Reported by Richard Deitsch in his latest SI.com Media Circus column, Fox Sports 1 has canceled Crowd Goes Wild, the daily afternoon panel show once fronted by Regis Philbin. The last show will air in May.
Crowd Goes Wild will air its final show on May 8. Good bunch of people there. Wishing behind-the-scenes/on-airs best heading forward.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) April 28, 2014
Fox Sports issued a statement to Deitsch:
“As the channel evolves so must our programing commitments. Fox Sports wants to thank CGW’s loyal viewers, talent and all the terrific people behind-the-scenes, especially Embassy Row, for their hard work and commitment to producing a phenomenal and unique sports talk show.”
The show premiered last August as part of FS1’s late afternoon lineup which included Fox Soccer Daily, NASCAR Race Hub and Fox Football Daily. Now all that remains from this original slate of shows is NASCAR Race Hub which moves into CGW’s 5 p.m. ET timeslot.
Fox will extend the Mike Francesa Show an hour and will run from 1-5 p.m. ET.
Crowd Goes Wild never caught on with viewers. Philbin looked uncomfortable hosting the show and despite getting heavy promotion from Fox in its early days, the show seemed to be confused on whether it wanted to be a comedy show or a panel discussion.
Deitsch reports that popular panelists Georgie Thompson who was lured from the UK and Katie Nolan will be seen on Fox Sports 1 in various capacities, but nothing has been officially announced.
So as Fox Sports 1 continues to search for its identity, it’s still experiencing growing pains as it approaches its first birthday in August.
