But check out the chart with Karp's item. It includes 2011 numbers, where NBC and CBS posted nearly identical average viewer numbers (2.3 million for NBC to 2.2 million for CBS).
I'd be curious to see if this lead in 2012 is the product of CBS having more telecasts and a few rainouts, or perhaps the NBC-Golf Channel synergy providing better promotion and telecast lead-ins?
To be clear, the mostly NBC produced pictures, sound and announcing from Friday's Ryder Cup made the fantastic golf that much better.
Unfortunately, over the course of 11.5 hours, we were actually deprived of coverage.
We all know they have bills to pay, but showing a promo 18 times over the course of 11.5 hours? Obnoxious.
The primary atrocity committed by ESPN and the PGA of America was the call in three instances to leave live, thrilling Ryder Cup golf. Twice they showed a Scott Van Pelt narrated highlight package and most painful of all, an interview with PGA of America president Allen Wronowski that not a single person on the planet wanted or needed to hear.
Thankfully, the Sky Sports feed was online (thanks reader Tim) and showed twice as much golf with solid commentary from Butch Harmon and Colin Montgomerie, among others.
Too many times in the past decade the PGA of America has shown a complete lack of interest in requiring their partners to present a fluid telecast and instead allows networks like ESPN to run every promo imaginable without regard for the viewer. (Including on-air spots read by the announcers plugging broadcasts competing with Saturday's Ryder Cup telecast.)
The agony was compounded by the unwatchable RyderCup.com stream, which was avoiding competing with ESPN's telecast, leaning heavily on pre-packaged highlights and full screen graphics.
With the captivating documentary War By The Shore, core golf fans will have one less thing to bemoan about Golf Channel's neglect of the game's rich history. In yet another shining example of the Comcast/NBC merger benefiting golf fans, this artfully produced film takes full advantage of NBC's original 1991 Ryder Cup footage and intermixes the highlights with historic photos and an extensive mix of interviewees to relive one of the most thrilling events the game has ever witnessed. Beyond retelling the story of an epic match, the 51-minute Ross Greenburg produced documentary makes an open-and-shut case for this as the transcendent event in the Ryder Cup. And maybe even in golf's place in the network pecking order.
Directed and edited by George Roy from a script by Steve Stern, the first nine minutes are devoted to the Jack Nicklaus-inspired 1979 switch to a competition against a team from Continental Europe. By 1987 when the Europeans dominated at Muirfield Village and Jose Maria Olazabal broke out in a celebratory dance across Muirfield Village's 18th green, there was "bad blood" and the arrogance was viewed as an "affront" to the Americans, Paul Azinger says in the film. A 1989 tie was remembered mostly for Captain Ray Floyd's "twelve best golfers in the world" remark at the opening ceremony. Throw in a testosterone boost from the Gulf War even though the U.S. and Europe were allies, and the stage was set for the 1991 event at Kiawah Island's Ocean Course.
The early week antics recalled in the Peter Coyote-narrated film are many, from footage of the opening dinner (everyone had so much hair and Sir Nick had such lovely highlights!), the Steve Pate limo accident (didn't need to see Pate shirtless though) and even the traditionally-diplomatic President George Bush giving a pro-American taped message shown at the dinner (he refers to the bi-annual matches…nice job presidential speechwriters!). It all eventually pales compared to the on-course dramatics: Seve Ballesteros coughing-in Chip Beck's backswing, the ball compression controversy between Azinger and Seve, and even Azinger suggesting teammate Corey Pavin's ode-to-the-troops camouflage hats "crossed the line" (now we know why the two eventual Captains weren't sharing many notes in 2010!). The combination of rarely seen footage, fresh memories and a nice cross section of players and media interviewed, makes for terrific television. (Included is Curt Sampson, who has a new book on the matches. Excerpt here.)
