"Tonight" is a powerful franchise, and it will survive, in spite of NBC's repeated efforts to mess it up. Fallon appears to a younger crowd, and while he's not my thing, he'll do well.
CBS Sports fired Dan Marino and Shannon Sharpe from its NFL pre game show. I hate to see anyone lose a job, but Marino and Sharpe never had a whole lot to say, and that's typical of the network pre game show. ESPN has a huge stable of competing voices, all saying nothing, and overwhelmed by Chris Berman's overbearing and annoying personality. FOX seems more interested in yuks, and that's too bad. Its crew, especially Bradshaw and Johnson, was capable of producing the occasional gem. CBS has been a train wreck since it first got back in to the NFL game in 1998-- three studio hosts, several "analysts." Nothing's worked, and now CBS will try it again. NBC's Sunday Night Football is on after my bed time.
I've watched a little of NBC's Olympics, and read several stories about the games, looking for a compelling story line to capture my interest. Sorry. It didn't happen. Other than Bob Costas' pink eye and some inept questions by NBC's "interviewers," the games have been rather dull. Don't say "What about the USA ice hockey team?" They're a bunch of professionals. They're paid to win, and I can't get excited over that.
A local radio station is now calling itself "total reach radio." Is that an appeal for listeners, or advertisers? If you have to explain a slogan, it's not much of one.
The Yankees are jumping over to a different radio station in New York, yet they are keeping the same awful announcers, rendering games unlistenable. It defies logic.
The Polar Vortex looks poised to make a return, plus the super long range forecast says there could be another major storm in a week or so. It gives The Weather Channel additional chances for hysteria.
The Weather Channel can learn several things from the network journalists in Kiev. They're reporting from a city torn apart by riots, and it's burning down all around them. Video included citizens breaking apart sidewalks so they'll have stones to throw at troops, and teams filling Molotov cocktails. It's a little different than TWC's winter storm Titan. The video is outstanding and the reporting has been responsible.
Former NBC, ABC, and CNN correspondent Garrick Utley died Thursday. 74. Prostate cancer. Utley was the traditional network news correspondent-- comfortable in London, Washington, and everywhere in between, and as solid as they come.
