Thank goodness for preview DVD’s and DVR’s because I was getting ready to watch the launch of the MLB Network live when I got called away to do something.
Let me review the first four hours of programming on the MLB Network, but before we get to that, I understand that subscribers to Time Warner Cable in the Albany/Schenectady market could not watch due to technical problems.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette wanted to watch the launch, but at 6:10 p.m., all he saw was a black screen. Then he asked MLB Network to see what was going on. An hour later, Ken still had no luck. As of 9 p.m., the channel was still dark. But later, Ken could see something, but it was not the MLB Network. And Ken gave up trying to watch the MLB Network at 10:30 p.m. But it finally made the air in the New York Capital Region around 11 p.m. ET.
And Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball has heard from Comcast customers in Denver, Portland and Phoenix having trouble watching the launch. If you had trouble watching the launch and you were supposed to get the MLB Network, e-mail Maury at maury@businessofsportsnetwork.com or me at kzfone@gmail.com. We would both like to hear from you.
So apparently less than 50 million people had access to the MLB Network for the first day of programming.
But for those who did see the first four hours of the MLB Network, they were treated to Hot Stove and Don Larsen’s Perfect Game.
Hot Stove with host Victor Rojas, co-host Harold Reynolds, along with analysts Al Leiter and Barry Larkin showed some good chemistry in their first show. Hazel Mae was showcased on the update desk and Trenni Kusnierek narrated a feature on Roberto Clemente. To kick off the MLB Network, Commissioner Bud Selig welcomed viewers to the channel.
Overall, the show was tight and went smoothly. The producers made sure everything went well without any mistakes. It wasn’t groundbreaking and the four man studio show is a tried and tested formula. But this will a test run for April when MLB Tonight premieres and the show will run for almost eight hours a night throughout the regular season. My grade for the premiere episode of Hot Stove, a solid B.
Then the show went into the premiere of “All Time Games“, the Don Larsen perfect game from the 1956 World Series. Having seen the preview DVD without the Bob Costas-hosted segments with Yankees catcher Yogi Berra and Larsen, it was fun to watch the game. I believe there were only three cameras used for the NBC telecast as called by Yankees voice Mel Allen and Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully who was only 26 at the time. Graphics were minimal as batters were shown with a picture superimposed to either the right or left. Because there were no replays, if you missed a play, that was it. There were two good defensive catches in the game, one by Dodger center fielder Duke Snider and the other, a running catch by Yankees center field Mickey Mantle.
It was also fun to see the original commercials taken from a Kinescope of the broadcast, basically a movie taken from the TV screen. We joined the game from the second inning because for some reason, that’s when the Kinescope started. And all of the commercials were from the Gillette company because that was the only sponsor. In addition, there was only one commercial per break and we got back to the action within one minute of the last out of each half inning.
Allen did the first four and a half innings with Scully finishing up. And neither intruded on the other. Allen basically called his innings without Scully doing color and vice versa. It was fun broadcast to watch. If there were no present day segments from the MLB Network and the game ran as I watched it on the preview DVD, the total time of the broadcast would have been under two hours. Overall, with the segments, it lasted two hours and 35 minutes. But having Costas talk to Yogi and Don did help compliment the game. Plus, this is the type of interview Costas loves as he gets to talk baseball and talk to Yogi which he always enjoys.
I’ll give All Time Games an A for the subject matter.
So if you did get MLB Network, you saw some good programming. For those of you who did not, I’ll try to get an explanation from my contacts for you on Friday.