One pleasant surprise to even this viewer--who was glued to the whole thing live and still has VHS copies of all three days--was the reminder that this was a breakthrough television event. The first Ryder Cup aired on network television, NBC's Dick Ebersol made a bold decision to stay with Saturday's Fred Couples/Payne Stewart v. Olazabal/Ballesteros match a whopping 90 minutes into American prime time. The resulting match, played in stunning late light on an Ocean Course that was firm, infinitely more fascinating and aesthetically rugged back then, set the stage for Sunday's singles while introducing a new audience to emotion-fueled golf like no one had ever seen.
For the final day, the film glosses over the decision by Pate to not play due to the car accident injury and instead focuses on the two matches everyone involved will forever remember: Mark Calcaveccia's meltdown against Colin Montgomerie and the finale between Bernhard Langer and Hale Irwin. We learn that Monty was going to concede a short putt to Calc after the "smother top" into the par-3 17th hole's lake, but then something urged him to resist and Calc missed, sending the match to the home hole. Then there was that unforgettable finish between Irwin and Langer which, while getting the full treatment, doesn't feel quite as dramatic as it did in last Tuesday's re-airing of the original telecast. Still, it's a minor quibble as the Greenburg team packed a lot of into 51 minutes of gripping and never dull Ryder Cup memories.
War By The Shore airs Tuesday, September 25th at 9 p.m. ET on Golf Channel. Here's a preview:
ESPN put Chris Berman on a Monday night Chargers-Raiders game and the reviews were almost as brutal as his golf announcing, which we learned last week, we'll be enduring on the U.S. Open weekday coverage for the foreseeable future.
The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant wrote, "Holy moly, the Raiders are a disaster. They are not, however, as much of a disaster as Berman on the stick." Sirius XM Radio's Eddie Borsilli wrote, "There are no words for what's happening in this game. But I could do without Berman and his stupid comments. Go circle the wagons." The Louisville Courier-Journal's Tim Sullivan wrote, "First Chris Berman, then Stuart Scott, and me without a mute button. Oh, the price we pay to watch pro football." CBSSports.com's Will Brinson wrote, "Not often watching football feels like a chore. 1AM + Boomer + … this is one of those times."
"Not many people know this, but when Tiger had been on Tour for two or three years, his people called and asked if I would give him lessons on short irons," Miller said. "Jack Nicklaus told him I was the best short iron play ever—a pretty great compliment."
Miller said he declined to offer because of his NBC announcing work and his desire to spend time with his children and grandchildren.
"I was tired," Miller said. "I didn't think I could give him the time he'd need, so I turned him down, which I don't think many people have done."
And now?
"He's the guy I'd like to help most," Miller said. "I've been watching him since he was in junior golf. I know all the swings he's had. I think I could help him get back to his natural swing, not the swing someone else wants him to make. I'm open to helping him."
Tiger, have your people call Johnny's people and let's make this made-for-TV goldmine a go!
The Nielsen overnights NBC's BMW Championship telecast where Rory McIlroy bested one of the best leaderboards you'll see in modern times.
Third round: 1.8 (1.0 in 2011)
Final round: 2.6 (0.9 in 2011)
Update on 2012-09-12 02:14 by Geoff
**Golf Channel lowered it to a 2.5 in their press release...
o Overnight ratings for Sunday’s final round on NBC (2.5 household rating) was the best since the inception of the PGA TOUR Playoffs in 2007 and up 150 percent over last year.
o Golf Channel’s final-round, lead-in coverage (0.7/676,000) was up 154 percent over the same coverage in 2011.
o Saturday’s coverage of round three on NBC (1.8 overnight rating) was up 125 percent over 2011 and continuation coverage on Golf Channel (2.0/2,104,000) was the highest-rated and most-watched Saturday golf telecast on Golf Channel this year.*
o Round one on Golf Channel (1.0/979,000) was the highest-rated and most-watched round one of the BMW Championship as a PGA TOUR Playoff event (since 2007).
o Viewership for round two on Golf Channel (1.7/1,660,000) was up 200 percent over last year.**
ESPNannounces a new deal locking up Chris Berman for six more years starting in '13.
