TV MONITOR: Last night's 11:00pm ET editions of
CNN/SI's "Sports Tonight" and FSN's "Primetime" (Fox Sports
Net Pittsburgh) both led with a World Series preview.
"Sports Tonight" followed with the postponement of FL State
Univ. WR Peter Warrick's plea bargain hearing at 3:38 into
the broadcast and then a preview of the Mike Tyson-Orlin
Norris bout. "Primetime" followed MLB coverage, at 8:10
into the broadcast, with an update on the injury to Dolphins
QB Dan Marino and the four-game suspension of 49ers RB
Travis Jervey for violating the NFL's substance-abuse
policy. ESPN's "SportsCenter," which aired at about 11:27,
led with Chiefs-Ravens, which preceded the program, and
followed with Marino. "SportsCenter" followed NFL
coverage, at 10:52 into the broadcast, with Payne Stewart's
response to ABC golf analyst Peter Allis' comment to the
London Telegraph that "Americans might as well be Chinese.
In their eyes everything European is rubbish." Stewart
mimicked a Chinese accent when he made his remarks to ESPN's
Mark McCumber during a rain delay of the net's coverage of
the National Car Rental Classic: "I just want Peter Allis to
know that all of us American golfers on the Ryder Cup team,
we are Chinese too." Stewart later apologized for his
remarks: "It wasn't right for me probably to [have] done
what I've done. ... I tried to add a little humor, and
obviously it was not in the right taste" (ESPN, 10/21).
TV NOTES: During the first quarter of last night's
Chiefs-Ravens game, ESPN analysts Joe Theismann and Paul
Maguire demonstrated ABC's Enhanced TV feature on ESPN.com
and NFL.com, where users can earn points by correctly
predicting the game's next play (THE DAILY).
ONCE IN A LIFETIME: Lifetime Entertainment CEO Carole
Black, on her network's WNBA partnership, "We notice in our
viewership that a lot of teens are watching it and a lot of
older women" ("Business Unusual," CNNfn, 10/21).
MORE NOTES: USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke writes that NBC
and Turner "are teaming up to bid on Wimbledon" and that
negotiations for the TV rights to the NCAA basketball
tournament "have been pushed back to mid-November" (USA
TODAY, 10/22)....NBC's Dick Enberg said that he "would be
interested in filling a vacancy on the Angels' radio team."
Angels VP Bob Wagner said Thursday that the team "did not
renew" the contract of Brian Barnhart (L.A. TIMES,
10/22)....In DC, Leonard Shapiro reviews the talent on CBS'
"NFL Today" and "Fox NFL Sunday" and labels CBS' announcing
team "a huge improvement with one major exception. [Jerry]
Glanville cast in the role of folksy, good ol'boy ... just
doesn't work for me. Glanville tries far too hard to be a
rebel without much of a cause." Shapiro, on comedian Jimmy
Kimmel appearing on Fox: "He's mostly making a mockery of
the valuable time being afforded to him on an otherwise
first-rate show" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/22).
