If you missed it, all I can say is TOO BAD. On Tuesday night, ESPN's SportsCenter showed a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making a show work. For the first hour, you get to see just how many people work hard to get one episode in the works. Then, the following hour, they showed a live behind-the-scenes of the current show, airing on ESPN2 simultaneously. The sheer amount of chaos that occurs during the breaks and behind the cameras as the anchors are talking (a cacophony of direction is going on) was incredibly impressive and riveting. Some highlights included Kenny Mayne taking a spill as he ran the latest scores to the anchors on set and Dan Patrick (THE talent) ad-libbing a breaking story without teleprompter or notes on about 2 minutes notice. This stuff apparently happens all the time, and the producers said the show was one of the smoothest they'd had. It was revolutionary television, and it gave me newfound respect for these guys.
One of the other features was showing bloopers from their award-winning SportsCenter ad shorts. In light of that, I delved into the video archives of This Is SportsCenter. Here are my favorites from that list:
- Melrose Place trade -- ESPN pulls off blockbuster trade with Melrose Place involving Andrew Shue and Charley Steiner.
- Coming out early -- SportsCenter takes a chance with a youngster ... and it backfires.
- Sent to Minors -- Even sportscasters can be sent down.
- Promotions II -- Anyone who crosses ESPN's upward movers, pays the price -- even if it means "slumming" at Comedy Central (a funny dig on Craig Kilborn, my favorite all time anchor).
- Y2K Test -- ESPN's Y2K test didn't go quite the way it was planned. Great shot of a 'mad' Mark McGwire going berzerk on a hapless computer.
- Seriously, man -- Jerry Stackhouse ribs ESPN's Trey Wingo in the newsroom. Simple. Elegant. And everyone was thinking it.
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