July 16th, 2010 
Journo After six weeks, TNT’s turn at the helm of the Cup Series broadcasts is over. And if you ask me, it couldn’t have come any sooner.
From missed stories, to commercial overkill, TNT’s races were lackluster at best.
Thanks to the wonders of technology (the DVR) and Speed’s Wednesday re-broadcast, TC and I usually catch every race broadcast. Though it’s not something we often write about here (if you’re looking to talk NASCAR TV check out The Daly Planet) I felt the need to express my disappointment with what I saw of TNT’s coverage.
After dumping Bill Weber in the middle of last season, TNT had a hole to fill at play-by-play. While Ralph Sheheen was given an audition at the end of last season, the network settled on MRN and Speed Channel vet Adam Alexander.
Now I think Adam is a great guy. He’s good on pit road, and really a genuinely nice person. Play-by-play however is not his forte. As ESPN learned with Jerry Punch, adeptness on pit road does not necessarily translate to skills at play-by-play.
Not helping Adam’s transition was the lack of communication between the booth and the control room (or trailer). How many times during their stretch did we hear the guys in the booth talking about a driver, wreck, or on-track action only to continue seeing something completely unrelated? This sort of thing is incredibly frustrating to watch (I found myself yelling at the TV) – yet it happened over and over and over.
Let’s not even get started on the commercial breaks either. SB Nation’s Jeff Gluck fully went through those in a post earlier this week.
The man knows what he’s talking about – as does anyone who has watched these races.
Add all this on top of the missed stories (this shouldn’t surprise me though, TNT has a history of missed moments) – AJ Allmendinger v. Richard Petty comes to mind – and what we have are broadcasts that were nothing short of a disappointment.
Now I’m not saying the FOX and ESPN broadcasts are flawless. They most certainly are not (no live sports broadcast is). They are however better than TNT. If you can get past the cartoon characters, and the occasional over-the-top personalities Fox technically has a wonderful broadcast. This is thanks in large part to their Emmy award winning director Artie Kempner, and the best play-by-play guy in the business, Mike Joy. And if there is one thing the folks at ESPN know how to do, it’s how to broadcast a sporting event (though I’m not crazy about their golf coverage). I’d prefer Allen Bestwick at play-by-play too.
Is TNT unwatchable? I think that’s probably a little harsh, but they definitely have work to do to make their broadcasts better. As Jeff Gluck and John Daly have pointed out, hopefully NASCAR and their television partners begin to realize maybe it’s not the product, but the dissemination of the product that’s driving people away.
What do you think about the broadcasts? What are your likes and dislikes? Which section of the season is your favorite?
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I was yelling at my tv as well… stop talking about it and SHOW IT.
If I wanted to hear about it, I’d listen to the radio.
I wish all the networks heed a few rules of thumb about the coverage…
1) no live in car camera shots.
Why? They show the in car camera and they talk about two driver passing each other… they love to do this during lead changes… but I can’t see the racing action!
In car camera’s are cool at boring tracks like California for showing the cars racing groove and stuff like that. It’s neat to see the replay of the wrecks n’ things.
For passing and other exciting racing action…. not so much.
2) not to hurt T.C.’s feelings, but since they put a speed limit on pit road, I just don’t care about watching the stops. I’d much rather they went to commercial and then give me a recap on any hot action or miscues from pit road. Then, I could see more racing… theoretically. Also, I get tired of hearing the pit reporters trying to talk so fast.
3) last 20 laps, no commercials unless there are cautions or red flags.
4) during green flag runs, I only want to see racing. I don’t want to see driver interviews or comments on… anything. I just want to see the race.
5) show the entire field. If I am sitting in the stands at my local dirt track, I am checking out all of the action. I look at the scoring tower/board to see who is leading… then I look through the field to see the battles going on.
ESPN used to be really good about this back in the late 80′s, early 90′s. When the top 5 or so would get locked in a groove for a while, they’d pan through the field to find the action. Which is exactly what we do when we are in the stands.
Whew… well, that’s my .02 cents.
