Earlier this week, NBC held a conference call with the co-hosts of the upcoming daily studio show, “The Crossover” which will premiere Monday on NBC Sports Network live from New Orleans for Super Bowl Week, then the following week, originate from the Football Night in America studios in New York weeknights at 6 p.m. ET.
Co-hosts Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs along with NBC Sports Network Executive Producer Sam Flood were all on hand to take questions from various sports media reporters and your humble blogger. Quick aside. When my name was called, Michelle snickered. She’s too funny.
Here are excerpts of the conference call. See if you can guess what was my question to the group.
CONFERENCE CALL HIGHLIGHTS: MICHELLE BEADLE, DAVE BRIGGS AND SAM FLOOD PREVIEW NEW NBC SPORTS NETWORK SHOW “THE CROSSOVER”
“It’s tough to have to work with someone who has to sit in the makeup chair and worry about the hair, but Beadle will get used to the fact that I need those things.” – Briggs
“We got to see our set for the first real time yesterday and it’s beautiful, it’s bright and, I’m a girl, so I just see colors and big screens.” – Beadle
“It’s about personality. It’s about people you want to spend time with. It’s the people you want to be at the bar and hang out with, and these are the two people that you want to do that with.” – Flood
The Crossover Premieres Monday, January 28, at 6 p.m. ET from New Orleans on NBC Sports Network
New 30-Minute Show to Air Every Monday – Friday at 6 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network
Post-Super Bowl, Show To Air Daily From Studio 8G at 30 Rock
Co-Hosted by Michelle Beadle, NBC Sports and Access Hollywood Personality, and Dave Briggs, Former Fox News AnchorNew York – January 23, 2013 – Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs, the new hosts of The Crossover on NBC Sports Network, hosted a conference call today, along with Sam Flood, Executive Producer of NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network, to preview their new show which debuts Monday, January 28 at 6 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
BEADLE AND BRIGGS ON WHAT TOPICS THEY WOULD DISCUSS IF THE SHOW STARTED TODAY:
Beadle: “Tim Brown, first and foremost. I feel like what was a non-story has turned into a big, giant story. And I want Callahan to speak.”
Briggs: “And now Tim Brown says (Callahan) was not throwing the Super Bowl. I also like the tennis story. I’m not a tennis fan, not a tennis guy, but when it does ‘Crossover,’ to use the title of the show, you’ve got to talk about it. Sloane Stephens takes out Serena, and Serena throws a classic tantrum for the ages, Harbaugh-like. And then, after the win, Sloane Stephens’ first priority is to run over to her phone, check her tweets and her texts. That, to me, crosses over. Is that how you now celebrate a win? Her (Twitter) followers increased.”
Beadle: “I think Manti Te’o’s not over yet, as much as I wish it was. This story keeps going because cynics, like myself, do not believe this kid for one second. So I think this story needs to continue on.”BRIGGS ON HOSTING A SPORTS SHOW AFTER HOSTING A POLITICAL SHOW ON FOX NEWS:
Briggs on Politics: “We discussed all things 24-7 and did it in a very partisan manner. But I think the thing that you should take from Fox & Friends is that I can shift gears and do anything from current events, world events, to wars in the Middle East, to politics. Do I have a history of being somewhat political? Sure, but this is not a political show, and I don’t intend to steer it in that direction. I always try to bring balance to an issue, and even if I have a very strong opinion, I always welcome other opinions.”
Beadle: “But we are going to do an hour special on Roe v. Wade anniversaries.”
Briggs: “I don’t shy away from talking about politics if Sam wants us to… I think that my past could allow us different discussions. We have a segment called ‘Head to Head,’ I could see myself saying, ‘Alright, who’s a worse dealmaker the United States Congress or the NHL?’ I think you could take things from my past that changes the discussion topic a little bit and steer it in that direction. ”ON THE SPORTS-WORLD WACKINESS THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS:
Beadle: “The last 2-3 weeks have been gifts from the sports gods. Every day is kind of one more thing that we can talk about that’s fun. I’m just hoping that they have some more stories left in them come Monday because man, if I can get another dead, fake girlfriend who died of cancer out of this world, I think that we’re all winning.”
Briggs: “It has been very difficult this last week to 10 days to not have the show airing. There’s certainly no shortage of stories that are perfect for us. I wish we had Manti Te’o but there’s another fake girl just around the corner.”
Beadle: “Lots of them out there.”
Briggs: “Washington Redskins players just said that they too have been duped by a couple of fake online girls. There’s always a juicy story right around the next corner.”ON KICKING OFF THE CROSSOVER FROM NEW ORLEANS:
Beadle: “We’re talking about New Orleans here, one of the great cities in the country. There’s food, there’s people, there’s a vibe. I just think that it’s going to give us an energy – as if we needed more – that we’re just not going to get anywhere else. So, for me, I’m pumped. It’s outside, it’s 70 degrees for goodness sakes, and it’ll be the Super Bowl week, the best week of the sports year.”
Briggs: “I personally have never been to New Orleans, I’ll admit that, so I can’t wait to get there and incorporate as much of that city as we can. We’re going to have the New Orleans-type of guests, people that really encompass the spirit of that town. Also, Beadle and I are going to take a tour of the city with a former Saints great and get a sense of it. We want to bring people there that are tuning in from across the country, and give them a sense of what it feels like and what the spirit is like all week.”
