TVSquad

Game over. The NFL Network has made a change in the broadcast booth and Bryant Gumbel will not be back calling games. The veteran broadcaster, one-time host of NBC's Today show and CBS's Early Show and currently the host of HBO's Real Sports, has been doing play by play on the NFL Network's eight-game schedule alongside color commentator Cris Collinsworth for the past two seasons. He's now the ex-play by play man.

The NFL Network didn't say who would be replacing Bryant, and the way it was presented it appears that the decision to separate at this time was a mutual decision. Still, it was Gumbel who tendered his resignation, perhaps avoiding the embarrassment of being dumped.

The end of sweeps last week marked Today's eleventh consecutive year as the number one morning news program in the nation. The big ratings all started in 1995, when Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric hosted together. The addition of Matt Lauer in 1997 only strengthened the show's ratings. And now, with Katie gone to CBS, the addition of Meredith Vieira seems to be fine with viewers. In fact, they seem to really like her since about 20,000 more people are watching Today than they were at this time last year.

Why is Today still number one? I think it's simply tradition. Today was the first of its kind. Good Morning America and The Early Show both are copycats of the successful format but neither show has ever been able to match Today. Even now, the anchors on Today all seem much more relaxed. The show seems to flow much smoother than Good Morning America, which is legendary for its awkward transitions, and The Early Show, which constantly seems to be fumbling. Also, NBC has 'hosts', while the other networks have 'anchors'. NBC gets that the morning programs stopped being about news a long time ago.

[Via TV Newser]

Tonight, the NFL Network broadcasts its first game, pitting the Denver Broncos against the Kansas City Chiefs. It promises to be a hard battle, with two longtime and bitter rivals fighting to stay in the playoff picture. This will also mark Bryant Gumbel's return to sports play-by-play, something he hasn't done in many, many years (he was NBC's NFL studio host before he got the Today job; this may be his first play-by-play work since the seventies), and it will be fun to hear the always-opinionated Cris Collinsworth back in the booth. Should be a good game.

Here's the problem: I won't be able to watch it. And neither will the majority of fans.

It's been four and a half years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I don't know about you, but I still get a little emotional when I think too hard about how that morning unfolded. But, if you're interested in looking back at it from a journalistic point of view, here is a good place to do it.

The non-profit television library called The Television Archive has amassed Canadian and American media coverage of that morning over a 15-minute time period from when the first plane hit, through the second plane hitting the towers, and to the first reports of a third plane hitting the Pentagon. You can see how the news outlets responded, who got it right, who got it first, and who, initially, got it totally wrong. For example, Charlie Gibson of Good Morning America, remained totally calm as he reported what he was seeing. While Bryant Gumbel, who was at The Early Show on CBS at the time, saw phantom planes after the first two crashed into the towers, and he got all panicky on air. The entire video montage is about 30 minutes, but you may have to wait a few days to watch it, because now the website is timing out, probably from so much traffic.

[Via Digg]