-W
I believe that both Fox and TNT have run their course. The Fox coverage is nothing but a cheerleading squad (trying to make something out of nothing), and TNT, well, they just don’t know how to do it. I do watch with the sound off. Now, I am not sure ESPN will be much better, though I do like Mr. Bestwick. However, to blame the declining viewership and the empty seats on the presenters is a little bit of a stretch. Admittedly, it does have some credence. But any good show will always carry the actors. And, as important as the media is to racing, what happens on the track still must take precedence. Of course, I have no answers, only opinions, and they are not worth much, but it is a fun, interesting, and sometimes exciting sport that sure could use a shot of adrenalin. Can the current TV contracts provide that? I doubt it.
Ditto on Woogeroo’s comments. It infuriates me. I want to see how ALL my drivers are faring.
In addition, I wonder if that is why sponsors bail out. If your driver is not in the top 5 or a famous driver actively feuding with someone, the car might as well not be on track for the TV viewers. Why pay money for that?
I think ANY broadcast minus Waltrip is a vast improvement! Not that TNT doesn’t need improvement but they only have six races, and it’s tough to make many changes in that amount of time.
As far as ESPN, I’d really like to see Allen Bestwick back in the booth. I thought he, Benny & Wally (yes Wally) had the best booth chemistry that I can remember & I truly enjoyed listening to them call a race. That combination is not possible anymore, but I think Allen still can add to a booth team. His job as race host or whatever you call the people not in the booth is a waste for him.
Love Fox…and, yes, TNT is unwatchable! Or more to the point, unlistenable. Any time there is a crash or near crash, Wally Dallenbach does an audible wince that is akin to a woman lifting her skirt when a mouse runs by! And Kyle Petty’s “like I said earlier” and “like we talked about while ago” lead ins grate on my nerves to the point that I have to just walk away from the broadcasts or watch without the sound!
TNT seemed obsessed with promoing their fashion-fantasy cop shows during their races. Seeing what are supposed to be $60K/yr cops, dressed in the height of designer fashion, with stylish hairdos, perfect makeup, buff bods and stilleto heels (for the girl cops), makes me wonder if these producers have ever seen real cops in their natural element.
But I digress.
I found the TNT coverage no better, but not worse, than Fox or ESPN. NASCAR is like soccer in that the producers never will be able to predict when a critical, outcome-changing moment will occur.
You aint seen nothing–yet. At least you can get TNT directly. I live in Canada (southern Ontario) and we get the broadcast on cable from TSN (actually ESPN North).
TSN does not carry U.S. commercials. They cut in with Canadian content. Our rules for ads differ from U.S. so we may–no, we do–miss racing because of this.
I keep asking this question: Isn’t this supposed to be fun?? No offense to you guys, but when my free time sporting interest starts to become more like work than play, that’s a huge problem. Sure I like the RaceBuddy internet toys & stuff because I’m a tech sort, but my argument all along is that I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO rely on them to get a complete TV race picture.
I’ve posted plenty over on John Daly’s site. Bottom line I see: NASCAR can’t wait for 2013 to redo TV contracts, regain control of this disaster. I’m afraid by then sport interest will be eroded to the point that it won’t matter anymore. But that’s another discussion.
I 2nd Zieke’s comment on any broadcast minus Waltrip(any Waltrip) is a vast improvement and personally I like Petty in the booth. I think Kyle does a great job.
I couldn’t disagree more. TNT has by far the best pictures of any of the partners – we see cars instead of in-car and bumper cameras. And there’s RACEBUDDY! And the wide-open coverage from Daytona was outstanding!
I agree that Alexander was not a good choice as PXP, but IMHO that was the only weakness of their coverage.
If you want to see awful, here comes ESPN. They determine before the race begins which drivers they’ll cover and that’s who we see – probably as much in-car as on the track.
Sorry. TNT has been by far the best coverage two years in a row.
The one thing I do like, always have, is Wally Dallenbach. He explains thing very, he doesn’t yell and scream or talked over others. He does promote anything or root for his brother or son. He is so calm and cool and I just think he is one of the best.
I much preferred TNT’s coverage to Fox this season. I agree that they went crazy with the commercial load and I also couldn’t figure out why they missed so many stories they should have been covering, but other than Adam Alexander NOT being the guy to do PXP, I prefer listening to Petty & Dallenbach talk than any minute I have to listen to Waltrip.
I agree, too, that green flag racing should not be interrupted for any of the dumb stuff that all the networks seem to think the fans want to see. After 10 years, the whole cutaway car thing has run its course.
