TVSquad

Ryan Seacrest + Super Bowl = Is Nothing Sacred?

When you think about the Super Bowl, does the name "Ryan Seacrest" come to mind? Probably not. I'm pretty sure I know more about football than Ryan Seacrest (which isn't saying a heck of a lot). Yet somehow, Fox has awarded Super Bowl hosting duties to their American Idol golden boy.

As master of ceremonies for football's biggest game, Ryan will host pregame red-carpet events, as well as the halftime show. Super Bowl XLII is set to take place in February at the University of Phoenix stadium in Arizona. And while halftime entertainment has not yet been announced, I'm starting to suspect that we might see a couple of American Idols perform.

Have you been sitting there on your couch thinking, "Good grief, it's January 7th already, when is NASCAR going to start?" Well, if you have, you need to find a couple more hobbies, but the good news is that the Speed channel is kicking off its NASCAR season this week with NASCAR Preseason Thunder. The season just gets longer and longer.

They will be covering Nextel Cup testing at Daytona. You can get a schedule of the shows on the Speed website. The actual race isn't until February 18th, but Speed knows where their bread is buttered. NASCAR is to them like the football team is to Notre Dame. It pays for everything else.

My early season predictions are for Jimmy Johnson and Tony Stewart to come out strong. Denny Hamlin will prove that last season wasn't a fluke. Kurt Busch will be back in the hunt now that the #2 team has had a season to gel. The #24 team will remain inconsistent, possibly leading Jeff Gordon to fire his crew chief. Robbie Gordon will crash some people, but it won't be his fault. And Michael Waltrip will continue to get all kinds of camera time despite never even getting a whiff of being competitive.

When I reported on the announcement that Joe Buck was to become the host to Fox NFL Sunday yesterday, I had an entire paragraph devoted to how it'll be a shame that the show's "meteorologist", Jillian Barberie, would have to bundle up if the show pulled into Green Bay in November. But I cut the whole thing when I realized her name was not on story about the change on FoxSports.com. I guessed that Barberie was no longer going to be with the show, but I wasn't quite sure.

Tom of the LA Daily News blog "Farther Off the Wall" was wondering, too, so he contacted Fox. A producer told him that Barberie's work on Good Day L.A. was going to make it hard for her to stick to the pre-game show's traveling schedule, and they didn't want her to work remotely because they'd lose the interaction she had with Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson. So Jillian's out. Too bad; she was annoying as hell, but so much nicer to look at than Johnson's toupee. But, good news everyone: we'll still get plenty of Frank Caliendo.

[via Deadspin]

When James Brown (no, not the "Sex Machine" James Brown... the other one) left Fox to become the new host of The NFL Today at CBS, Fox kept everyone in the dark about who was going to take his place as host of Fox NFL Sunday. They even made the mystery into an ad campaign. But the mystery is over: the network has named lead play-by-play man Joe Buck as the host of the pre-game show. Because Buck is still going to broadcast the games, though, the show will be on the road the entire year, originating from the stadium where Buck is supposed to be working that week. Curt Menefee will host the halftime and post-game shows.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News, who reported on the unconfirmed rumors yesterday, felt that Fox was making too safe of a move with Buck. According to Raissman, it was a perfect opportunity for Fox to develop someone new in the host role, someone who can evolve as he tries to corral Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson. I'm not quite sure about that argument; after all, for every Bob Costas that gets a chance to shine in the studio, there's two Brent Musburgers that make us want to throw things at the screen. Those aren't good odds, as far as I'm concerned.