Demise of MNF and Movie Audiences

Here is my repsonse to my friend Dora's blog about the end of Monday Night Football:

I view this last game on ABC last week as a large non-event. It is not like MNF is really ending, it is just moving from a major network owned by Disney to a cable network owned by Disney. Now I realize that 10-20% of homes in the US still don't have cable, and therefore no access to ESPN, but the majority of homes and the majority of football watching homes already have ESPN, and if they were watching it now they will watch it next year too.

The problem is that the games have not been interesting or compelling. If the networks and NFL were worried about a big audience and the prime time games, then they should allow the games to be switched a week in advance so we are not put through a late season Packers Browns debacle. Every week there a few games that are interesting and would be a big draw. However, when you make the schedule before the season, you cannot begin which game is going to be a draw in July. Give the networks with the prime time games the option of switching games a week or two in advance and viewers will follow.

Speaking of another demise, the 2005 movie results are in, and the big studios are worried that audiences are down 6% from last year. The solution to me is simple, make better movies. The quality of the movies in the past few years, has significantly decreased. I don't see a Fargo, a Shawshank Redemption, or even a Gladiator. Once hollywood realizes that movie audiences want more than recycled TV shows, stupid movies with a hot cast or unnecessary sequals, then the audiences will return.

The Baseball Writers are voting (or have already voted) for this years Hall of Fame candidates. This year seems to be slim pickings of newly eligible candidates (Albert Belle, Dwight Gooden, etc.) You can read my opinion about who should and should not be in this previous posting. What I don't understand is why ESPN writers feel the need to vote for candidates who they over passed previously. For instance, Sean McAdam has decided he would vote for Jim Rice this year, even though he has been retired since 1989, and has never voted for him in 11 years of eligibility. It just seems odd, that a player would get extra consideration because the new class in insufficient for election. I think not electing anyone is fine, and will add a certain level of credibility to the process, since not every player is great and deserves to be enshrined.

American Idol is coming back soon and I think I am going to be sick. This is just a sorry excuse for television entertainment, that allows the powers in the recording industry to manipulate what crap is pumped into the radio. How is the world is Yes Dear and Twins still on the air, when Arrested Development is off? Television executives need to get a better understanding of their audience and stop insulting my intelligence. But that could just be me.