TVSquad

It seems like ESPN has been around forever, doesn't it? Can you even remember a time when there hasn't been an ESPN to turn to for a score or breaking news or updates? I can't. But along with the news ESPN provides, the ESPN brand has expanded to include a bunch of networks, a magazine, restaurants and lots of tchotchkes. But let's just look at the TV shows, shall we? One note: SportsCenter is not included because it's more of a daily news show as opposed to the programs that are more talk and game-oriented. Here's the top ten ESPN created shows, from the worst to the first.

10. Sports Nation
This is a relatively new daily show on ESPN with radio talker Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle co-hosting. It's supposedly an interactive program with surveys that include the fans, but all the bells and whistles can't change the fact that Cowherd is an obnoxious know-it-all that dominates the conversation – when they have one. It's new and shiny, but it's a mess.

This is an interesting notion -- ESPN is looking to launch a late night TV show. The sports network has reportedly approached three prominent sports journalists to anchor the show, but not one of them has shown any interest. The names are Dan LeBatard, Miami Herald columnist and local sports radio host; Colin Cowherd, ESPN national radio voice; and Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star sports writer.

While I believe that ESPN has real interest in a late night sports show -- maybe a talk format about sports and entertainment -- I have real questions about the validity of the names floated in this report, especially with regard to Whitlock.

Jason was once a regular fill-in on Pardon The Interruption. He is very smart and funny and opinionated. Apparently he was too opinionated for some at the Disney-owned network. When he refused to pull his punches in his criticism, he was dropped by ESPN. Are we to think that now ESPN has asked him to not only come back, but possibly host a show for them?

If you're a political junkie -- guilty -- you're likely looking forward to the upcoming conventions. Just the prospect of an election with no incumbent running sets 2008 up as an exciting election, and with only 24% of the country believing that America is going in the right direction, this is definitely a time for change.

NBC News is opting to insert an element of change in its convention coverage. The network announced today that the late Tim Russert's son, Luke, has been hired by NBC News and will be put on his father's beat, politics.

Luke Russert's first assignment is Decision 2008, where he will be correspondent-at-large at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. While this hiring smacks of nepotism -- or allegiance to the memory of Tim -- Luke is not without some journalistic skills. He's a Boston College graduate, majoring in History and Communications, and has been co-hosting a sports talk show on XM Satellite Radio. He shares the microphone for that program, 60/20 Sports, with political analyst James Carville.

Like Moe from The Simpsons, I usually spend Festivus time with my head in an oven and a "no funeral" sign taped to my back. This year, though, is a little different, because a) I just found out my oven is electric and b) TV Squad asked me to compile a list of the things I wanted for Festivus. There's no time for holiday depression when an editorially-mandated list of things-that-will-never-come-to-pass is waiting to be written!

So, off with the noose and on with the list...

I'm pretty sure that this TV Squad assignment -- make a list of all the things you're thankful for in television -- is going to get me in trouble with my family. See, I've only got so much introspection to spare and I've pretty much used up November's allotment making this list. When my wife asks me to give her one thing I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving, she'll probably be expecting me to say "all the love I receive from my family" or something else suitably goopy. When I say, "I'm really thankful for how good House has been this season," I'm going to get a carving knife plunged into my eye-socket.

But I knew the risks when I signed up to be a television blogger. As my blogging mentor Hyman Roth once told me, "This is the business we have chosen, Jay." My list after the jump...

As a red-blooded American male who has trouble relating to his father, I watch a lot of sports. That means I also watch a lot of sports related television. PTI, Around the Horn, Inside the NFL, The Sports Reporters, NFL Live, NFL Prime Time, Sportscenter, and even Jim Rome is Burning (but only when my wife is out of earshot - for some reason the sound of Rome's voice makes my wife very angry. She doesn't follow sports; I think it's just a gut reaction to smugness.) Thanks to TiVo, I watch them all, fast-forwarding past all the topics that don't interest me.

I like things that are comfortable. I like my old shoes and the vague outline off my (ever-widening body) crushed into my favorite chair. Like a lot of guys I have t-shirts that are so old and well-worn that they're one lightening strike away from becoming sentient (and that's my SciFi Channel movie idea, so don't steal it). In short, I like the familiar.

Say what you want about TV, it does the familiar very well. From catch-phrases (just what was Willis talking about?) to genre-conventions (let's all freeze while the credits roll!) TV is America's comfort food.

What is my TV comfort food? The five after the jump...

I haven't watched ESPN's Pardon the Interruption in a while; I listen to Jim Breuer's Sirius show from 4-6 PM and never seem to remember to switch over to PTI at 5:30. Not to say I don't like it; in fact, Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser have a chemistry together I haven't seen since Gene Siskel was still alive and arguing with Roger Ebert.

But when I do get around to watching the show, I notice a troubling trend: ESPN has decided to expand the show, delaying the final "Big Finish" segment until about fifteen minutes into the 6:00 SportsCenter.

What gives? I mean, I know why they're doing it; PTI fans will stick with SC until that segment airs, thus boosting the highlight show's ratings. But I still think it's a cheap and manipulative move by ESPN. I no longer watch SC because the anchors there are too worried about creating catchphrases than actually describing sports highlights. To have to sit through 15 minutes of some flunkie going "say 'ello to my little friend!" when someone hits a home run just to see PTI finish just stinks. Guess I won't be watching the "Big Finish" anytime soon. Too bad.