New Sportscenter Set

[korme]

Ugh. Hate it. Blue and red, bright as hell. What happened to the old colors, classic looking desks, this is too over the top.

[Ragone]

Speaking of which. i've heard mike hall's "dream job" has turned into a nightmare for espn.. and that they are thinking they won't be doing a dream job 2 because of how bad it turned out

[Pumpy Tudors]

Speaking of which. i've heard mike hall's "dream job" has turned into a nightmare for espn.. and that they are thinking they won't be doing a dream job 2 because of how bad it turned out

What's been bad about it?

[vex]

What's been bad?

[Ragone]

well, they are paying mike hall 100k this year to basically be a intern

[bionicgrov03]

I think ESPN is really screwing the pooch lately.

Their entire Sportscenter line-up has gone from reporting on games and scores to things like the Budweiser Hot Seat and that little skit about the baseball scout. I think it has gotten away from what it did best; reporting the previous day's sports scores and games. The Did You Know was very interesting when it first cam out, but now I can't stand to watch Sportscenter because I feel like I am watching a morning talk show.

[pennywisesb]

I think ESPN is really screwing the pooch lately.

Their entire Sportscenter line-up has gone from reporting on games and scores to things like the Budweiser Hot Seat and that little skit about the baseball scout. I think it has gotten away from what it did best; reporting the previous day's sports scores and games. The Did You Know was very interesting when it first cam out, but now I can't stand to watch Sportscenter because I feel like I am watching a morning talk show.
Wow, well spoken. I couldn't agree more, if i wanted a sports talk show, i'd just watch "the best damn sports show", not ESPN. The good thing about ESPN was all the quick highlights of the days games, and now they waste time doing the hot seat for like 10 minutes out of every hour of Sportscenter.

[pjstp20]

I don't even watch Sportscenter anymore, they all try to be funny and they're not, so it makes it pretty painful to watch. And the filler between sports scores is just as bad.

[The_herd]

I don't even watch Sportscenter anymore, they all try to be funny and they're not, so it makes it pretty painful to watch. And the filler between sports scores is just as bad.

I don't mind them trying to be funny if they are showing highlights. But this shit of trying to think up new ways to get athletes to show up at the studio is getting on my nerves. Its really becoming to sports what MTV is to music now.

I blame this on Disney. Sportscenter has gone downhill since they bought ESPN.

[LionsFan10]

The new set is for "ESPN HD," which I agree looks really stupid and I hate it. I also agree with a few other sentiments here, one that they spend too much time doing stupid shit now like "Hear Say" and the "Budweiser Hot Seat," lame. Now, if I do watch ESPN it's ESPN News which is basically what SportsCenter used to be.

[vex]

The new set is for "ESPN HD," which I agree looks really stupid and I hate it. I also agree with a few other sentiments here, one that they spend too much time doing stupid shit now like "Hear Say" and the "Budweiser Hot Seat," lame. Now, if I do watch ESPN it's ESPN News which is basically what SportsCenter used to be.

Yes, I love ESPNews, because I can watch the highlights in THIRTY minutes, not a freakin hour where it's drawn out til it's dead.

[bigdawg2003]

kinda reminds me of the set they had in the early 90s.

[LloydLungs]

Couldn't agree more about ESPN and Sportscenter. Patrick and Olbermann were brilliant together and groundbreaking in the mid-90s. Since then a steady stream of new anchors have fallen all over themselves trying to outclever each other, doing poor imitations of the Patrick/Olbermann shtick, until the whole network ended up becoming a cesspool of pseudo-wit. Bah!

[ISiddiqui]

Now, if I do watch ESPN it's ESPN News which is basically what SportsCenter used to be.

Which is probably the reason ESPN moved Sportscenter to what it is now - in order for ESPN News to have any value at all.

[Ajaxab]

Last week Mark Shapiro, Senior Head of Programming at ESPN, came and gave a talk here at the University of Iowa. He basically has 2000 of the 3000 employees at ESPN working for him and is responsible for all content that gets on the network. He stated that his goal was to attract more of the non-sports crowd to the network in hopes that they would stick around for things like Sportscenter. Hence, we get things like PTI, Playmakers and Dream Job. Shapiro said that when they broadcasted Playmakers, they had the largest audience share for women across all cable networks. More women were watching Playmakers than watching Oxygen, Lifetime or TLC. ESPN loved that.

So they translate that principle into Sportscenter with this crap like NFL players participating in a poor man's version of $25,000 Pyramid. It's all about trying to extend the audience beyond the sport's fan. A marginal viewer might sit through 5-10 minutes of highlights to see two Titans fumble around trying to guess a word. Sad, but this is where the network is headed.

[Tekneek]

They think Sportscenter is a show people tune in for. That it is bigger than the content, if you know what I mean. As if we watched Sportscenter because of the personalities involved, rather than because it was a wrap-up show of the day's sporting events.

