Different shows have different target audience. I think it's obvious the target audience for that show are very, very casual "fans". It's more of an entertainment show. If you want something more serious and in depth you have to go elsewhere. The British female former player (forget her name) looks completely out of place.
Agreed! I watched that show once and only once. The only Fox wrap-up show which is any good is the one they don't produce, it's called the "highlights" show. See my post above from opening day. P.s. Hey Father! Long time no see.
Apparently they’ve hired Clarence Seedorf to start in the studio immediately and another to be named next week. Their coverage is atrocious but the games are attracting decent audiences. But the Cup sells itself.
I said this in the USA forum and I will say it here too: (When it comes to Copa Tonight and Fernando Fiore) We have to look at things with context. Fernando has been doing this since the late 90's early 2000's with Univision. He hosts light hearted sports shows that usually have very little analytical/statistical sports knowledge and more a passionate fan in a bar with dancing ladies slant and perspective. I think he has toned things down for the USA (English speaking audience) audience quite well actually and on Copa Tonight (World Cup Tonight) he tries to have people talk about what goes on the field in detailed ways while still keeping things not too serious. (And FOX probably won't allow him to have half naked dancing waitresses in the background.... ... although he has probably lobbied for it.) I get it, Some people don't like him and his sorta shtick. It is not everybody's cup of tea, But he has been established in the market as an Emmy award winner "Presidente" and has a huge following in the US Latin American community. Just a sliver of Spanish speakers who watch his show or his game commentary is what FOX will love for ratings because it means they will tap into a market that they and ESPN have kind of ignored for decades. The Latin American fans who want to be represented on tv in English too. And that is a huge market when it comes to the beautiful game. Fernando has come a long way from hosting a sightseeing comedy show with Sofia Vergara in the early 90's in Miami on Univision.
I usually think the BS community is overly harsh when it comes to judging coverage and commentary in general, so I usually avoid commenting on it. I like Fernando overall to be involved pre/post/half time, but for God's sake, keep him away from play by play. He offers nothing and is a distraction. Fox can easily keep his following happy, but it shouldn't be his constant droning, as it just becomes annoying white noise. There is a time and place for his likeable and funny schtick, but play by play isn't the place.
Just got the annoying glitch on Telemundo that occasionally happens on NBC Prem streaming. Pre-stream commercials just keep rolling over and over without taking me to the match. Grr, not great when trying to get in to the 2nd half of a big game.
I find Ally quite good as well actually I don't find the Fox coverage that bad overall. I'd like to hear the English language feed on a separate broadcast to compare.
Kelly Smith, the first night she was quiet and looked like she had never done this sort of thing before (not true) , she's since found her voice and is very opinionated, speaking alot, if you only watched her on the first night it would be a different show. also, it seems to me over the last 2-3 nights they've toned down the schtick and gotten a bit more serious. Does anyone know what happened to the show with Coby Jones and I think Ian Joy? I believe it was called World Cup Review or something like that, it seemed to be on only once but was more serious with breakdowns of the game?
Record and watch the late night highlights show on FS2 mostly but sonetimes on FSC or FS1. It's got favorites like Ian Darke & Peter Drury. Just a pity it's on so damn late. That's obviously Fox's way of not canibalizing their world class "Tonight" shows.
Heard JP Della Camera mention during today's Portugal match that Rui Patricio might be leaving Sporting. He transferred to Wolves the other day. Only the best with Fox.
Are those people who called Peru-Denmark game? They are the worst. One thing I find annoying with both Fox and Telemundo is the constant intrusion by their ref experts. I have a good grasp of the rules, as most of the other fans do, I believe, so I don't need the constant consultation about refs and much less the questions about how the referee is managing the game.
Boom goes the dynamite! As for the rules expert it happens in most team sports broadcasts in the USA now so I personally don't find it a big deal. I like having a perspective from someone who actually reffed at a high level. BTW the US Network I remember doing it first was Univision more than a decade ago with some ex ref sitting in the studio for halftime. Now Everyone does it.
If you use a VPN and create an account with a British postcode, you can watch recorded matches on ITV and BBC https://www.itv.com/hub/world-cup/1a6247 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p0695pq6
People like to make fun of the FOX crew when it comes to pronunciations and knowing transfer news and stuff like that but I would bet my bottom dollar that the BBC guys mispronounce names from CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, CAF, AFC, etc. all the time. And they probably don't know diddly squat about their leagues and transfers.
If they are the worst, than you like the female announcer better, which is an odd preference of YOURS because she squelches along.
Thank God for ESPN FC. Fox analysis is unwatchable. Too bad NBCSN didn't do some type of a show. They could have done very well.
This has been a very interesting viewing experience. I have yet to watch any game live but have watched them all at my convenience, with some aggravations along the way. My local FOX station had a power outage caused by a tornado the night before the opening match and didn't get back online until about the 87th minute of the Morocco-Iran match. I tried finding the opener on demand on foxsports.com but found only the score and highlights. I then signed up with sling and tried to watch the opening game in Portuguese, but it could have been in Swahili because there was no volume until a few matches into the tournament. There have been a few occasions when my DVR failed to record, or I forgot to schedule the recordings so I am thankful that I have a backup. I like Sling, but my main beef is that the broadcast comes online after the anthems have been played (not that I care for their choice of entrance music, I miss the pomp of the FIFA anthem) and one team's lineup has been presented. One neat feature of the Portuguese channel is that they play a samba-like version of FOX's NFL theme whenever a goal is scored. As for FOX, I was interested to see how Jorge Perez Navarro would handle doing an English broadcast as I have always enjoyed his work on Univision. Other than instances where he referred to throw-ins as handballs (I've learned a lot of Spanish football terms, but throw-in is not one of them, maybe that is how it's translated from Spanish), it has been fun to see somebody try to take the exuberant style of the Spanish announcer and apply it to English (I believe Andres Cantor did it as well when he worked the Sydney Olympics for NBC).. It's been fun and, as I said, also a bit aggravating. When I get aggravated, all I need to do is to think back to the days when I was lucky if I could find just a handful of the World Cup games on TV. I remember thinking how awesome it would be if I could watch an entire tournament. Even in 1994, I thought it was a one-shot deal because of the fact that we were hosting. Six WCs later, we can still watch every match and I am so grateful.
Yeah we've come a long way. In 1982 and 1986, only a handful of games were on network TV and I remember struggling to watch the other matches via rabbit ears on UHF from a low-power Tampa affiliate of SIN (Univision's predecessor) where the signal would fade in and out with a snowy, static-y picture most of the time.