Fox Convinced Show Isn’t a Fishy Idea

Can you think of a worse football season for Los Angeles? There is no local NFL team, the former Los Angeles Rams have finally lost, and UCLA and USC are terrible.

The NBA season is just starting and it’s hard to work up much enthusiasm for the Kings and Mighty Ducks this time of year.

So what is a TV viewer to do?

Saturday, there is the Breeders’ Cup on NBC, but there are no real superstar horses running this year.

Here’s a suggestion, although it may sound fishy. How about watching bass fishing?

Don’t snicker.

Fox, which, among other things, brought us the on-screen score box and the glowing puck, hits on another first on Sunday--live coverage of the $3.5-million Ranger Millennium bass fishing tournament from Florida’s Cypress Gardens.

In L.A., it’s on a slight delay at 1:30 p.m., after the 10 a.m. Ram-Detroit Lion game. It is live in the morning in markets that get a late NFL game.

Maybe the Fox affiliate in Miami has the right idea. It is showing the fishing tournament at midnight.

My first thought was, can there be anything more boring?

But after participating in a news conference call with Joe Buck, who will host the show, analyst Bob Brenly and the show’s producers, I think I’ll at least check it out, even though they may have just been baiting us reporters.

If it draws better than a 2 rating, Fox Sports chief David Hill is a genius. If it doesn’t, well, no real harm in opening this can of worms.

I remember a few years ago being involved in a conversation with Hill and actor and former football player Ed Marinaro about a fishing show for Fox. Marinaro was pushing hard for one; Hill seemed cool on the idea. But last year, as a vacation, he spent a week as a deckhand on an Alaskan fishing troller. It was a gift from his wife, which apparently shows the lengths she’ll go to to get him out of the house.

Anyway, that experience, plus the fact that there are 55 million fishermen in this country, nearly double the number of golfers, sold Hill on doing a live fishing show.

Next, he had to sell his people. Buck’s initial reaction was, are you kidding me?

“I thought, what is the appeal?” Buck said on the conference call. “Who is going to watch guys sitting in a boat fishing?

“But, in preparing for this, the more I learned about fishing the more I began to think this may work.”

Said Brenly, a novice fisherman: “I think viewers will be impressed with the emotion these guys show. They kiss the fish, they kiss their lures, they go nuts.”

One could win $1 million and then really go nuts.

Fox, co-producing the event with Intersport, is taking it very seriously. “We’re spending more on production than we do for a World Series game or an NFC championship game,” senior producer Bill Brown said. “Covering this is like covering a golf tournament that takes place on five different courses.”

Sunday’s finals take place on five lakes. The 90-minute show will consist of half an hour of coverage that was taped earlier and an hour that is live.

And what if the fish aren’t biting? Then, Brown said, they’ll go with more videotape of earlier action, although I’m not sure action is the right word.

CARL LEWIS, NO. 12

Carl Lewis will be profiled tonight at 7:30 as athlete No. 12 on ESPN’s “SportsCentury” series. I had him No. 4 on my list. The remaining track athletes are Jesse Owens, Jim Thorpe and Babe Didrikson.

The Lewis profile, another excellent one in the series on the century’s greatest North American athletes, examines why Lewis wasn’t more popular.

Says Michael Johnson: “He didn’t do anything for the good of the sport. He did what was best for Carl. A lot of athletes recognized that and were better about it.”

Says Jim Lampley: “I think it will probably be decades before we as Americans ever look back and truly understand what this guy did.”

DOT COM DEPARTMENT

The NBA launched NBA.com TV, its new 24-hour channel, Tuesday. This week it is available to all DirecTV subscribers on Channel 720, and then will be available to Platinum Gold and NBA League Pass subscribers. It is also available to about one million homes with digital cable. The channel offers live coverage of all games and news and live interviews from 4-10 p.m. and the rest of the time gives statistical information. Among those interviewed the first night were Phil Jackson, Sean Elliott, Avery Johnson, Marcus Camby and Commissioner David Stern. . . . Jack Nicklaus Productions, in conjunction with GameStorm and Comfort Inn, is offering a free virtual online golf tournament at www.jacknicklaus1999.com. Preliminary round winners will win a trip to the televised finals, to be held during the Dinners Club Matches Dec. 10-12 at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach. The ultimate winners will get a $5,000 check and golf merchandise.

SHORT WAVES

ABC has decided on its announcing teams for the major college football bowl games. You may not be thrilled to hear that Brent Musburger will call the Sugar Bowl, the national championship game. However, his commentator--Gary Danielson--is a good one. Keith Jackson and Dan Fouts will work the Rose Bowl, Brad Nessler and Bob Griese the Orange Bowl, and Tim Brant and Dean Blevins the Fiesta Bowl. . . . DirecTV had a problem with its authorization software Wednesday night and a limited number of consumers lost some programming, including the Lakers’ home opener on Fox Sports West, for 40 minutes or so. A spokesman said the problem has been rectified.

HBO’s outstanding “Inside the NFL” has a new time--Thursdays at 8 p.m., with a replay at midnight. . . . The Sporting News’ top 100 football players will be the subject of a one-hour special on CBS Saturday at 11 a.m. . . . The New York City Marathon returns to network television, with NBC offering a one-hour highlight show Sunday at noon.

IN CLOSING

One good thing about the Breeders’ Cup this year is that it will feature eight races instead of seven in a 4 1/2-hour time block, beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday. That means more racing and less talk.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Oct. 30-31.

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Golf: PGA Tour Championship 7 4.1 9 College football: Stanford at Washington 7 4.0 11 College football: USC at California 9 4.0 9 College football: Georgia at Florida 2 3.1 8 College football: Navy at Notre Dame 4 3.0 8 College football: West Virginia at Miami 2 2.3 7 Golf: Pacific Bell Senior Classic 9 1.1 9

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Over-the-air Cable Network Rating Share College football: Arizona at USC FSW2 1.4 3 College football: Purdue at Minnesota ESPN 1.2 4 College football: Florida State at Virginia ESPN 1.0 2 College football: Michigan at Indiana ESPN2 0.8 2 College football: Texas at Iowa State FSW2 0.4 1 College football: Nebraska at Kansas FSW 0.4 1 Auto racing: Craftsman Truck Napa Auto Parts ESPN 0.4 1 Horse racing: Oak Tree Live FSW2 0.4 1

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro football: St. Louis at Tennessee 11 12.4 29 Pro football: Dallas at Indianapolis 11 8.3 18 Pro football: Miami at Oakland 2 6.3 14 Figure skating: Skate America 7 4.5 9 Golf: PGA Tour Championship 7 4.1 10 Golf: Pacific Bell Senior Classic 9 1.0 2

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Cable Network Rating Share Pro football: Tampa Bay at Detroit ESPN 5.4 10 Golf: PGA Tour Championship (early play) ESPN 1.1 3 Auto racing: CART Marlboro 500 ESPN 1.0 2 Soccer: MLS playoffs, Dallas at Galaxy ESPN2 0.8 2 Drag racing: Matco Tools Supernationals ESPN2 0.7 2 Boxing: Rafael Ruelas vs. Hicklet Lau FSW 0.4 1 Horse racing: Oak Tree Live FSW2 0.4 1 Tennis: Eurocard Open ESPN 0.4 1 Tennis: Generali Ladies FSW 0.3 1

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: MONDAY--Pro football, Seattle at Green Bay, Channel 7, 16.3/28. TUESDAY--Pro basketball, Lakers at Utah, Channel 9, 7.8/11.

Note: Each rating point represents 51,350 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.