ESPN has jumped the shark.

[Tekneek]

Sad, but this is where the network is headed.

I wonder when we can get a real sports channel. It seems ESPN has decided they don't want to be that anymore. They want to be a miscellaneous basic cable channel with a sports theme. The two are not the same thing.

[TroyF]

Kind of reminds me of MTV. Used to be the place for cutting edge videos and new music. MTV2 came out and that has become the station where they play videos and showcase new artists.

I used to wake up every morning to SportsCenter. Now, when I turn the TV on, it goes to ESPN News. Highlights at the top of every hour, some coaching press conferences, better analysis, etc. . . I watch ESPN for the sporting events, nothing else.

[Samdari]

well, they are paying mike hall 100k this year to basically be a intern

I think this has many of the real anchors there up in arms since not many of them make more than this. I think that is part of why its a nightmare for everyone involved - everyone there hated the guy before he worked a day because of how he got the job, and how much he is paid. If only he had lost, he could now have a job doing color commentary on dodgeball on GSN.

And the new set did correspond to beginning to broadcast Sportscenter in HD. It looks pretty good in HD.

[Anthony]

hmmmm...maybe i'll check out ESPNews next week. i just want highlights, scores and interviews/sound bites, nothing like "hear say" or those bad shorts on scouting.

i didn't know that the Dream Job winner hasn't been on air yet. it kinda loses it's appeal (or use) if people can't see the winner of the thing on the air. we know he's an amateur, we're not expecting Walter Kronkite. couldn't they have started him off on doing interviews or something, not necessarily on the desk. why not put him on Hear Say. the guy is making $100k, let him earn his money. he was on the air for how long when Dream Job was on (i never watched it), if he was good enough to win that i'm sure he won't freeze while the camera is rolling.

Best Damn Sports Show Period kinda took where Sportscenter wanted to go and ran with it, now it seems Sportscenter thinks maybe they should become more like BDSSP cuz perhaps that's what we want - but they ARE two different shows. Sportscenter should split the difference in terms of content and presentation and stick with that.

[Radii]

I remember when I thought Sportscenter was one of the best shows on television. That was quite awhile ago. How long before they screw up baseball tonight, the new best show on ESPN.

[Tekneek]

Why did they even have the "Dream Job" show? It is a lot like that MTV VJ contest they had. The second place guy has landed way more jobs, while the winner had a few shows and was quickly shown the backdoor and never heard from again. Why have the contest if you aren't committed to the winner? It reveals the show/contest to merely be a scam on the viewers. If they did not have to pay the guy, they would fire him and it would be over.

The guy will get 100k just for showing up and not giving them sufficient 'cause' to terminate. What a great deal. If ESPN is losing so much money, why would they do such a thing? Either they are lying, or have no brains.

[SteelerFan448]

The set and the sound effects do suck. SportsCenter has gone way too over the top. There are barely any highlights on now, mostly just scores. I want the days of full highlights of almost every game played the previous day back. Screw that other crap they have. I watch PTI, Around the Horn and other such shows to get my daily dose of sports talk.

I miss those days of Patrick and Oberman, Patrick and Mayne, Eisen and Scott (who has gotten terrible recently).

[JeeberD]

I thought that last week someone on the board said that ESPN was letting Hall go back to school and finish up his degree before they put him on the air. Any truth to that?

[JeeberD]

Dola-

Got this quote from a different message board...

Originally posted by drapg
He went back to Mizzou to complete his education and get his degree. He is currently undergoing training at "ESPN University" and should show up in late summer on either ESPN News or the 10pm Sportscenter.

So it seems that either it's a rumor that's spreading or it's the truth...

[Philliesfan980]

Why did they even have the "Dream Job" show? It is a lot like that MTV VJ contest they had. The second place guy has landed way more jobs, while the winner had a few shows and was quickly shown the backdoor and never heard from again. Why have the contest if you aren't committed to the winner? It reveals the show/contest to merely be a scam on the viewers. If they did not have to pay the guy, they would fire him and it would be over.

The guy will get 100k just for showing up and not giving them sufficient 'cause' to terminate. What a great deal. If ESPN is losing so much money, why would they do such a thing? Either they are lying, or have no brains.


I think the guy deserves 100k, even if he doesn't contribute any real material to ESPN. He didn't get paid a dime while on the show for how many episodes? I'm sure that ESPN made that and then some on the commercials that ran during the show.

[Ragone]

if i recall he went to a school up in the ne.. not mizzou.. to go back to a school implies you've been there to begin with.. so that's clearly a rumor

[vex]

No, he went to Missouri.

[Tekneek]

I think the guy deserves 100k, even if he doesn't contribute any real material to ESPN. He didn't get paid a dime while on the show for how many episodes? I'm sure that ESPN made that and then some on the commercials that ran during the show.

