Frankly, My Dear: ESPN To Unveil Stephen A. Smith Talk Show
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Smith’s Talk Show Premieres
On ESPN2 Tonight
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ESPN2’s “Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith” premieres tonight at 6:30pm ET,
and Smith this week was the subject of several features around the country. The
N.Y. TIMES’ Richard Sandomir in a piece in Sunday’s Arts & Leisure section wrote
Smith in less than two years at ESPN has “become one of its best-known personalities,
and arguably its most renowned African-American.” ESPN “believes it has a franchise”
in Smith, who will continue to write a twice-weekly column for the Philadelphia
Inquirer. ESPN Exec VP/Programming & Production Mark Shapiro said, “Stephen A.
is ringing a bell. People like him and dislike him, but they still watch him.
These days, it’s hard to find a talent who strikes a chord that way.” Sandomir
noted some complaints about Smith “have to do with race.” N.Y. Post writer Phil
Mushnick said that Smith “‘speaks in two voices’ to appeal to ESPN’s different
but overlapping audiences: one that is straightforward and another that appeals
specifically to ‘urban street blacks or white street wannabees.’” But Sandomir
wrote Smith “does not deny that race figures prominently in his persona.” Smith:
“I realize there is a paucity of African-Americans in my position. ... You feel
a tremendous responsibility, not to take the black side of things, but to make
sure that side gets heard, because if I don’t do it, who’s going to do it?” (N.Y.
TIMES, 7/31).
FRANKLY SPEAKING: Smith is also profiled by SI’s Karl Taro Greenfeld, who
writes Smith is “the most despised sports personality on the air today.” He has
become “to sports punditry what Rush Limbaugh is to political analysis and James
Cramer is to business news: the final triumph of bluster and confidence over content,
of point of view over facts, of opinion over objectivity.” But Greenfeld notes
Smith’s addition to ESPN’s “NBA Shootaround” led to a 17% ratings increase. Shapiro
said he brought up Smith’s name at a production meeting in ’03 and “there were
28 people in the room, and they were all vehement: ‘No way, never, never!’ I said,
‘We’ve gotta get this guy in here.’” Smith said of those who “criticize him for
being too cozy” with his subjects, “I think these people have a problem with the
way that I convey my thoughts and my opinions. They have a problem with the fact
that I’m in their face and I’m not backing up.” Smith added that “Quite Frankly”
will “stay away from teleprompterized monologues and softball questions lobbed
fawningly at guests” (SI, 8/1 issue). Smith, on the show’s format: “I hate
using it, but the closest thing to it is an Oprah, a Larry King” (PHILADELPHIA
INQUIRER, 7/31).
SPINOFF: USA TODAY’s Michael Hiestand reports ESPN has already “planned
for a spinoff” in October called “Quite Frankly: Afterthoughts,” a show “inspired
by Oprah Winfrey’s ‘After the Show,’” in which viewers will “see Smith chat with
his ... studio audiences.” Hiestand notes the idea came from ESPN’s new media
packaging unit, which also “helped create ‘X Center,’ which follows ‘BassCenter’
as the second ‘SportsCenter’ spinoff and will premiere Thursday on ESPN2” to run
during the X Games (USA TODAY, 8/1).
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