When CBS Talks About the Wizard, It’s Not Wooden

Talk about cornball! Last weekend, viewers tuning in to watch college basketball’s regional finals on CBS had to be somewhat confused. What they saw was what appeared to be the start of a “Wheel of Fortune” show, complete with Pat Sajak and Vanna White.

Three embarrassed coaches were asked to figure out the puzzle, which was “Road to the Final Four.”

CBS was trying to be clever. CBS missed.

Even worse was a dreadful halftime feature in which Sports Illustrated’s Curry Kirkpatrick sang “Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na,” while trying to somehow equate the Kansas-Kansas State basketball game to the “Wizard of Oz.”

What’s coming this weekend, a “Win, Lose or Draw” opening, with Vicki Lawrence helping Billy Packer draw a caricature of Billy Tubbs, followed by Kirkpatrick singing “Oklahoma!”?

Fortunately, not all at CBS have taken leave of their senses.

At least Bob Dekas, who will produce the Final Four coverage Saturday and Monday night, and Bob Fishman, the director, are taking a sensible approach.

“Our job is to document the game, to analyze it and to pick up the flavor and the excitement,” Dekas said from Kansas City. “What Fish (Fishman) and I are seeking is a clean, uncluttered look. An event such as this one doesn’t need any strong gimmicks.

“It’s competition in its purest form. You only get one shot. Or as Billy Packer says, ‘It’s one and done.’ It doesn’t need anything extra.”

Amen.

Fishman is an Emmy Award winner who also directs CBS’ outstanding Daytona 500 coverage. He has selected the game pictures that go out over the air for every Final Four since CBS started televising the event in 1982.

“I have a couple of rules that I always follow,” he said. “One is, you don’t use all your equipment. If you have five or six cameras, you don’t have to use all of them.

“Another thing is, you don’t fall in love with close-up reaction shots, especially when one team uses a full-court press.

“The other thing is, you use graphics (the wording that appears on the screen) judiciously. You don’t destroy action with a graphic. And you don’t put up a graphic that is confusing. You don’t want your viewer sitting there trying to figure out a graphic while the game is going on.”

Although most viewers would like to see a graphic of the score after every basket, Fishman said: “Sometimes there just isn’t time. What if there is a steal off the in-bounds pass. You don’t want a graphic of the score interfering with the action.

“I’m not what you’d call a conservative director. I show as many reaction shots (of coaches and fans) as anyone. I like to think of myself as a sensible director. You just have to use your head.”

Brent Musburger and Packer again will be the Final Four announcers. The semifinals begin Saturday at 2:30 p.m., PST, following a half-hour preview show, with the title game Monday at 6 p.m., PDT.

There’s a possibility that Musburger, often prone to histrionics, will be more subdued than usual.

Musburger was criticized by CBS golf producer Frank Chirkinian in a recent issue of Golf Digest. Chirkinian said Musburger “got away from me” during last year’s Masters.

“He made a lot of academic mistakes,” Chirkinian was quoted as saying. “He’s going to be back this year (the Masters is next week), but he’s going to be a lot more subdued.”

It is hoped that will be the case this weekend, as well.

Musburger appeared more in control during last Sunday’s Arizona-North Carolina game. During one stretch late in the game, he and Packer were completely silent.

“That’s a planned element,” Dekas said. “If I say, ‘Fish, do your thing,’ that’s a signal for the announcers to lay out and not say anything, and let Fish tell the story with pictures. It gives the viewers a chance to enjoy the moment.”

Walt Hazzard supposedly wasn’t talking to the media, including the regular reporters who had covered him and his team for four years. But he did invite his old pal, Jim Hill, and a Channel 7 crew into his home Wednesday night to film a chummy team get-together after he’d been fired as UCLA’s basketball coach.

Who goofed?: Hill reported the Hazzard firing about 4 o’clock, and the news went out on the wire services about a half-hour later. But KMPC’s Jim Healy, whose show begins at 5:30 p.m., didn’t report the Hazzard story until 5:58.

Said Healy: “Sure, I knew about it. But it happened too late for me to re-format my whole show. Anyway, my theory is people stay with me all the way, so I don’t think the way newspapers do. I don’t think the most important story has to be at the top of my show.”

ESPN has confirmed Rudy Martzke’s report in USA Today this week that Joe Theismann was hired by the cable network to join Mike Patrick and Roy Firestone as a full-time commentator on National Football League telecasts.

Theismann’s salary, USA Today said, will be $400,000, double his CBS salary.

Announcer Tim Ryan, who worked with Theismann at CBS last season, said: “There is no limit to how good Joe can be. Another thing about him, he’s a great guy. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. I’m going to miss him.”

CBS has hired retired San Diego Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts as a commentator, and reportedly will pay him $100,000. Fouts should be good. For one thing, broadcasting is in his genes. His father Bob used to be a San Francisco 49ers broadcaster.

Recommended viewing: A heartwarming story about the 1963 Chicago Loyola basketball team, which won the national championship, will be told Monday on Jim Lampley’s sports segment on “CBS This Morning.”

It’s a marvelous piece that took producer Alexis Denny several weeks and many air miles to put together.

TV-Radio Notes

This weekend’s Nabisco Dinah Shore golf tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage is getting extensive television coverage. ESPN will carry today’s second round, beginning at noon. NBC then takes over the weekend coverage, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and at 1 Sunday. The announcers will be Charlie Jones, Bob Goalby, Jay Randolph, Marlene Floyd and Mark Rolfing. . . . Together again: Commentators Billy Packer and Al McGuire, who used to be a team at NBC, will be reunited, and joined by Dick Vitale, on today’s SportsCenter show on ESPN at 4 p.m. The show will originate from Kansas City, Mo.

The new pay-cable Z Channel has announced it will televise 28 Clipper games next season. With Channel 5 set to air 20, that’s about 48 more than most people care to see. . . . New Channel 4 sports anchor Bret Lewis, who came from a Miami station, makes his on-air debut Monday. . . . There will be a two-hour special, “A Tribute to Gene Autry,” broadcast on radio Sunday at 6 p.m. Naturally, the station carrying it will be KMPC, which is owned by Autry. Jim Lange will be the narrator. Guests include President Reagan, Frank Sinatra, Pat Buttram and Ringo Starr. . . . For the record: A listing of NBC’s Olympic broadcasting assignments in Thursday’s editions inadvertently left off Ahmad Rashad, who will be the host of the network’s afternoon coverage.

Happy Hairston, the former Laker who had a brief stint as a sports reporter for Channel 4 in 1973, will start doing periodic non-sports pieces for Channel 2. He’ll report twice monthly on teen-agers who are succeeding despite difficulties. . . . Channel 2’s Jim Lampley will do a special, “U.S. ‘88: the Road to Kansas City” live from Kansas City, Mo., tonight at 7:30. . . . Channel 2’s “Sunday Night Sports Final” will be expanded to 35 minutes this weekend, and Lampley will have a special postgame show Monday night after the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. title game. After that, about 8:30, will be a special on the Angels and Dodgers. . . . Another Channel 2 feature will be “Road to Seoul” Saturday night at 7.