Miller Is Drawing Love-Hate Reaction

This week’s “Dennis Miller Live on Monday Night” scorecard:

References to the Miami Dolphins’ “chirpy blowhole”: 1.

Allusions to the absurdist Samuel Beckett play “Waiting for Godot”: 1.

Observations that Miami linebacker Zach Thomas “throws his body around like a Chinese acrobat with an inner ear problem”: 1.

Rumpled neckties worn at the same time for uncharacteristic more-slapstick-than-cerebral comedic effect: 2.

Number of times quoted Richard Dreyfuss from the movie “Jaws”: 1.

Number of times referred to Miami team as “the Fin Mobile”: 1.

And that was just before the kickoff.

ABC’s great Monday night experiment--turning HBO’s 400-pound professional comedy gorilla loose on the No Fun League--is now three exhibition games old and, as widely expected, polarizing audiences with near-Cosellian panache.

In this corner are those who get Miller’s scatter-shot, brain-twisting humor and enjoy his Fran Tarkenton scrambles all over the cultural landscape.

And in the other are those who prefer their football commentary straight and unscripted and duly reverent and are seriously thinking about turning down the volume on their TV sets this season and listening instead to, yes, Boomer Esiason on the radio.

In the middle sits Don Ohlmeyer, back in the “Monday Night Football” production truck, the man responsible for bringing in Miller and Dan Fouts to flank Al Michaels in an overhauled broadcast booth.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that this is really going to be good,” Ohlmeyer says of the new “MNF” lineup. “And that’s about as excited as I let myself get.

“It’s been the kind of reaction I want. I’ve said to people, ‘When was the last time you were quoting a line on Tuesday from a ‘Monday Night Football’ game? Or when was the last time you were laughing on Tuesday morning about something you heard on ‘Monday Night Football’?”

Ohlmeyer says he already likes the chemistry that has developed between the three announcers, noting that Michaels “for the first time in years sounds like he’s enjoying himself” and how Michaels, in trying to keep the telecast grounded with Miller and Fouts riffing around him, has had to “flex some muscles he hasn’t flexed in a while.”

Certainly, the Monday Night booth sounds re-energized after the bored-men-talking tenure of Michaels and Esiason. Contrary to some early fears, Miller hasn’t overwhelmed the telecast, pouncing on straight lines served up by the others. Instead, some of the best Monday Night moments so far have resulted in Miller teeing up Fouts with questions posed from a fan’s-eye-view perspective.

During Monday’s Miami-Green Bay game, Miller asked Fouts about journeyman quarterback Jim Druckenmiller and how a “great organization like the 49ers” could have been so wrong about a first-round draft pick.

Fouts: “There’s one word for him. Slow. Slow delivery. Slow decision-making. Slow afoot. Bad combination.”

Miller, cracking up: “So you’re saying ‘not fast’ is what I’m getting from you.”

Fouts: “Three slows and you’re out.”

REMOTE CONTROL HERE, ALMANAC THERE

There are also times, however, when you can visualize Miller’s smirking, keep-the-Cliff-Notes-handy observations sailing over the audience’s heads like a Ryan Leaf out pattern.

Take Miller’s one-liner about ex-Ram Coach Dick Vermeil tearing up more frequently than Sylvia Plath after a hit of pepper spray.

“Some people criticized Dennis for that line,” Ohlmeyer says. “Two guys who watched the game with their wives told me they didn’t get it but their wives were hysterical and had to explain who Sylvia Plath was, because as girls growing up, she was one of their great feminist heroes.

“I said to both of these guys, ‘When’s the last time your wife had to explain something to you on ‘Monday Night Football’? Generally, it’s the other way around. We’re sitting there and if she’s paying attention, she’ll say, ‘What were they just talking about?’

“That’s a nice feeling--when you feel like you’re on the inside.”