I watch the first 50 laps & the last 20 or so. The commercials are annoying as hell.
Each time I attempt to watch a race broadcast I am inevitably reminded that I am not a customer of the network, the advertiser is the customer. Nothing in that broadcast is meant for my enjoyment so I am not surprised that I do not enjoy much of it. The TV show that is broadcast from the speedway at the same time as the event is racing in name only. Each and every element of the broadcast is marketed to advertisers and only when the element is sold does it make the broadcast. This issue goes to the heart of the problem and no one except the viewers care that there is a problem, and as a result the viewers are staying away in droves. In the race broadcasts I watch, by halfway I am so lost and disoriented from the lack of coherent storytelling I find something else to turn my attention to and the television becomes background noise until the last few laps. I am certainly pleased NASCAR and their television partners are making money and are happy, but I no longer am. The last race I enjoyed watching was the last one I attended and I foresee the next race I will be able to enjoy watching is the one I’ll attend in Richmond in September. With NASCAR’s wonderful television partners overseeing the broadcasts I must drive halfway across America to witness a NASCAR race in person to enjoy it at all. OUCH! Ranking the three broadcasters as to their competence in producing the race broadcasts is futile. Excepting the show personalities, the differences are slight. No one in the production truck is a fan of motor racing, no one in the production would think to attend a motor race on their own just for the enjoyment of the competition. No one in the production truck understands why motor racing occurs, why anyone would want to watch and most of all, why anyone cares-and this is evident in every segment of every broadcast by all three NASCAR television partners. All appearances indicate NASCAR is powerless to affect any change in any aspect of any broadcast by the partners. No due diligence was done in the negotiations of the television contracts by NASCAR to include a clause by which NASCAR could, with just cause, override or veto standards and practices put into use by their television partners. We can draw this conclusion merely by witnessing the variety show that eminates from our televisions during the race!
K Petty-good, until gimmicky
Wally-ditto
Adam A-better in pits
Bestwick-the best front man
Waltrip boys-entertaining only when they are not trying to be!
Jarrett-good and can relate
Rusty-stay off the air..cannot enunciate!
Czarniak-cute, but why?
Brad Daugherty-why?
Webber-don’t miss him
Voda-not bad, know more than most
McReynold’s-good in small to med doses
Joy-not flashy, but professional. Good for TNI plug.
Bob Jenkins-IRL/CART guy…NASCAR could use Bob
Barney Hall-best voice, wish he would do TV
Phil “start-n-announce” Parsons-whatever?
Benny “BP” Parsons-sure do miss him!
Are you sure you watched the Fox coverage? You prefer bumper cams to wide shots? DW promoting his driver of choice and rambling about how HE would have/did it in his day? All the networks are guilty of covering only the front of the field the majority of the time. Now we can look forwar(?) to ESPN covering only the drivers in the top 12, and constant harping on ‘the chase’. Gee, I can hardly wait.
I agree with Zieke, no Waltrips. DW is good on Wind Tunnel. Why can’t he be like that on Fox?
DW, MW, Larry M. and Jeff Hammond are all about themselves….self promotion….
I think TNT is much better than Fox. Sure TNT has too many commercials.
Many fans of the big name/most popular drivers have their favorite talked about/featured by the Fox crew and they never realize how Fox ignores or gives false information.
Fox talked about how Jeff Burton was trying to fake a pit stop and messed up. No, he wasn’t trying to fake the stop. They decided to stop late, and JB saw the 24 there, and aborted the stop. It might not have been good driving, but it wasn’t a faked stop. I noticd when the 24 did that the booth never questioned his trying to fake it. It’s things like that all the time that makes me happy see TNT take over.
Some of the 6 races that TNT broadcasts aren’t the most exciting races on the schedule. I think they cover more drivers by far, than Fox does. That can make a difference in potential sponsors.
I must admit, for the most part, I have the TV muted and listen to my driver’s scanner. I’d be lost without the scanner.
I much preferred TNT over Fox because of the camera work. We didn’t have so much in-car and the director wasn’t afflicted with ADD with cameras jumping around constantly and only covering the lead car or a Hendrick driver. After suffering through the Waltrips, I have trained myself to pretty much ignore talking heads and concentrate on the picture.
