If any of you have been paying attention, Fox Sports 1 recently had their first year anniversary of being on air. In the lead up to the launch, FS1 claimed itself as “The Fun” network and reinforced this notice by literally trying to force it down our throats.
Fox Sports 1 went under a lot of changes during its first year. The Fox Sports studio programming didn’t fare so well as only two shows from the original line up are still on the air. And one of those is a show that was on the Speed Channel. Yes, you read that right. Nascar Race Hub, the show that was on the channel that was replaced by another channel, was the only studio show to make it this far. Everything else besides Fox Sports Live was cancelled. That list includes “Fox Soccer Daily” (a daily soccer show), “Fox Football Daily” (it was basically an everyday version of the Sunday pregame show), a College Football show (That in retrospect wasn’t cancelled but instead moved to Friday nights and got rid of the original host Erin Andrews so basically cancelled) and the much hyped and very disappointing “Crowd Goes Wild”.
Crowd Goes Wild was an interesting failure. A sports show starring Regis Philbin and a supporting cast of young sports personalities. The show was light and was trying to have a fun vibe like SportsNation during the Colin Cowherd/Michelle Beadle era. Instead, the show felt unbalanced. The main complaint of the show was too much Regis or not enough Regis, just no real balance.
The original studio programming wasn’t the only problem with Fox Sports 1.
The other program still on the air since Day 1 of FS1 is Fox Sports Live. Fox Sports Live has had mixed results since its debut. Hosts Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole have received positive reviews along with Charissa Thompson. The criticism of the show comes from the athlete panel made up of Gary Payton, Andy Roddick, and the GOD AWFUL Donovan McNabb. The problem with this panel is that they are made up of people who don’t know what they are talking about half the time.
McNabb hosts a radio show on NBC Sports Radio and I’m certain his show causes at least 20% of all car accidents across the United States. McNabb is just awful. He talks without reason 60% of the time and the other 40% hes making idiotic remarks thinking he’s funny. He has made more headlines for upsetting people than he has for actually putting on a good show. The best part is that Fox added him to the roster of announcers for NFL coverage this season. Be prepared to mute your TVs.
The reason Fox Sports 1 has had a hard time getting going is not because of bad programming but because they didn’t give the time for their shows to really grow. During it’s first year, it had very little in major sporting events and in retrospect didn’t have the base to promote their shows. Now, this should change in the near future with Fox getting the rights for USGA golf, Sprint Cup Series, and lots and lots of soccer. I hope by then Fox will have a good program to promote but will probably waste all of the advertising on it’s radio simulcast of The Mike Francesa Show (He’s rude and boring) or America’s Pregame (basically another SportsCenter without the clips).
With all of this said, their first year wasn’t a total disappointment. They made some headway with Fox Sports Live by beating SportsCenter in the ratings a few times, their established Nascar coverage has helped with the ratings, and there’s this clip of Manny Pacquiao singing about the NFL on America’s Pregame.
It’s so random but very funny
Hey, maybe Fox Sports will do better this year. Fox Sports 1, NBCSN, or even CBS Sports Network (Yes that network does exist) need to step up their game to compete with ESPN. Otherwise, ESPN will feel entitled to do reports on players showering habits.
Do we really want that?