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When HBO decided at the end of the football season that it wouldn’t bring Inside the NFL back for another year, many media and league observers thought another cable channel would pay the NFL for the rights to the show.
But Peter King, who was a contributor to Inside the NFL, writes today in his SI.com column that he doesn’t think the chances are good of the show returning.
“I’m not sure the show’s extinct yet, but I think I’d be hearing a few rumbles if there was a good chance it would surface on someone’s air next year,” King writes.
According to King, the fact that NFL Films laid off 8 percent of its workforce last week doesn’t portend well for Inside the NFL. Ultimately, it seems that whether the show comes back will be a matter of whether a network is willing to pay for it. If TNT or TBS or Versus or Spike or some other cable channels is willing to pay the $8 or $9 million a year that HBO was paying, the show will go on. If not, it won’t.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
That show has too many people on it. You could have Costas, Collinsworth, and King and shorten it up. Some of the special interest stuff was beyond boring.
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March 18th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Inside the NFL is/was a “made for Tivo” program. The show itself was unwatchable, but the footage was excellent. I would only watch it for the game footage. Yeah.. you already knew the outcome, but you saw it from a different perspective. NFL Films is great at what they do. If they cut that budget, we may not see that type of sideline footage again.
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March 18th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I disagree with both Koite and Pastabelly. The show is fine with four main hosts; that seems to be a good number. And, Chris Carter is good at arguing, whereas it’s funny to watch Dan Marino’s range of emotions every time his status as an all-time great is threatened by a current great. But yeah, four is a good number. You can get away with three if it’s Ernie, Charles, and Kenny…
The show was not unwatchable. I watched close to every minute of all of the shows, when possible. I always enjoy it, and always have. I do not believe I am alone on that one. And obviously NFL Films made it that much greater. Hopefully another channel picks it up that has no conflict of interest with the NFL, or just another channel picks up the show in general. HBO is a good channel for anything because the censorship is minimized. Per King, the future does not look bright for Inside the NFL, but let’s hope for the best.
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March 18th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
It was once a staple in my watching habits, but last season pretty much sealed it for me. Highlights are available 24/7 and by the time Wednesday night rolled around, I was more interested in the upcoming games than the onea already played. But the footage was second-to-none so I would like to see NFL Films be involved in some capacity somewhere, even if it isn’t for ITN.
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March 18th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I agree. The show had great footage and analysis. However, in my book it is anathema to combine the word pigskin with potpourri (sp?) in the same sentence. Good riddance.
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