I turn the sound off on TNT and FOX also.. the commercials r ridiculous and the broadcasters that babble about crap during the race that i WANT 2 SEE and WANT TO HEAR them and not those bench drivers..!!! but u cannot ignore the breaks.. way to much and they have the nerve to wanna know why these r less people watchin well THAT IS WHY !!!!!
Okay, here’s how my spouse and I watch a race. We record it and then go out to eat. We come back and watch it. We zip through the commercials, cautions and the cut away car.
Of course, it doesn’t always work out. There could have been a lot of cautions or worse..a red flag. The recording eventually catches up and WE HAVE TO WATCH IT LIVE!!! Horrors.
It is torture to watch.
Bring back the old “TNN” crew. Mike Joy,Ken Squire&Glen Jarrett.
How ’bout ESPN getting Bob Jenkins back from Versus??
FOX has always been the best since the new TV package began back in 2001. No, they’re not perfect. Yes, DW and Chris Myers can be a little annoying at times. But as a whole, they’re the best. All of the people on their team clearly have a passionate love for the sport and genuinely enjoy working together, and that’s what has always made FOX stand out above the rest.
NBC/TNT was difficult to watch in the early years. They steadily improved, though, and I think they peaked a year or two ago (although we all miss BP). It didn’t seem as good this year, and they seemed to have a lot more commercials. Usually I don’t notice that aspect much because I’m always doing other things while I watch the race, but it felt like they took a break every few minutes.
I am still disappointed in ABC’s decision to shift most of their races to ESPN, which I can’t get. Actually I’m in a unique situation because ESPN is just one channel above the last channel I get with my basic cable package. So, I can see a decent picture but I can’t really get any sound. It actually works out fairly well since I can still see the action and the running order at the top of the screen, but I have to listen to the announcers on the radio (which isn’t a bad option)! But it would still be better if they were on ABC instead. I hope NASCAR can do something about that next year, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
It was the worst I have ever seen since I have been watching the sport. When the race was over you never new where your driver came in, they just did not show it and forget about the points or the points race you rarely got to get that picture. Kyle was good but called alot of stuff wrong and wound up correcting him self. Maybe its not NASCAR its the delivery system of its races. TNT failed to bring the sport into your living room. I never feklt like I saw a race, it was that bad. The happiest people are those who did not have cable and got to listen to a great race called by MRN. Forget sharing lets try one year with FOX doing it all, then tell us about the ratings.
I commented/posted here about TNT sucking on June 6th
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Garry
on Jun 6th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
It may be my imagination or maybe I am just an old codger who does not like change, or maybe something else … but imuho the other networks’s guys do a much better job at covering the races.
As I said, it may just take some getting used to, but watching today was weird. It kind of felt like we were watching a “bootleg” broadcast. It seemed like the announcers were kind of guessing at the calls ( like they are outsiders vs insiders e.g. Darrel and Mike and the others on the other channel) ….
anyway ..it seemed like they were timid when they were calling the race, as if they were not sure of what was going on …. and for sure the banter was no where near as fun as the other guys.
Just my 2 cents, I wonder what others think.
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I was the only post on that THI thread.
Fox has the best race coverage. End of story. Totally “dislike” TNT’s broadcasting, (thank goodness for Hotpass from DirecTV), and ESPN isn’t much better. I’m glad Fox has toned down Digger. No major complaints about Fox otherwise. TNT’s people seemed to fixate on Kyle Busch, where he started in the race, how quickly he would fly through the field, and when he would win. Then we would have the rash of excuses for anything Kyle did wrong, how misunderstood he was, and how he was going to run away with the season. Then we would have all the excuses for his bad behavior after the race.
Rusty Wallace needs to find another job. He murders the English language, and his opinions are very difficult to follow. Since he owns a Nationwide team, with his son as a driver, how is it possible for him to be a broadcaster in the first place? Food for thought.
I thought TNT’s coverage was ok this year. I was looking forward to their return. They are doing a little bit better at carrying the races but like all networks, they aren’t perfect. I think Adam Alexander is better than Bill Weber up in the booth. Ralph Sheheen was good doing 3 races on TNT last year. Maybe instead of doing 6 races, TNT should do 13 races and then have SPEED do the Chase Races.