Ohlmeyer acknowledges that “nobody’s going to get all of Dennis’ references. Some of them go over my head, and I like to think I’m fairly well read. But I’m here watching a game on Sunday afternoon and somebody will be talking about some Xs-and-O’s thing that I have no clue about.

“So you’re not going to get everything. You need to get most of it.”

With the exhibition season winding down, Ohlmeyer says the new MNF team is “about 60% of where I want to get to. There are still mechanical things we have to do, just getting five people [including sideline reporters Melissa Stark and Eric Dickerson] integrated when they need to be integrated, getting replays and graphics integrated.

“There’s a lot we have to do. But I like the response I’ve gotten so far from the fans.”

PROFESSIONAL OBSERVATION

And the response from sports broadcasting colleagues?

On a conference call this week, Chris Berman and Tom Jackson, hosts of ESPN’s “NFL Primetime” studio show, weighed in with opinions on Miller’s preseason performance.

Berman: “Dennis Miller, obviously, is not for everyone, but I can tell you this. When Dennis hosted the ESPYs the first two years, he came and sat and watched football with us one Sunday. And Tommy and I both knew then that as far as a fan and someone who respects and watches the game, he at least knows it. . . . That’s legitimate. We saw it for six hours.

“Here’s what I do know: He’s a very smart guy. He is not going to get in the way of a really good football game. I will be really surprised if he does. He’s not for everyone, I understand that. But he happens to be for me. I get a kick out of him.”

Jackson: “Dennis said himself, after his first telecast, the Hall of Fame Game, that at his best, 50% of the people would love him and 50% of the people would hate him. And I don’t know that that’s not exactly right on the money.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for August 19-20, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Gymnastics: U.S. Olympic trials 4 6.5 13 Golf: PGA Championship 2 5.6 14 Pro football: Pittsburgh at Indianapolis 2 3.2 8 Baseball: New York Mets at Dodgers 11 3.2 8 Pro football: Buffalo at St. Louis 13 1.6 4 Soccer: Galaxy at Chicago 7 1.4 3 Tennis: ATP RCA Championships 4 1.3 4

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Cable Network Rating Share Tennis: WTA du Maurier Open ESPN2 1.0 3 Track: Zurich Golden League meet ESPN 0.8 2 Tennis: ATP Legg Mason Classic FSN 0.8 2 Soccer: San Jose at Washington ESPN2 0.6 1 Motorcycle racing: AMA competition ESPN2 0.5 1 Auto racing: NASCAR Winston Cup ESPN2 0.4 1 Auto racing: NASCAR Busch Grand National ESPN 0.2 1 Baseball: Tampa Bay at Chicago White Sox WGN 0.2 1 Auto racing: CART Motorola 200 ESPN2 0.2 0 Baseball: Philadelphia at St. Louis FX 0.1 0

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Gymnastics: U.S. Olympic trials 4 10.2 18 Golf: PGA Championship 2 9.3 22 Pro football: Tampa Bay at New England 11 3.4 8 WNBA playoffs: Houston at Sparks 4 2.3 5 Tennis: ATP RCA Championships 4 2.0 5 Baseball: Angels at New York Yankees 9 1.3 3 Arena Bowl: Nashville at Orlando 7 1.2 3 Baseball: New York Mets at Dodgers 5 1.1 3 Auto racing: CART Motorola 200 7 1.0 2

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Cable Network Rating Share Soccer: U.S. women vs. Canada ESPN2 1.0 2 Auto racing: NASCAR Winston Cup ESPN 0.9 2 Little League World Series: South vs East ESPN2 0.9 2 Baseball: Texas at Boston ESPN 0.8 2 WNBA playoffs: Cleveland at New York LIFE 0.7 2 Little League WS: Latin America vs. Far East ESPN2 0.4 1 Tennis: WTA du Maurier Open ESPN2 0.3 1

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: Monday--NFL, Green Bay at Miami, Ch. 7, 8.3, 15.

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.