In L.A., Joe Flint reports "Fox NFL Sunday" analyst Michael Strahan is “in the running for the job of co-host" of the morning talk show "Live! with Kelly," but he is "expected to keep working at Fox as one of the hosts of its popular NFL pregame program ‘Fox NFL Sunday’ should he land the job.” Landing the job will “certainly mean less sleep and more travel for Strahan because ‘Live!’ shoots in New York City, while ‘Fox NFL Sunday’ is produced out of Los Angeles” (L.A. TIMES, 8/21).
EARLY RISERS: USA TODAY’s Michael Hiestand notes NFL preseason games “can get amazing ratings." The 6.8 overnight for NBC’s Colts-Steelers telecast Sunday night topped the 6.1 for the net’s final-round coverage of the U.S. Open, which played in primetime in the east. Fox' coverage of Friday’s Lions-Ravens game drew a 3.5 rating, “up 25% from comparable coverage” of a Falcons-Jaguars game last preseason. Hiestand: "An interesting ratings experiment would be to stack NFL jerseys on a field and see what kind of rating they’d get” (USA TODAY, 8/21).
GO FISH: In Miami, Clark Spencer notes Showtime will air its final episode of “The Franchise” tomorrow, and Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen said that he can “understand why.” Guillen said, “The way we play, who wants to watch that (expletive)? I don’t want to watch it. Every time I watch an episode, I get depressed.” Guillen said that he “thinks the series might have changed the perception others have of him by humanizing him in a positive way.” He said, “They see the way I respect players. I think people now know a little bit more about me” (MIAMI HERALD, 8/21).
GAMESMANSHIP: The GUARDIAN’s Josh Halliday noted a new U.K. TV channel "is launching in the wake of the London 2012 Olympics, providing coverage of sports featured at the Games including judo, gymnastics and fencing.” London Legacy will be a “24-hour-a-day channel, launching in November and showing 24 Olympic sports.” The channel will “initially only be available to BSkyB's satellite TV customers, but is seeking wider distribution.” London Legacy is “being launched” by independent TV production company Highflyer and will cost it around US$8.6M (GUARDIAN, 8/20).
