ESPN To Cut Back Baseball/Hockey (More Original Programming,Less Sports)

So ESPN is going to draw more viewers by destroying the very premise that they used to form the network in the first place? In their attempt to attract new viewers, they're going to tick off their current viewers and, in the end, it will be counterproductive and result in a loss. Not good.

8 hours of poker, 8 hours of Sportscenter reruns, and 8 hours of Pimp My Ride/The Hoop Life/Drink Martinis at Vince Carter's Pad/Clubbin' with Shaq is not what I need. See ya, ESPN. Wouldn't wanna be ya.

...one of the reasons ESPN's scripted series about Las Vegas poker players "Tilt" failed to find an audience earlier this year is that the only free night not saturated with live sports commitments was Thursday, where, at 9 p.m., the show had to go up against such strong series as "CSI" on CBS, "Will & Grace" on NBC and "Extreme Makeover" on ABC. Against those odds, "Tilt" never really had a chance.

Sure. It had nothing to do with the fact that most people find watching other people sitting on their butts playing cards to be about as entertaining as watching paint dry.

Despite solid ratings, "Playmakers" got a reluctant cancellation notice after its first 13-episode season, falling victim to the hostility of the National Football League, most of whose owners hated the portrayal of some athletes as drug users, wife beaters and other unsavory types.

The NFL doesn't want the truth about it's criminals being shown. Besides, if you want to hear about players acting like asses on the field, beating their wives, using drugs, and killing people in DUI accidents, you don't need to watch a fictional TV series. All you have to do is watch Sportscenter and read the local paper.

I like the History Channel and Discovery, but you are right in that they are getting more and more PC. Discovery is showing more "documentaries" about global warming. Right after the Gang of 14 controversy regarding judicial nominees, the History Channel threw John McCain: American Maverick in our faces throughout Memorial Day Weekend, pissing me off to the point that I programmed it out of my TV for 2 weeks.

Considering how conservative the general viewing audience of the History Channel is, it's beyond me what they were thinking. It must have been the same programming director for the Military Channel who decided that Wings Over France was a good show to air constantly just when France decided to actively slow-roll the war in Iraq.

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