As I’ve written numerous times at OTB Sports, NBC and ESPN have combined to ruin late night NFL telecasts. ESPN, which now has Monday Night Football, is the worst of the lot, treating every game as a preseason exhibition, constantly chattering about whatever random thought comes to mind, moving away from live game action so that their sideline gal can interview whatever C-list celebrity happens to pass by, and so forth. NBC has at least been showing the games, they’ve just decided to annoy hard core football fans with the insipid Faith Hill intro and the inclusion of Keith Olbermann, the former sports guy who’s now the most shrill leftist commentator on television, in its studio coverage.
Last night, though, NBC made its bid to surpass ESPN by “going Green.” Their logo was green. They turned the lights out in their studios and held flashlights up to their faces. They sent Matt Laeur off to the Arctic for some reason. All in the name of highlighting the need to save energy.
I’m all in favor of turning off lights you’re not using, building more energy efficient machines, and that sort of thing. But, as Bryan Preston notes, people tune in to football games to get away from this sort of nonsense. We don’t want an After School Special.
The reaction seems to be nearly universal, with all the blog coverage thus far going against NBC on this one.
- Sean Hackbarth notes that NBC “didn’t turn off the bright lighted Toyota sign.”
- Jimmie figures that powering down the studio set during the three hours when the game is on and the cameras aren’t on the studio set is mere common sense, rather than any grand gesture.
- Ed Driscoll and Sister Toldjah see this as part of a long line of political decisions by NBC.
