What the Bob Costas-Joe Buck musical chairs game says about HBO
UPDATED to reflect Joe Buck signing.
There's a certain symmetry to the decision by Bob Costas to cut ties with HBO, where he'd been nearly a decade, and join the MLB Network as the job he does when he's not on NBC. Costas is leaving a network that is one of the strongest brands in television, still so renowned for excellence that merely OK shows like "Big Love" strike its viewers (like me) as disappointments; and is going to a network that comes out of the gate so predictably cookie-cutter and ordinary that any association with quality is considered above-the-fold news.
But here's something you may not have realized: By moving from HBO to MLBN, Bobby C immediately upgrades his cable reach by as much as 67 percent. HBO, last I checked, was in about 30 million homes; MLB Net, which signed on Jan. 1 with a show hosted by then-guest-anchor Costas, is in about 50 million homes.
I've asked a more authoritative watcher of baseball -- someone in a fantasy league, and no, not Keith Olbermann -- to favor TVB with a review of the network's first month on the air. I doubt that it will be pretty. Right now I find coverage of the Caribbean World Series more compelling than anything else on MLBN. Really, there's nowhere for MLBN to go but up. And with this announcement, it has.
Meanwhile, what's going on at HBO? First "Inside the NFL" gets its walking papers (and Showtime picks up a few new subscribers), now this. Anyone can put on an After Effects-laden documentary about the Yankees these days, but few networks could offer the spectacle of a live, unbleeped rant by a Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter against a bogeyman known as "the blogosphere" (or as I call it, work). And say what you will about "Inside the NFL," but it was a gathering of jocks that Costas kept in line with his intelligence and always deft snappy comebacks. There was nothing like it on broadcast or cable.
On Thursday, the other shoe dropped as HBO announced it had signed Fox broadcaster Joe Buck to host his own sports-talk series. HBO's head of sports, Ross Greenburg, said that the network would "craft the series to showcase Joe's character and personality." And what I am now about to say is not to diminish what I believe is excellent work that Buck does on Fox's baseball postseason coverage: What character and personality would that be? I mean, isn't the whole point about Joe that he kind of kicks back and lets the game speak for itself?
That said, I am eager for my generation's St. Louis-based sports personality to start reminding me of the previous generation's St. Louis-based sports personality -- or the ones before that (Joe's dad and Harry Caray). If Greenburg can pull that rabbit out of his hat, I'll be the first to acknowledge I was wrong to second-guess HBO.
One last word about MLB Network: If it wants to build its brand, it will figure out a way to give Costas enough airtime to use that "Inside the NFL" approach to establish a new aesthetic on basic cable sports television, one that values informed discourse and turns down the insane video popcorn machine that now blares 24/7 on sports TV, as was so beautifully parodied this week by the Onion News Network:
Tom Coughlin Retires From Family To Spend More Time With Team
ACCLAIMED BROADCASTER JOE BUCK TO JOIN HBO SPORTS, WITH SPORTS TALK PROGRAM TO LAUNCH IN MAY
NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2009 - HBO Sports, widely recognized for its pioneering, award-winning and distinctive storytelling productions, will add another accomplished broadcast talent to its programming roster when Joe Buck hosts a sports talk show launching this May, it was announced today by Ross Greenburg, president, HBO Sports, and Rick Bernstein, executive producer, HBO Sports. The new series will be presented on a quarterly basis and likely utilize a live town hall format.
"I am flattered and beyond excited that HBO has given me this opportunity," said Buck, who will continue as FOX Sports' lead play-by-play commentator on its NFL and MLB packages. "With HBO's track record, production quality and rate of success, there is no more desirable home in sports. I hope to create something fresh and unique for the network that truly showcases all I can do. And I hope to get Larry David's cell phone number someday."
"At HBO we strive to produce programs viewers cannot watch anywhere else on the dial," said Greenburg. "Whether it's 'Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel' or 'Hard Knocks' or our 'Sports of the 20th Century' documentary franchise, we try to capture our audience's attention with something unique and innovative. With someone as talented and engaging as Joe Buck, this new show should become another signature program for HBO Sports."
"We will craft the series to showcase Joe's character and personality," said Bernstein. "Joe is a tremendous broadcaster and we are thrilled to develop this new platform with him."
Joe Buck embarked on his broadcasting career as a youngster, growing up in St. Louis, where his father, Jack Buck, served as the play-by-play announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals. He spent 17 years working Cardinals radio and TV broadcasts before concentrating full-time on his FOX Sports duties. Buck joined FOX Sports in 1994 at age 25 as the upstart network was launching its sports division. He was assigned to the NFL package and subsequently the Major League Baseball package when FOX acquired those rights in 1996.
A six-time Emmy(R) Award winner, Buck is one of sports television's premier play-by-play commentators. Along with all-time greats Curt Gowdy and Al Michaels, he is one of three national broadcasters to work as the lead announcer in both the NFL and MLB broadcast booth on a network level in the same season.
Buck, 40, has called ten World Series for FOX Sports and handled play-by-play for two Super Bowls, including the New York Giants' dramatic comeback win over the New England Patriots in February 2008.
Over the past three decades, HBO Sports has earned a reputation as sports television's best storyteller. The acclaimed "Sports of the 20th Century" documentary series has earned seven George F. Peabody Awards for production excellence. Last April, HBO earned more Sports Emmy(R) Awards than any other single network. HBO Sports programming includes two boxing series, "World Championship Boxing" and "HBO Boxing After Dark"; HBO Pay-Per-View; the NFL training camp experience "Hard Knocks"; "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel"; "Sports of the 20th Century" documentaries; and the "24/7" reality franchise. The inaugural "BNP Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup," featuring four of the top women tennis players in the world, including No. 1-ranked Serena Williams, will air from New York's Madison Square Garden March 2 on HBO.
