Wimbledon Not Even Plausibly Taped

If you’re a tennis fan and heard news reports Thursday morning that Venus Williams had defeated her sister Serena at Wimbledon, you might have tried to get to a TV by 1 p.m. to watch NBC’s delayed coverage.

So what did you get? A day-old Pete Sampras match.

Welcome to NBC’s way of irritating viewers.

Just wait until the Olympics!

It was bad enough that the Williams match was delayed. Making matters worse was the way NBC made viewers wait while it showed the Sampras match, then canned features. Then, NBC gave viewers a buildup, as though the Williams match were live.

Hasn’t NBC sports chief Dick Ebersol promised to be up-front about the Olympics being shown delayed? Then why not at Wimbledon? It’s really too bad. Nice work by announcers Ted Robinson and Chris Evert was overshadowed by NBC’s bad planning.

CLASSIC REMAKE

When ESPN bought the Classic Sports Network in 1997, it reached 7 million homes. Now, ESPN Classic, as it is called, is in 28 million homes. But ESPN isn’t satisfied. It will “relaunch” ESPN Classic on Monday with hopes of expanding its universe even further.

The new ESPN Classic’s signature show will be “SportsCentury,” the series that got big brother ESPN so much acclaim--and a Peabody Award--last year. The new series will offer profiles that last an hour, rather than 30 minutes. Some will be remakes of the profiles done on the century’s 50 greatest North American athletes, but many will be new profiles of athletes who did not make the top 50.

The plan is to make “SportsCentury” to ESPN Classic what “Biography” is to A&E.; “SportsCentury,” which has a new host, Chris Fowler, will be shown every weekday from 5-6 p.m., followed by a two-hour “game of the night.” For the benefit of West Coast viewers, the nighttime block of programming will be repeated, beginning at 9 p.m.

But before settling into its regular time slots, the first two “SportsCentury” shows will be shown on big brother ESPN at 4 p.m. Monday and Wednesday and repeated various times on ESPN Classic. There is no show Tuesday because of the All-Star game.

The first show features Joe DiMaggio in a remake--DiMaggio was athlete No. 22. The second features John McEnroe, who did not make the top 50, in a new show.

As a warmup for the new series, ESPN Classic will show profiles of the top 30 athletes in a weekend marathon, beginning Saturday at 10 a.m. with No. 30 Larry Bird.

Another new show on ESPN Classic--one of several new weekly specials--will be “Classic Sports Reporters” on Monday nights at 4 and 8 p.m. It is a spinoff of ESPN’s “Sports Reporters” with host Dick Schaap. Appropriately, the host of “Classic Sports Reporters” will be Jeremy Schaap, son of Dick. Panelists will include the elder Schaap, Curt Gowdy, Jim McKay, Jack Whitaker, Furman Bisher, Edwin Pope, Dave Anderson and others.

The producer of the original “SportsCentury” series was Mark Shapiro, a Chicago native and University of Iowa graduate who got his start at ESPN producing the “Talk2” show with Jim Rome that was on ESPN2. Yes, the one made famous by Jim Everett’s lunge at Rome.

Shapiro worked on the “SportsCentury” project for two years, and his reward was a promotion to vice president and general manager of ESPN Classic.

“One thing we want to do is have a set lineup, so viewers will know what to expect when,” Shapiro said. “And we want to do more original programming, like ‘SportsCentury’ and ‘Classic Sports Reporters.’ We want to make ESPN Classic so compelling that viewers who can’t get it will call their cable operators and demand it.”

SHORT WAVES

ESPN also is launching a Spanish-language simulcast Monday. It will debut with coverage of the All-Star game’s home run derby from Atlanta. There also will be Spanish simulcasts on ESPN’s seven remaining Sunday night baseball games, beginning July 16, as well as ESPN’s division playoff games. ESPN has been working with affiliates, trying to persuade them to offer the Spanish simulcasts. . . . For its home run derby coverage, ESPN will use something it calls “ESPN True Track” to accurately measure home run distances. . . . The New York Yankees and Mets’ unusual day-night doubleheader Saturday will be televised by two Fox networks. The big Fox network will cover the first game from Shea Stadium (although it won’t be shown here), with FX covering the nightcap from Yankee Stadium at 5 p.m.

