NBA, NBC Making Lakers Must-See TV

With the retirement of Michael Jordan and the dismantling of the Chicago Bulls, the NBA and NBC have turned to the Lakers to win back fans.

The Lakers make their second of five consecutive--and seven of eight--Sunday appearances on NBC this weekend when they play the Indiana Pacers at the Great Western Forum at 2:30 p.m., a time requested by the network.

The strategy seems to be working, although it could backfire if Shaquille O’Neal is out for any length of time. The Laker-Utah game on NBC last Sunday got a 6.4 national rating, which is 20% better than NBC’s 5.5 average for the 1997-98 regular season.

The Lakers were on TNT last Friday and on TBS Monday, and got ratings of 3.1 and 2.1. Those ratings helped TNT and TBS average a 2.4 for their first four NBA games, a 41% increase after their 1997-98 season average of 1.7.

The NBA’s emphasis on the Lakers is reflected in little ways too. NBA Entertainment’s “NBA Inside Stuff” was taped this week in the Los Angeles area, on the Warner Brothers sets of NBC’s “ER” and “Friends.” The guests on the show that will be shown Saturday at 10:30 a.m. include O’Neal and Derek Fisher and the Clippers’ Scott Brooks. There is also a segment on Magic Johnson’s celebrity game, and another on the NBA efforts to regain fans by sending out 700,000 Valentine’s Day cards worldwide.

Another method for winning back fans is the use of positive, NBA-produced shows. One of these, “NBA: Playing by Heart,” will be on NBC Sunday at 11:30 a.m. It focuses on how support from family and friends have helped NBA stars Scottie Pippen, Jayson Williams and Tom Gugliotta.

COSTAS LOVES L.A.

NBC’s emphasis on the Lakers has turned Bob Costas and Doug Collins into Laker announcers. NBC’s No. 1 team worked last Sunday’s game and will work this Sunday’s as well. Instead of returning home to St. Louis, Costas stayed in L.A., and had quite a week.

On Tuesday, he taped a “Jeopardy” show with Keith Olbermann and Robin Roberts that will air March 22, and turned in an impressive performance. He also taped a Drew Carey show and was on Tom Snyder’s Thursday night. Oh, and he also took in a little baseball.

Costas attended Wednesday’s USC-Loyola Marymount game at Loyola. He went with former USC announcer Larry Kahn and former USC assistant sports information director Nancy Mazmanian.

Speaking of Kahn, he has a new job. The one-time Dodger radio reporter has switched teams, becoming the third member of the Angels’ radio broadcast team. Kahn will serve as host of new hourlong pregame and a 45-minute postgame shows on new flagship station KLAC (570).

Kahn will also continue doing national college football radio broadcasts with Mike Lamb, his former partner on USC football.

NETWORK CHANGES

ABC and CBS are overhauling their NFL pregame shows, and one casualty appears to be Frank Gifford.

Several publications have said Gifford’s contract will not be renewed. Word is, ESPN’s Tom Jackson may join Chris Berman on the new ABC show.

The news on Gifford comes a week after ABC and Dan Dierdorf parted company.

CBS completed its purge of its rookie studio analysts, as Brent Jones was named a game analyst and Marcus Allen a feature reporter. George Siefert has left to become coach of the Carolina Panthers.

CBS has named Craig James and Jerry Glanville as studio analysts, although Fox claims it has an agreement with Glanville.

Question: Why fight over Glanville? He’s hardly worth it.

Randy Cross is also expected to join the CBS studio cast, with Jim Nantz remaining the host and Mike Lombardi the “insider” reporter.

SHORT WAVES

Saturday night’s Oscar De La Hoya-Ike Quartey TVKO pay-per-view show will begin at 6 p.m. Four undercard fights are scheduled, with the main event expected to start between 8 and 8:30. The suggested price is $39.95 to $44.95. . . . Former Channel 7 sportscaster Rick Lozano joins the announcing team of Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and George Foreman as a reporter. James Brown is the host. Lozano has the role Jim Gray does on Showtime fights. . . . Channel 9 will take an in-depth look at De La Hoya in a 38-minute live segment tonight at 10:30. Included in the show will be footage of the reconstruction at De La Hoya’s new Bel-Air home. Alan Massengale will host the show from Las Vegas.

