It’s Too Bad Network Promos Spoiled a Good Telecast for Fox

There was no mistaking which network televised Sunday’s Super Bowl. Fox beat us over the head with it.

Was this a football game or a 10-hour Fox promo? There may have been more promos than there were commercials. No wonder the pregame show was 3 1/2 hours. More time for promos.

Pat Summerall and John Madden--as usual--did a fine job. So did pregame show producer Scott Ackerson and his crew.

But oh, those promos! They were everywhere, as was the Fox logo. It was enough to make one swear to never again watch a Fox show.

There must of been 100 “King of the Hill” promos alone. The celebrities in the celebrity trivia segments were, of course, stars of Fox shows. There was a stupid, drawn-out “Voodoo” cemetery scene in the pregame show with three of the four kids from Fox’s baseball pre-pregame show, “In the Zone.”

Fox touched all the bases.

Then there was the ill-conceived phony “Special Report” news bulletin that led into the halftime show, with newswoman Catherine Crier breathlessly, and in a serious tone, reporting that Elwood Blues of the Blues Brothers had escaped from the Illinois State Penitentiary and, along with Z and Mighty Mike, might be headed for New Orleans.

This was nothing more than a promo for the new Fox News Channel.

Even Madden seemed to tire of all the promos. After Summerall read one for the NHL games on Fox next Saturday, Madden said, “Hey, we’ve still got some football left.”

Sure, Rupert Murdoch paid $1.58 billion to get the NFL and a Super Bowl. But does that give him the right to promote his network to shameless proportions? Shouldn’t there be a limit?

Someone at Fox should have said, “Let’s be careful and not overdo the self-promotion.”

But apparently no one did, and it all detracted from the most important day in the history of the Fox television network.

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Sure, the pregame show was too long, but it was produced about as well as one could expect.

As advertised, the diaries put together by NFL Films were intriguing and the cast of James Brown--the Fox host, not the halftime performer--Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Ronnie Lott turned in a solid performance.

The only criticism might be that Bradshaw, Long and Lott talked a little too much about themselves and their Super Bowls. Collectively, they were 9-0 in Super Bowls, and some reflection would have been fine.

And there was nothing wrong with each interviewing little-known heroes from Super Bowls they had all played in. Bradshaw chatted with former Pittsburgh Steeler Reggie “Boobie” Harrison, who blocked a punt in Super Bowl X, Lott interviewed former San Francisco 49er linebacker Dan Bunz, who made a big stop in Super XVI, and Long talked with former linebacker Jack Squirek, who intercepted a pass and scored a touchdown for the Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII.

But the Super Bowls involving the Fox crew members became bigger and more important than others.

At least Bradshaw was able to mention Pittsburgh Steeler teammate Lynn Swann. You might have thought that since he worked for another network, ABC, any mention at all was off limits.

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It sure is nice that the trophy presentation and the postgame interviews with the stars of the game no longer take place in stuffy locker rooms but on the field where the fans can see them. For $275 a ticket (at least), they deserve it.

But the low point of the telecast, technically speaking, came during the postgame interviews. That was when Pam Oliver asked a pointed question of Parcells--”Why do you want to leave the Patriots?” Before Parcells could answer, there was James Brown on camera, explaining Parcells had said he would not discuss his job situation.

What happened, according to Ed Goren, the executive producer of Fox Sports, was that Oliver’s interview was on tape and her last question wasn’t supposed to go out over the air.

Another source in New Orleans said Parcells’ response contained language not fit to be broadcast on a network.

Bradshaw, on the pregame show, had a rambling report on Parcells that left things unclear. But then Oliver, during the postgame, said it was a forgone conclusion Parcells would not be back.

For all the access Fox was given for this game, the network did not handle the Parcells situation very well, and certainly didn’t come up with any definitive answers.

Even Madden, during a taped interview during the pregame show, couldn’t shed any light on the Parcells mess.

But overall Madden had a super day, and not just during the game telecast. His taped interviews with Parcells and Mike Holmgren, for the most part, were very good.

A highlight came when Madden asked Holmgren if the people of Green Bay would rename a street after him, as they did for Vince Lombardi, if the Packers were to win.

“There’s an alley behind the practice field named Pots or something like that,” Holmgren said. “I think I can get that done.”

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At the end of Sunday’s telecast, after Lott, the rookie of the group, thanked everyone and said many nice things about Fox and being No. 1, Bradshaw leaned over, held out a note card and quipped, “Here, you missed a line.”

When it came to self-promotion, however, Fox didn’t miss much.

Maybe the next time it does a Super Bowl the golly-gee aura will diminish and there will be more professionalism.