We’re getting closer to the June 13 debut of FS1’s new “Speak For Yourself” debate show starring Colin Cowherd and Jason Whitlock (Jason McIntyre will also be there), and Fox has decided to launch a promo for it…featuring Cowherd and Whitlock apologizing for their controversial takes? Well, that sentence would be weird if they were actually apologizing, but this feels more like passive-aggressive “Sorry” comments that are trying to show off how bold and unrepentant they are, particularly Whitlock’s apology to “Twitter trolls.” Check it out:
“We have a new show coming to FS1, so we thought we’d get a jump on early apologies.” They then go on to “apologize” for a variety of things, including insincere apologies and fake crying. It’s not a bad concept, if the idea’s to show off their hot takes and how they’re “the last unapologetic media” standing against the PC bros and Twitter trolls, and it looks like that’s what they’re going for.
This aired during Katie Nolan’s Garbage Time Wednesday night, further reinforcing how odd of a tonal fit Cowherd and Whitlock’s debate-embracing hot sports takes are with the more intellectually-targeted programming on the network, including Nolan’s show and Fox Sports Live with Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole. Hopefully that won’t bleed over; there’s plenty of potential in the late-night comedy shows, and the idea of taking Garbage Time daily to form a full late-night power hour (“The Debate-Free Zone”?) has plenty of merit, and could help the network attract and/or retain those sick of the debates from Cowherd, Whitlock and new incoming addition Skip Bayless.
Onrait and O’Toole have done plenty of riffs on their more bombastic coworkers, though, most recently with O’Toole saying on Wednesday’s Fox Sports Live that “little-known fact, 60 per cent of our salary goes to Colin Cowherd.” Thus, it will be interesting to see if they have anything to say about this new show and its promos. There’s potentially a spectacular opportunity for them here; as us fellow Canadians know, passive-aggressively saying sorry is practically a national sport at times, so if they wanted to one-up Cowherd and Whitlock’s performance in this ad, they probably could. Maybe that’s the tagline: “FS1: The Sorry Network.” Wait…that doesn’t quite get across what they want. Eh, it’s still better than “The 1 For Fun.”
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