ESPN offers delayed coverage of the Los Angeles Invitational track meet at the Sports Arena Saturday night, 9:30-10:30. It’s one of four meets on the Golden Spike Tour. NBC, which had the Millrose Games last weekend, is televising the other three. . . . Kathleen Sullivan, who drew rave reviews for her work as a late-night co-anchor on ABC’s television coverage of the 1984 Winter Olympics, has been hired by radio station KFWB (980). She joins co-host Dan Avey and senior correspondent Bob Jimenez Monday on the morning-drive news segment. . . . Word is Joe McDonnell might also be headed for KFWB.

The KNX (1070) sports staff of Fred Gallagher, Steve Grad, Geoff Nathanson, Rory Markas, and the late Charleye Wright was voted best in L.A. by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Assn. It was the sixth time KNX won. Channel 5, with Ed Arnold and Tony Hernandez, won the honor in television. Besides Vin Scully, who won in two play-by-play categories, other individual winners were Bill Walton, who was named best television analyst for a fifth time, and Stu Lantz, best radio analyst for a third time.

IN CLOSING

The host of the syndicated trivia show “Ultimate Fan League” on Fox Sports West weekdays, usually at 5:30 p.m., is Bil Dwyer. No, he’s not Times Sports Editor Bill Dwyre. Different guy, different spelling. Bil Dwyer is a stand-up comedian from Illinois. He says he spells his first name with only one “L” because the second is superfluous.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Feb. 6-7, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Figure skating: Equal Challenge of Champions 4 3.5 10 Figure skating: European Championships (tape) 7 2.8 8 Golf: AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am 2 2.1 6 Skiing: World Alpine Championships (tape) 4 2.1 6 Soccer: U.S. vs. Germany (delayed) 7 2.1 6 Auto racing: Daytona 500 qualifying 2 1.9 5 College basketball: Connecticut at Stanford 7 1.5 7 Hockey: Mighty Ducks at St. Louis 9 1.4 3

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Cable Network Rating Share Boxing: Monte Barrett vs. Phil Jackson FSW 0.5 1 Boxing: Bernard Hopkins vs. Robert Allen SHO 0.5 1 College basketball: Temple at Rhode Island ESPN 0.5 1 College basketball: Arizona at Washington State FSW 0.4 1 College basketball: Duke at Georgia Tech ESPN2 0.4 1 College basketball: Women, UCLA at Oregon State FSW 0.3 1 College basketball: Oregon at USC FSW2 0.2 0 Track and field: San Diego Indoor Games (tape) FSW2 0.2 1 College basketball: Loyola at Pepperdine FSW2 0.1 0

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: Utah at Lakers 4 11.0 26 Pro football: Pro Bowl 7 8.1 17 Pro basketball: Miami at New York 4 5.1 15 Soccer: Guadalajara vs. Unam 34 2.3 7 Auto racing: Winston Cup Bud Shootout 2 2.0 6 College basketball: Oregon State at UCLA 7 1.5 4 College basketball: Minnesota at Michigan 2 1.3 4 Hockey: Colorado at Dallas 11 0.5 1

*--*

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Cable Network Rating Share Auto racing: ARCA Daytona 200 ESPN 0.8 2 Auto racing: NHRA Winternationals ESPN2 0.8 1 Auto racing: Bud Shootout qualifying ESPN 0.7 2 Hockey: Buffalo at Washington ESPN 0.3 1 College basketball: Women, Tenn. at Vanderbilt ESPN2 0.1 0

*--*

WEEKDAY RATINGS: Monday--Lakers at San Antonio, Channel 9, 5.9/11 (TBS, 1.2/2)

Note: Each rating point represents 50,092 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.