted by DJM77

Who?

My brother...his ex-fiance got married on the 10th of October, so he insisted that I have a Cleveland Clowns game set on 10/11/2021 in the film Dawg Pound. He also HATES Bon Jovi because of her.

But back on subject...the NFL now only cares about Sunday Football...especially on Sunday Night!

[TMC]

Monday Night Football: the once great NFL show is now the worst on television

Overblown announcing, incoherent analysis and bizarre graphics: ESPN’s broadcast checks every box when it comes to bad TV

The NFL has a real problem when the marquee match-up for its most famous broadcast is best enjoyed on mute. This week, Lamar Jackson eviscerated the Rams on Monday Night Football in one of the most impressive individual performances in recent memory. The only problem: the experience of watching Jackson’s genius was made worse, not better, by ESPN’s announcing crew, Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland.

This is the broadcast of Madden and Gruden and Michaels and Cosell. It is the pinnacle of the profession. Such an event broadcast by a company that once styled itself the Worldwide Leader In Sports should not have you wondering every five minutes how this is the best they can offer. Here are just a few doozies from McFarland’s latest Monday night:

That final one is his magnum opus. McFarland addressed the country as if the electorate had voted for an idiotic football strategy and he was here to ignite a revolution. In truth, Monday Night Football has been a mess since Mike Tirico left for NBC in 2016. Jon Gruden’s Jon Gruden-ness papered over the cracks during a shaky two-year affair with Sean McDonough, but the broadcast has been in freefall ever since.

Last season ESPN tried to emulate CBS’s success with Tony Romo by hiring another retired Dallas Cowboy, Jason Witten. One issue: Romo is a once in a generation broadcast talent, smart and funny and natural and unique. Witten was not: to call him wooden would be an insult to pine. ESPN pulled the plug after just one year, and Witten returned to the playing field. Tessitore’s ropey debut was given a pass: Working with Witten would be tough for anyone, became the consensus.

Up stepped McFarland, who had spent much of the season patrolling the sidelines in the now-infamous “Booger Mobile”, one of the most bizarre and pointless inventions in the history of television. McFarland was a decent in-studio college football analyst, but he has been awful as a national NFL voice. He sounds like he’s started a sentence and has no idea where it’s going to end. On Monday, McFarland officially entered the Biden Zone. At this point, you don’t really care what he says, you’re just hoping he can stumble his way to a coherent conclusion. Tessitore is a real problem, too. That booming voice was perfect for the ever-ridiculous world of college football but falls flat in the pros. In the NFL, Tessitore sounds like a condescending try-hard.



And then there’s the graphics department, which was subject to a John Oliver scolding a little over a year ago. Things haven’t improved. The network had to update its graphics bar mid-game during its debut broadcast of the season because the new down-and-distance box was bright yellow, causing viewers to think a penalty was being called on every play. Think about that: meetings took place over that decision. People had coffee and sandwiches and showed PowerPoints and shook hands and high-fived.

It often feels like the show’s producers are more interested in their carefully choreographed packages and graphics than the actual game unfolding on the field. No other broadcast misses a play as consistently as Monday Night Football, continuing to prove that there is nothing in media or entertainment that cannot be ruined by more money and time. Spare us dancing 3D models and show us what Patrick Mahomes is doing at the line of scrimmage.

Moving on from one or both of Tessitore and McFarland is inevitable. McFarland’s selection was important because the NFL’s flagship broadcast hadn’t had an African American analyst in the booth in decades, but his performance has become indefensible. ESPN has a bunch of talented people in-house – Louis Riddick, Dan Orlovsky to name but two – or they could pinch someone away from a rival network.

ESPN’s owners, Disney, handed over $15.2bn to the NFL for the rights to broadcast one game per week and receive the worst of the league’s playoff match-ups. Executives justify that price by saying it allows ESPN to show highlights and game footage throughout the season across its range of channels and talking-head shows. Yet Monday Night Football remains the company’s prestige telecast, despite its flagging ratings. Disney is a market leader and conqueror, it is not in the business of being mocked. There is a real problem when the only enjoyable part of the show is the rules analyst, John Parry. Right now, Monday Night Football is fundamentally broken and remains dead stinking last among national broadcasts.

[MIKEPR]

I don't see the big deal.



Other than not everyone has cable or satellite
Football is football no matter when it's scheduled.

[TMC]

Monday Night Football may be in for a shakeup after the departure of its longtime producer

Longtime MNF producer Jay Rothman won't return next season, which could leave the future of announcing team Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland's in limbo. While ratings were up this season, both Tessitore and McFarland were often criticized by viewers. The New York Post's Andrew Marchand says one possibility is bringing in Tony Romo, whose contract ended last season. But CBS will be able to match any high offer for Romo.

[TMC]

Monday Night Football dumps Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland

"ESPN is going to have a new Monday Night Football booth," reports The Athletic's Richard Deitsch. "Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland will not return, via sources. The successors will be internal. No decision has been made yet. Both Tessitore and McFarland will remain in prominent roles at ESPN." The duo, who have called MNF games the past two seasons, were the subject of frequent criticism.