Football Night in America
| Football Night in America | |
|---|---|
| Football Night in America logo | |
| Starring | Bob Costas Cris Collinsworth Sterling Sharpe Jerome Bettis Peter King Andrea Kremer |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Production | |
| Running time | 75 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC (2006–) |
| Release | September 10, 2006 |
Football Night in America is the studio show preceding NBC's broadcasts of Sunday night National Football League (NFL) games starting in the 2006 NFL season. Bob Costas is the host, Cris Collinsworth, Sterling Sharpe, and Jerome Bettis are the analysts, and Sports Illustrated columnist Peter King is the special "insider" reporter.
Personalities
- Jerome Bettis: (Studio Analyst), (2006–present)
- Cris Collinsworth: (Studio Analyst), (2006–present)
- Bob Costas: (Studio Host), (2006–present)
- Peter King: (Reporter), (2006–present)
- Andrea Kremer: (Sideline Reporter), (2006–present)
- John Madden: (Color Commentary), (2006–present)
- Al Michaels: (Play-by-Play), (2006–present)
- Sterling Sharpe: (Studio Analyst), (2006–present)
Show rundown
Original
- The program begins with a video package in which a football seemingly flies throughout the country. Several landmarks are featured in the open, including the Gateway Arch, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Empire State Building.
- After a welcome, the day's scores are read off.
- Next is the first visit from the game announcers, Al Michaels and John Madden.
- The next segment features several field reports from the day's games, more analysis, and inside information about the NFL from King.
- In the third segment, the studio team moves to a screening room, in which highlights of the daytime games are reviewed. This is the only show allowed to carry long-form highlights (up to three minutes, twice as long as the usual allowance).
- Shortly before 8 p.m. Eastern time, a segment begins called Chevrolet Drive to Kickoff. Michaels and Madden are shown again, followed by closing analysis of the upcoming game. Within minutes, Football Night ends and game coverage begins with the theme sung by Pink.
Changes
The first two segments of the program changed by the end of the first half of the 2006 season:
- The simulated landmark flyover was removed and the reading of the game scores have been replaced by a round table discussion called The (number of NFL week) Buzz. The scores now flash on the bottom of the screen during this discussion.
- The field report segment has been eliminated. Presumably, this has to do with a recent edict by NBC's parent company, NBC Universal (itself owned by General Electric), to eliminate about $750 million in expenses over the next five years. This reduction includes about 700 jobs at NBCU. Whether any of the job cuts involved those who filed reports on this show is not known. However, before this change, there were as many as five field reports in the discontinued segment; only one appeared on the October 29 program, and two weeks later there were none at all. The second segment now contains an interview conducted earlier in the week. Costas has talked to New York Giants running back Tiki Barber and Carolina Panthers wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, and, before the November 19 game, Kremer spoke with San Diego Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers.
- Al Michaels and John Madden are now shown only once, on the Drive to Kickoff.
Also: just before the first highlights are shown, a rundown is on screen with the order in which the highlights will appear. This is similar to the list shown on FSN Final Score.
Trivia
- The show's title is a takeoff of CBC Television's long-running Hockey Night in Canada franchise. Also, NBC (along with ABC and Major League Baseball in a joint effort called The Baseball Network) had previously (1994-95) aired baseball games under the title Baseball Night in America.
- During the 2006 preseason, the Football Night team appeared at halftime from an exterior set at the site of that night's game. This is because the set at Rockefeller Center, at which the show is based, was still being prepared.
- On September 7, 2006, Jerome Bettis arrived on the exterior set in a school bus. His nickname as a player for the Pittsburgh Steelers was "The Bus." That night, in addition to analysis, Bettis received his ring for winning Super Bowl XL.
- On September 24, 2006, the show was the first national television program to report that Chris Simms, the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had been hospitalized in critical condition. Football Night cited the website of the Charlotte Observer. By halftime, it was announced that Simms had emergency surgery to remove a ruptured spleen, but that a full recovery was expected.
- The program that preceded the November 5 game was shortened by 35 minutes due to the late ending of the Dickies 500, a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race that preceded it on NBC. This period approximated the rain delay that came at the scheduled start of the race.
- The studio is actually on the 8th Floor at 30 Rockefeller Center not on the Plaza