Flood: “We also want to be where the action is, and that’s where it is that week and we’ve got a great set up there with our partners on The Dan Patrick Show. We’ve got a great location. We’ve got the facilities, we’ve got the people, and we’ve got the 24-hour rule, which is a hard and fast rule for Dave; no drinking 24 hours before a show. When we shut down each night in New Orleans, we want to make sure the kids aren’t out on the town.
Briggs: “That was not in my contract.”
Beadle: “24-HOUR rule?! What about a glass of red wine that’s good for the heart?”
Flood: “Okay, 12-hour rule.”ON DEVELOPING CHEMISTRY FOR A SHOW:
Beadle: “We hang out. We go into rehearsal, we’re about to go into another one in a half hour, that’s just going to be part of it. In the next four days we are going to hang out as much as possible, get ourselves to New Orleans and practice and go to dinners. You just get a feel for working with each other and how the other works, and sometimes it clicks right away and sometimes it takes a little bit longer. I have no idea. I think that is kind of part of the nervous excitement of everything that’s going on over here.”
Briggs: “It’s tough to have to work with someone who has to sit in the makeup chair and worry about the hair, but Beadle will get used to the fact that I need those things.”
Beadle: “He does take a while.”BEADLE ON THE CROSSOVER NOT HAVING A LIVE AUDIENCE:
“I’m going to let people in on a secret. Ninety-eight percent of our audience (On SportsNation) was the two camera guys screaming most days. I traded in a live audience, but I traded it in for 30 Rock. It’s New York City, to me the greatest city in the world. Live audience, no live audience; our neighbors are Saturday Night Live. That hallway itself is just a treasure trove of crazy people on any given day. We got to see our set for the first real time yesterday and it’s beautiful, it’s bright and, I’m a girl, so I just see colors and big screens.”
ON INCORPORATING SOCIAL MEDIA INTO THE CROSSOVER:
Briggs: “If you know Beadle, you know that social media will be incorporated with this show. I’m surprised every day when I come in and she already knows about the top-15 or 20 trending topics on Twitter in the sports world. So we definitely want to get the pulse of what is happening on Twitter, and what is trending and that will be weaved throughout the show. The same Beadle that’s on Twitter will be on that show.”
Beadle: “Yeah, my pictures won’t be allowed on the show but I’m going to certainly try.”FLOOD ON BRIGGS:
“Being a Boston guy, I saw Mr. Briggs as he was rising up to the ranks in the Boston media. I’ve known him as someone who would be great to get into the NBC family, and someone who could put up with Beadle. So I think we’ve accomplished both things by putting this tag team together. And I should be careful talking about tag-teaming because the WWE fan that is Michelle Beadle might go on a tangent for the next half hour.”
FLOOD ON DRIVING VIEWERS TO THE CROSSOVER:
“It’s about personality. It’s about people you want to spend time with. It’s the people you want to be at the bar and hang out with, and these are the two people that you want to do that with. And that’s an important part of establishing them, and establishing the time at 6:00 (p.m. ET), Monday through Friday. And we’re going to re-air the show at 10:30 p.m. every night after our hockey coverage, and drive that puck audience over, and expose puckheads to Beadle and Briggs, which will be a fun opportunity to push a new audience and expose them to what will be a fun show.”
BEADLE ON THE CROSSOVER:
“I love the fact that the landscape of sports television has changed so drastically in the last two or three years. There’s not just one place to go anymore, and part of us coming here and doing this show is to bring a fun half hour, not take yourself too seriously. No contrived arguments where it feels forced or not organic. I, personally, don’t watch sports through the eyes of a stats nerd or an anger monger. I truly love stories and characters and the flash and the sexiness of it all. So, for me, I want 22 minutes-a-day of that kind of talk. And we’re not going to be as funny or light-hearted as Costas, but we’re definitely hoping to try to bring that level of our A-game to every day of this. I think it’ll be a little bit different on our lineup, you know, after hunting.”
BEADLE ON GUEST HOSTING BOOMER AND CARTON TODAY:
“Four hours flew by, who knew?”
BRIGGS ON WORKING IN BOSTON:
“The period I was there, ’04-’08, arguably the greatest four or five years any city ever had.”
BRIGGS ON CO-HOSTING THE CROSSOVER:
“When I first talked to Sam about the show, before he even got two sentences out of his mouth, I said, ‘That’s the show I always did think that would be perfect for me.’ And I gave him of an example of a lead-in that I might write on Fox & Friends. Right there we both kind of understood that we had the same thing in mind for The Crossover.”
FLOOD ON A LETTER TO NBC SPORTS ABOUT BEADLE:
“We get a lot of letters and notes from people that come in to NBC and I saved one from two months ago and it was:
‘Petitioners to NBC Sports: We, the enclosed petitioners, are great and diehard fans of the best and our favorite sportscaster, Michelle Beadle. She has it like no one since Howard Cosell.’ The petitioners go on to say, ‘We urge you to be big enough to put Michelle Beadle in the spotlight so that she can be the star she is. Thank you, The Petitioners. P.S. We are also great diehard fans of the King, Elvis Presley,’ who is very much alive so we are putting her in the spotlight with Mr. Briggs in The Crossover, and we thought the petitioners needed to be honored in this way.”
There you have it.
