FSN's Great Summer Schedule Adds "Baseball's Golden Age"

Thursday, July 03, 2008


While ESPN toils with the fail that is Titletown (hey, Wipeout's John Anderson gets to anchor Green Bay's edition!), FSN is slowly putting out some awesome programs. As of late the FOX network has turned BDSSP into a sports interview haven, made Ron Artest into a solid interviewer and has added more episodes of the nutshottacular "Sports Science".

The network's latest effort proves to be no different as they unveil "Baseball's Golden Age" this Sunday night....

Each 30-minute show is an elegant, gritty compilation of remarkable rare shots and never-before-seen footage, culled from hundreds of hours of color film shot by the fans, the players' families and most importantly, the players themselves.

Woven throughout the collection of color videos from the 1920s-1960s are interviews with baseball luminaries, writers, broadcasters and former team employees all reliving baseball's simpler time: an innocent period of all-night train rides, day games, cigars in the stands and nickel hot dogs. A journey to the era when players spent their entire careers with one team, long before chartered jets, free agency and arbitration, a time when "playing for the love of the game" wasn't just cliche.
The whole thing is a 13-week series of 30-minute shows and after getting an advanced look at the first show it's definitely worth your time. The production quality along is enough to keep you interested, but add to it the old time footage and interviews and it's a must see. I mean the first episode alone has interviews with Ernie Banks, Bob Feller, Bob Costas, Al Kaline, Johnny Pesky, Frank Robinson and Larry King. Be sure to check it out.

The debut is this Sunday, July 6th at 8pm.

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 10:28 AM

8 Comments:

Cool stuff. You're right, FSN is finally putting together a quality slate of programming while ESPN goes the opposite direction.

I'm a fan of FSN's "In My Own Words" series, which (at least for us in FSN Southwest territory) is a 30 minute interview feature on the life and experiences of different people involved with the regional team. For me, that's the Texas Rangers, and they've done pieces on manager Ron Washington, stars Josh Hamilton and Michael Young, and broadcaster/former GM/Mr. Texas Ranger Tom Grieve. It's a really neat glimpse into the life of the guys that you, as a sports fan, follow year-round, and it's simple and understated with a focus on the person's words, not any sort of flashy Disney/ESPN-esque production drama.

I don't expect FSN to ever overtake ESPN as the World Wide Leader, especially due to FSN's makeup of regional networks, but they're doing a good job of stepping up to the plate with broadcasting focused on sports itself, and not the peripheral stuff.

Anonymous said...
Jul 3, 2008, 11:30:00 AM  

@james:

I think they have that 'In My Own Words' show in every FSN market (it's cool, but Nate Robertson?).

Side note: I've been meaning to ask, but why have they removed the 'FSN' from most of their national programs like 'Final Score,' 'BDSSP,' and 'Baseball Report?'

Jul 3, 2008, 12:27:00 PM  

Didn't HBO already do this with their "When it Was a Game" series?

UnHoly Diver said...
Jul 3, 2008, 1:10:00 PM  

I was thinking the same Bruce, except maybe this time they'll be a little less, uh, segregated about the history....

Anonymous said...
Jul 3, 2008, 2:28:00 PM  

I hope that the fans that taped these games had expressed written consent from Major League Baseball. Implied oral consent is not good enough.

GMoney said...
Jul 3, 2008, 4:14:00 PM  

Regarding "In My Own Words", on FSN South there always about Atlanta Braves players.

It like there's only five or six episodes that they keep rerunning. But, then again, that may be exactly how it is.

Anonymous said...
Jul 3, 2008, 6:48:00 PM  

they're, not there

Anonymous said...
Jul 3, 2008, 6:49:00 PM  

Fox is really moving up and I can't wait to see Baseball's Golden Age. Now that is cool.

Anonymous said...
Jul 3, 2008, 8:01:00 PM  

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