Wait! The Sunday Studio Spectacular grades a Monday show? That’s correct. And with just two weeks to go in the regular season, we move to NFL pregame/studio shows that air on weeknights so we look at ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown.
Originally named NFL Prime Monday when it premiered in 1993 and hosted by Mike Tirico, it was one of the first programs that cross promoted ABC Sports on ESPN as it led into Monday Night Football on ABC. Tirico was joined by various analysts including Phil Simms, Joe Theismann, Ron Jaworski, Bill Parcells, Michael Irvin and Sterling Sharpe.
Then in 2006 when ESPN made Monday Night Football into a cable series, Chris Berman became the host and traveled to the game sites with analysts Tom Jackson, Michael Irvin and Steve Young. Ron Jaworski was a contributor. But in 2007, Berman and Jackson hosted the program out of the ESPN studios in Bristol, CT and there was a set at the game site. In 2008, the show evolved to what we know today. Berman, Jackson, Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson and Cris Carter in Bristol; Stuart Scott hosted at the gamesite and was joined by Young and Emmitt Smith.
The gamesite set through the years has remained with Scott and Young on the road, but the other castmates have included Matt Millen who was replaced by Trent Dilfer. Scott, Young and Dilfer were joined by Ray Lewis this year. As Scott has been battling cancer, Suzy Kolber has often substituted for him during this season.
Let’s take a look at Monday Night Countdown which this year grew from a two-hour pregame show to a two-hour and 15 minutes program this season.
MONDAY NIGHT COUNTDOWN — ESPN
Hosts: Chris Berman (Bristol) and Stuart Scott or Suzy Kolber (game sites)
Analysts: Cris Carter, Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson and Keyshawn Johnson (Bristol); Trent Dilfer, Ray Lewis and Steve Young (game sites)
Insiders: Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter
Best Segments
We have two segments and they are both guilty pleasures. There’s “Gruden’s Grill Session” where he normally talks with one of the players in the Monday Night Football game and go over some of his best plays with the coach’s clicker. However this week, Gruden had comic Frank Caliendo do some of his ESPN impressions including Mike Ditka and Gruden himself. It was actually pretty funny. This is the second time this season where Caliendo has not offended us and it’s rather disconcerting. We want to go back to the days where we dislike Caliendo.
The other is “C’mon, Man!” where all of the Bristol cast go over some of the more headscratching plays of the week. It began rather organically and now has a sponsor. It’s still quite funny.
It works somehow.
Worst Segment
It was raining in Chicago on Monday. The game site crew of Kolber, Dilfer, Lewis and Young was standing on the field under two large umbrellas.
Couldn’t ESPN have the crew inside the broadcast booth or at least on the set under cover? That deserves a “C’mon, man!”
Standout Performer
We’ll give this to Cris Carter who has improved during his tenure on ESPN since coming over from HBO. He’s been genuine and willing to give some unpopular opinions when necessary. He gets this over the many analysts who appear on the program.
Say What? (weirdest quote)
Ray Lewis can have this category all to himself. Everything he says is a “Say What?” Just pinpointing one quote cannot do him justice.
What’s Unique About This Show?
Unlike Sunday where it seems like there’s 100 pregame shows (hence our experiment to watch all or at least most of them in the Spectacular), this and NFL Network are the only game in town if you want a preview of Monday Night Football. With the other networks focusing on other programming, ESPN provides you with an exclusive opportunity to get your preview of the upcoming game provided it’s a good one. When the game involves teams with losing records, it’s difficult to have a reason to watch MNF let alone a two-hour and fifteen minutes pregame show.
Why You Should Watch
As mentioned, it’s one of just two shows in the early evening on the East Coast that gets you ready for Monday Night Football. For that, ESPN is just about the only game in town. You really should wait for the final 45 minutes for the Gruden Grill Session and C’mon, Man! segments. Don’t watch the entire program, but if you do, make it background noise and do your household cleaning before focusing on the game from 7:30 p.m. ET on.
Why You Should Stay Away
The show is 2 hours and fifteen minutes. We have railed against long pregame shows during this Spectacular and Monday Night Countdown is on the cusp of being too long. One hour is just enough.
And fantasy football is given lip service with just one segment with Matthew Berry. That is not good for players who are in the playoffs. You want the latest information and ESPN fails here. Not good.
Overall Grade
Monday Night Countdown is harmless, but it’s not must see TV. This is more for hardcore fans who want to eschew the evening news between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET for football. But does this really make viewers want to click over for two and a half hours? I’m not really sure.
The program could be better, but it seems to be stuck between giving a happy medium to its Bristol studio and the game site set. At this point, one wonders if ESPN should just stick to one or the other.
Monday Night Countdown really doesn’t move the meter. There’s Berman who does his regular schtick and you can be the judge whether that’s good or bad. Early in the Spectacular, Monday Night Countdown’s Sunday brother received a C- and that is just about right for this show. So twin C- grades for Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown.
Next week, we review CBS/NFL Network’s Thursday pregames, NFL Total Access Kickoff and NFL Thursday Night Kickoff. You’ll see the grades for those pregames in the usual Spectacular slot on Monday.
And in Week 17, one final Sunday show review and our thoughts on watching the NFL studio shows.
Sunday Studio Show Rankings
Red Zone Channel (DirecTV): A+
Fantasy Football Now (ESPN2/ESPNews): A
Fox NFL Sunday (Fox): B+
NFL Matchup (ESPN): B
NFL GameDay Morning (NFL Network): B
That Other Pregame Show (CBS Sports Network): B
Fantasy Zone Channel (DirecTV): B-
Fox NFL Kickoff (Fox Sports 1): B-
NFL GameDay Final (NFL Network): B-
Football Night in America (NBC): C+
NFL GameDay First (NFL Network): C+
The NFL Today (CBS): C
Monday Night Countdown (ESPN): C-
Sunday NFL Countdown (ESPN): C-
NFL GameDay Live (NFL Network): D-