While most of the golf world focuses on Tiger Woods at the Western Open in Lemont, Ill., on ABC this weekend, Michael Jordan is among those teeing it up in the American Century Celebrity Championship at Lake Tahoe. The Golf Channel televises today’s first round, with NBC showing the weekend rounds. . . . ABC newcomer Dennis Miller had this line about Woods on his show last week: “Tiger is the only guy who can make Michael Jordan wish he was someone else.” . . . Ever wonder what a Jim Rome tour stop is like but fear to go near one? Well, Fox Sports Net will televise Rome’s recent stop in Cleveland as a half-hour special Wednesday at 8 p.m. Rome’s appearance at the Blossom Music Center drew an estimated 20,000.

VICTOR AWARDS

Most sports award shows come and go, but the Victor Awards have been going strong for 34 years. This year’s show will be televised live as a two-hour special Saturday at 5 p.m. by Fox Sports Net from the Las Vegas Hilton.

Honorees include athletes and coaches in 33 categories, plus Yogi Berra, Victors Hall of Fame inductee; Shaquille O’Neal, athlete of the year; Mario Andretti, lifetime achievement; Steve Young, the Walter Payton “Sweetness” award, and special citations for Peter Ueberroth, Tori Murden-McClure, who rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and soccer’s Michelle Akers.

The show benefits the City of Hope.

IN CLOSING

One of the raps on Dennis Miller is that he is self-centered and egotistical. But ABC hasn’t found that to be the case. Miller has been declining to do interviews, and said no to posing for a Sports Illustrated cover. The magazine had to use a file photo. Miller has told ABC that he is part of a team and doesn’t want attention focused on him.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for July 1-2.

SATURDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Tennis: Wimbledon 4 4.2 12 Baseball: Dodgers at San Francisco 5 3.3 9 Golf: U.S. Senior Open 4 2.2 6 Golf: PGA Greater Hartford Open 7 1.6 4 Auto racing: Winston Cup Pepsi 400 2 1.5 4 Cycling: Tour de France 7 1.3 4 Auto racing: NASCAR Craftsman Truck 200 2 0.8 2

*--*

*

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Cable Network Rating Share Tennis: Wimbledon TNT 1.4 3 Baseball: Oakland at Angels FSN 1.1 2 Soccer: Women’s Gold Cup: U.S.-Canada ESPN 1.0 2 Soccer: MLS, Galaxy at Dallas ESPN2 0.8 2 Soccer: Women’s Gold Cup: Brazil-China ESPN 0.5 1

*--*

*

SUNDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Tennis: Wimbledon (taped matches) 4 4.6 13 Golf: U.S. Senior Open 4 3.5 10 Golf: PGA Greater Hartford Open 7 2.3 7 Track and field: GMC Envoy Open 2 1.8 5 Auto racing: CART Grand Prix of Cleveland 7 1.8 5 WNBA basketball: Detroit at Sparks 9 1.2 3 Auto racing: NASCAR Busch Grand National 250 2 0.9 3

*--*

*

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Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: Dodgers at San Francisco ESPN 2.3 5 Baseball: Atlanta at New York Mets TBS 1.4 4 Baseball: Oakland at Angels ESPN2 1.0 2

*--*

WEEKDAY RATINGS: MONDAY: Tennis--Wimbledon, Ch. 4, 3.4/9; TNT, 1.7/4. Soccer--Women’s Gold Cup, U.S.-Brazil, ESPN2, 2.4/5. TUESDAY: Tennis--Wimbledon, Ch. 4, 6.5/15; TNT, 1.7/4. Dodgers at San Diego, Ch. 5, 2.1/5.

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.