What they are saying about Fox Sports Live: New anchors will be ‘acquired taste’; questions about panel

I had my review. Here are some others:

Ben Koo, Awful Announcing:

This show is built around Charissa Thompson, Jay Onrait, and Dan O’Toole.

Jay and Dan lived up to the expectations I had. They were fun. They don’t take things too seriously. They had a lot of jokes and moments that would have felt out of place or raised eyebrows had they been on ESPN’s Sportscenter. These moments were spontaneous and frequent enough where I can see why they attracted a significant following north of the border and think they’ll do the same here. I like them, but will say they are an acquired taste. Sportscenter anchors are essentially nurtured to be universally likable. Funny and clever at times, but rarely outlandish.

Steve Lepore, SB Nation:

The rest of the panel, hosted by the excellent Charissa Thompson, was more iffy. Andy Roddick was fine when called upon, but the rest of the panel seemed to be in a bit of a jokey mess. It felt disorganized when Thompson wasn’t directly running it and the guys were left to discuss amongst themselves. Fox, I’m sure, will give them time to mesh. That could definitely happen, but within the context of this show, I wonder if it might not be better to let Thompson and the guys have their own hour or half-hour to give things a little more order. Can “controlled jocularity” be a thing?

Tom Jones, Tampa Tribune:

In particular, Fox Sports 1’s flagship show, Fox Sports Live, was all over the place.

The show debuted Saturday night and, after watching the first 60 minutes, I felt relieved that I did not suffer a seizure.

For starters, viewers were overloaded with too much information. There was a ticker running on the bottom and another set of notes and graphics above that ticker and still another set of notes and graphics running down the right side. Then, there was more written information in the middle of the screen while anchors Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole were talking over the highlights.

There was so much information for the viewer to absorb that one could not possibly retain any of it. As a viewer, I wasn’t sure whether to focus on the bottom, the side, the main screen or the anchors’ voices and, instead, I ended up doing none of the above.

Joe DeLessio on Sports on Earth:

4. One of the panelists, Gary Payton, gave a glimpse into what I feared could be the show’s biggest issue heading into its premiere. During a discussion of whether sprinter Usain Bolt was the best athlete in the world, Payton declared that we’d need to define what the term “athlete” meant, and he argued that LeBron James was the best athlete. “He can do baseball, football, basketball, he can do all that,” said Payton. “We don’t know what Bolt can do.” He presented the LeBron bit as fact, and no one challenged Payton on whether James can “do baseball, football, basketball,” even though there’s some evidence that being the best basketball player on the planet doesn’t necessarily translate to success in other sports. Comments like that might be the norm — not just from Payton but from other panelists, who are asked to offer analysis on a sport outside their area of expertise.

Sean Gregory, Keepingscore.com:

We’ll find out soon enough. Based on Sunday night’s sample, nothing’s being turned upside down. (Here’s a review of Saturday night’s Fox Sports Live debut). The most memorable part of the program: a slow-motion clip showing Indianapolis Colts backup quarterback Chandler Harish accidentally hitting Fox sideline reporter Pam Oliver in the face with a football during pre-game warmups. Onrait and O’Toole were pleasant, but by no means spectacular. At one point, O’Toole said: “Just a reminder, you’re watching Fox Sports Live; so far, we haven’t been cancelled.” Maybe a tad funny, in a “I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not” kind of way. Other than that….to be fair, Fox Sports Live usually features panel discussions with former ESPN SportsNation anchor Clarissa Thompson, Andy Roddick, Donovan McNabb, and some others to mix things up. But as Onrair and O’Toole said at the top of the show, the panel only works during the week.

 

3 thoughts on “What they are saying about Fox Sports Live: New anchors will be ‘acquired taste’; questions about panel

  1. Seems the networks have forgotten the old adage, ‘less is more…’ Agree completely with Tom Jones. (No…not the singer. LOL)

  2. This is at least the second time you have referred to Tom Jones as writing for the Tampa Tribune. He writes for the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times). The site http://www.tampabay.com is for the Tampa Bay Times. The site http://www.tbo.com is for the Tampa Tribune. Tom Jones does not write for the Trib. He writes for the Times.

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