Jim Williams: Paradise found for NFL fans
Jim Williams, The Examiner
Sep 8, 2006 5:00 AM (1 hr 55 mins ago)
Current rank: # 6 of 5,268 articles

WASHINGTON - There have been many changes for the NFL viewer in 2006. Good changes.


For the first time, each Sunday will feature a national tripleheader on broadcast TV and more than 14 consecutive hours of NFL coverage — not including local programming.

Let’s start with CBS 9’s new lineup. Washington’s own James Brown is back where he started. J.B. will replace Greg Gumbel as the host of “The NFL of CBS.” The show will be done from the network’s New York studio and Brown will be joined by Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe and Boomer Esiason. Gumbel chose a return to the booth, where he will call games with Dan Dierdorf as CBS’ No. 2 team.

FOX 5 is taking the show on the road with Joe Buck serving as both pregame host and game announcer. He will anchor the pregame festivities on-site with Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson. Curt Menefee replaces Buck for halftime. Buck and Troy Aikman will continue as FOX’s No. 1 game broadcast duo.

NBC 4 is back and has an impressive “Football Night in America” studio team at 7 p.m featuring Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Peter King, Jerome Bettis and Sterling Sharpe. A 200-plus-inch HD plasma monitor will serve as the futuristic set’s backdrop.

After “NBC Sunday Night Football” finishes around 11:30 p.m. you need to click over to the NFL Network and check out “NFL GameDay,” a 90-minute wrap-up of the day’s games. Rich Eisen will host and he’s joined by analysts Steve Mariucci and Deion Sanders.

Also, to answer a question I get all the time: Yes, all NFL games this year will be produced in HD, so now is the time to get that new TV.

Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer.
Examiner