Halfway through the NFL season, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY's
Mike Flaherty grades the performance of the NFL TV partners'
broadcast teams. Flaherty calls CBS's Jim Nantz a "vanilla
anchor" in giving the "NFL Today" a B-, and gives the game
production and top play-by-play team Greg Gumbel and Phil
Simms a "middle-of-the-road" rating of B. Fox earns a C for
"Fox NFL Sunday" as Flaherty calls Terry Bradshaw an
"insufferable boor," but it earns an A- for game coverage,
led by Pat Summerall and John Madden, TV's "best behind-the-
mike duo." ABC earns a D for "Monday Night Blast," but a B+
for game coverage as play-by-play man Al Michaels "may be
the best in the biz." ESPN's in-studio team earns an A-,
while its game coverage earns a C+, and Flaherty says Mike
Patrick, Joe Theismann and Paul Maguire "get the job done
with shtick-free unobtrusiveness" (EW, 10/23 issue).
GOOD MOVE FOR CBS? In Baltimore, Milton Kent looks at
CBS's return to the NFL, noting that CBS "has come back
quite well with a pretty decent plan of attack for covering
games that blends four decades of tradition with a
newfangled conference, the AFC, and a '90s sensibility."
Once "you clear the top level," CBS's "announcing depth is
superior" to Fox and the "NFL Today" has "evolved nicely
into a straightforward hour of information, though it could
still use a bit of personality" (Baltimore SUN, 10/27).
NEWS YOU CAN USE? In Boston, Howard Manly reviews the
informational aspects of the NFL's pre-game shows. CBS's
Mike Lombardi reported three weeks ago that NFL owners
"would discuss realignment" at today's owners' meetings, and
gave his own plan for realignment, but "Fox NFL Sunday" host
James Brown reported last week that "all owners will decide"
today is whether to put Cleveland into the AFC Central.
Lombardi: "I'm right and Brown is wrong. I only said that a
realignment was on the docket and gave my own plan. I never
said it was going to pass. I just said it was going to be
talked about. I was factual." Brown could not be reached
for comment (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/27). Lombardi reported on
Sunday that owners will "do nothing" about realignment and
"put Cleveland in the AFC Central" (CBS, 10/25).
