8 comments

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  tyduffy

  1 year ago

  I've noticed that that phenomenon extends to all American programming, not just soccer.
  
  
  I normally watch Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on BBC America. But, the show has been re-edited for Fox Reality Channel on American TV. All of a sudden it has crazy intros and a whole lot of flash without substance.
  
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  Anonymous

  1 year ago

  Dolan sure knows his football. I am very impressed by him and the level of Setanta analysis-on Friday Football Show and Macca's Monday Night. Les Ferdinand, Macca, Tim Sherwood, etc. also know their stuff.
  FSC thought that by just bringing in bunch of guys with British accents, that will make them legitimate pundits. The quality of Sunday Plus(not sure of the name) is dismal: Costigan and the other two blokes are bona fide retards. You might as well bring anybody who follows the Premier League and they will do the same, if not a better job with this. FSC is still light years away from quality but at least they are trying...
  
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  Anonymous

  1 year ago

  The Setanta shows are made for the UK & Ireland audience, here in the States they just rebroadcast. Whereas the FSC show is produced here for the US audience.
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  MJ

  1 year ago

  Exactly, FSC doesn't want to bring in a bunch of guys who will talk about the X's and O's and the nitty-gritty stuff; those kind of things aren't the way to appeal to a casual audience. You have to simplify things and dumb them down to reach the masses. If that's what it takes to spread soccer to fans who don't really know too much about the game, I'm fine with that.
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  Simon Burke

  1 year ago

  I agree with everything here except for anyone praising Tim Sherwood who ranks up there with the all time worst pundits. He is so bitter and deluded that he gets a point and just runs with it. THe home based programs are always better than the FSC based stuff which is passable and at least doesnt have GOL TV's English nightmare: Ray Hudson.
  I love proper half time chat in games, something we lack here :(
  
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  Anonymous

  1 year ago

  Interesting comments. Dolan is great-no doubt. So is the bald-headed dude who is the guy who asks the questions. And I understand that you have to dumb down things for Americans in order to appeal to them and make them understand the game.
  I don't know what Sky Sports has to offer(I know Andy Grey is amazing), but Setanta's analysis is pure quality-Friday Football Show is well worth the time with the interviews and the guests they bring.
  
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  Corey

  1 year ago

  The whole "this is American" explanation is wrong in that it is an incomplete answer to this issue...the problem isn't that the FSC approach is American but that the approach is the normal American approach to soccer.
  
  
  If you watch any other sport in America, you would be inundated with analysis of the game before, at halftime, and at the end. Anybody (I'm looking at you tyduffy) who says that American sports coverage doesn't have substance hasn't watched a good American Football preview show (like Monday Night Countdown)...sure, there is a lot of hype in those shows but they also have a lot of analysis.
  
  
  
  Stop calling this an American issue...the issue is that FSC & GolTV have low budgets and thus they use their on-air personalities as low-rent teleprompter analysis also. If either channel spent the money then I am sure you could get a good American color analyst that wouldn't sound like a muppet.
  
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  Simon Burke

  1 year ago

  I disagree Corey as in England we also get blanket coverage before and at half time, we are berating the quality of it here as its so studioised and bland. The pre Premiership show at 9.30 ET on a Saturday has analysis but its boring, its so bland - I dont think FSC with a higher budget would be any less boring but would just haev more horrible graphics like FOx's ridiculously over the top NFL Coverage where player lineups look like they are in spaceships...
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