I'm just saying that ESPN are a bunch of fools if they put on the contest and then don't actually give them a real job to do for that 100k salary.

[MikeVic]

I don't know if ESPN bought TSN or what, but one day like a year ago TSN just changed their set, and changed the show's name to Sportscentre. I saw an ESPN Sportscenter once, and it looked similar... TSN's show used to be called Sportsdesk before all this.

[Philliesfan980]

I'm just saying that ESPN are a bunch of fools if they put on the contest and then don't actually give them a real job to do for that 100k salary.

Oh yeah I agree with that. More than that, I think that the people who followed the show are really getting cheated. I guess before we conclude, lets see if he gets work at the end of the summer like earlier in the thread suggests.

[Simms]

I don't know if ESPN bought TSN or what, but one day like a year ago TSN just changed their set, and changed the show's name to Sportscentre. I saw an ESPN Sportscenter once, and it looked similar... TSN's show used to be called Sportsdesk before all this.
They didn't buy them....not sure of the exact details, but I think it's more of a "marketing partnership" -- TSN gets the rights to the logotype and the SportsCenter "brand", as well as exclusive Canadian broadcast rights to certain ESPN programming. ESPN gets....well, I'm not sure *what* ESPN gets.

Likely a hell of a lot of money, if nothing else.

[tucker342]

Last week Mark Shapiro, Senior Head of Programming at ESPN, came and gave a talk here at the University of Iowa. He basically has 2000 of the 3000 employees at ESPN working for him and is responsible for all content that gets on the network. He stated that his goal was to attract more of the non-sports crowd to the network in hopes that they would stick around for things like Sportscenter. Hence, we get things like PTI, Playmakers and Dream Job. Shapiro said that when they broadcasted Playmakers, they had the largest audience share for women across all cable networks. More women were watching Playmakers than watching Oxygen, Lifetime or TLC. ESPN loved that.

So they translate that principle into Sportscenter with this crap like NFL players participating in a poor man's version of $25,000 Pyramid. It's all about trying to extend the audience beyond the sport's fan. A marginal viewer might sit through 5-10 minutes of highlights to see two Titans fumble around trying to guess a word. Sad, but this is where the network is headed.
Are you serious??? How the hell did I miss that?:(
I really need to start paying attention to what speakers show up when to give talks at the U of I

[Tekneek]

I don't know if ESPN bought TSN or what

The majority owner of TSN is Bell Globemedia, which also owns the CTV network. ESPN, the American cable channel, also has a share, and TSN's programming and on-air look is now patterned after ESPN's.

[Ajaxab]

Are you serious??? How the hell did I miss that?:(
I really need to start paying attention to what speakers show up when to give talks at the U of I

They're looking at having him back this fall some time. I don't know if this talk was advertised too well given that it was summer and all. There was probably only about 30 people there. I'd be willing to bet a whole lot more will show up if he returns in a few months.

[rexallllsc]

Kind of reminds me of MTV. Used to be the place for cutting edge videos and new music. MTV2 came out and that has become the station where they play videos and showcase new artists.

M2 is done now, too. About a month ago, I was "watching MTV, and saw a LostProphets video, then a Nickelback video (not a fan of either)...so I go up to m2, and it's the SAME Nickelback video...so I wait 'til it's over...and then, you guessed it, a LostProphets video.

Payolla is alive and well...

[rexallllsc]

I miss those days of Patrick and Oberman, Patrick and Mayne, Eisen and Scott (who has gotten terrible recently).

Recently?

[Tekneek]

M2 is done now, too.

It has not even been called M2 for close to 4 years now. When they changed the name to MTV2, and started showing commercials, the end was near. Now it doesn't even show videos 24/7. I dread the day that VH1 Classic gets ruined...but it is inevitable. It is always just a matter of time before a channel gets completely destroyed and then brings in its highest ratings ever. The masses like complete shite when it comes to TV programming. A good reason I don't watch that much of it.

[rexallllsc]

It has not even been called M2 for close to 4 years now. When they changed the name to MTV2, and started showing commercials, the end was near. Now it doesn't even show videos 24/7. I dread the day that VH1 Classic gets ruined...but it is inevitable. It is always just a matter of time before a channel gets completely destroyed and then brings in its highest ratings ever. The masses like complete shite when it comes to TV programming. A good reason I don't watch that much of it.

Same here (don't watch much)...it's better that way! Besides some of the serires on HBO, the Histroy Channel, and some sports, I don't watch much!

[chinaski]

It looks like theyre sitting in a toaster oven.

[Tekneek]

I'm mildly surprised that any of you guys even watch Sportscenter. I can't remember the last time I intentionally tuned in for it. It has been more than 3 years, at least. With ESPNews, there is no point at all to Sportscenter. It is redundant.