Aikman (c) and Buck (r) will call doubleheader games as well as "Thursday Night Football"GETTY IMAGES
Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will call “Thursday Night Football” games for Fox this season while continuing to call some Sunday games, Fox Sports President & COO Eric Shanks said this morning. “They will call all the doubleheader games, as well as the Thursday games,” Shanks said. Originally, Fox had looked into finding another broadcast team for "TNF," but opted to put its top broadcast pair on the game. Fox said that it would use “TNF” to launch two series: “Last Man Standing” and “Cool Kids.” Fox execs also cited the presence of “TNF” -- and all the primetime hours it will take up in the fall -- as a reason for cancelling the series “Brooklyn Nine Nine,” which has since been picked up by NBC (John Ourand, Staff Writer). In N.Y., Bob Raissman cited sources as saying that either Mike Pereira or Dean Blandino, both Fox NFL rules analysts, will be "involved in the 'Thursday Night Football' package" this upcoming season (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/13).
PLAYING TIME: In N.Y., Andrew Marchand wrote ESPN wants Booger McFarland to have "equal time on air" as Jason Witten for the net's new "MNF" team. But McFarland will "be on the sideline in what appears to be like the role that Tony Siragusa used to have on Fox's No. 2 team years ago." Marchand wrote he is "not sure about having the third person on the sideline is the best way to have the chemistry and teamwork that ESPN emphasized was so important about its new team." It is "easier to establish this side-by-side, with eye contact than when one analyst is located elsewhere." But Marchand will "give it a chance" (N.Y. POST, 5/13). THE MMQB's Peter King writes this is a "very interesting chemistry experiment, when the color guy is the rookie (Witten) starting his media career at the highest level of television" (SI.com, 5/14).