One of the preeminent sports commentators of his generation, Berman will continue as the leading voice and face of ESPN’s National Football League studio coverage as host of Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown and Monday Night Football halftime, NFL highlight segments on SportsCenter and the NFL Draft. He will also continue to host the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby and ESPN’s U.S. Open golf coverage.
In this promo video below, note that the Ryder Cup and U.S. Open are mentioned as part of the NBC Sports Live Extra app, re-released Thursday. Expect the PGA Tour to also be available next year when the new television contract kicks in.
Nice catch by Jonathan Wall. And nice focus by "On The Range" correspondent Alex Miceli to be so locked in as to be oblivious to the background activity.
The real gift of this video was the Bentley the bulldog puppy video that flashed up after Miceli. Much more cuddly and funny.
Update on 2012-08-30 03:42 by Geoff
**Golf Channel posted a clean copy of the segment:
While their competitors at CBS are tightening budgets or cutting back, Golf Channel invests in something they can't quantify to enhance their telecasts and online coverage.
For Immediate Release:
GOLF CHANNEL LAUNCHES EDITORIAL RESEARCH UNIT
New Golf Research Unit Modeled After Successful Olympic Research Unit
ORLANDO, Fla. (Aug. 20, 2012) – Golf Channel has created a new Editorial Research Unit modeled after the Olympic Research Unit model first created by Roone Arledge at ABC Sports in 1967 and used over the past two decades by NBC as the foundation of its Olympic storytelling. Much in the same way that personalizing Olympic athletes from around the world through storytelling creates more compelling and entertaining Olympic programming, the golf research unit is designed to strengthen and ensure quality of editorial content across all platforms, including broadcast and cable television, and all digital offerings. The announcement was made today by Geoff Russell, Executive Editor, Golf Channel, who will oversee the group.
“By mining the best stories in golf, our research unit will give us a consistent editorial voice and strengthen the quality of our on-air product across all of our platforms,” said Russell. “The NBC Olympic research team has long been credited with helping viewers connect with its coverage and now is a key part of the Olympic broadcast. Our motivation was to apply that same concept to make Golf Channel even better.”
The Golf Channel Editorial Research Unit will be led by Gil Capps, a long-time Emmy Award winning producer for NBC Sports golf telecasts, who will serve as Managing Editor.
The research unit will support Golf Channel and NBC production teams, including news, tournaments and original productions, as well as GolfChannel.com.
Capps, who will relocate from North Carolina to Golf Channel Studios in Orlando, has provided statistics and editorial direction in the main announcer tower for Johnny Miller, Dan Hicks and Dick Enberg for more than 15 years. Capps will continue to work tournaments as part of his new responsibilities for Golf Channel and NBC.
Reed Burton, a former CBS golf researcher who has been a member of the Golf Channel team since 2006 working on such shows as Golf Central, Morning Drive and the network’s Live From franchise at golf’s major events, will be research editor.
A quick look at the CBSSports.com golf page--and that's about all I can muster these days (no offense, Shane Bacon)--does not reveal to readers when you can watch CBS Sports' production of the rain-delayed Wyndham Championship.
What a wonderful PGA Tour Partner, looking out for the fans who might not have seen the golf today but were curious about watching a pretty attractive finish where Sergio Garcia will try to fend off Tim Clark.
FYI, the final round of the Wyndham Championship will resume on Monday with Golf Channel airing live coverage beginning at 9 a.m. ET. Sergio Garcia is currently leading at 15-under-par. Morning Drive will air live for two hours leading into live tournament coverage beginning at 7 a.m. ET, featuring live interviews on-site from Greensboro. Golf Central will air live following the conclusion of the Monday’s final round coverage.
Below is Golf Channel’s Monday morning programming schedule (all times Eastern):
7-9 a.m. Morning Drive (Live)
9 a.m.-12 p.m. (Approx) Final Round Wyndham Championship (L)
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
