Versus mid-season review. Your thoughts please.

[Marbles]

I enjoy the Versus broadcasts a lot more than the ABC ones. That is for certain.

Where was Arute yesterday? Only noticed him in the "up close and personal" with Dixon. Are they listening to fans and scaling back his pit side involvement?

I love the more economical, less invasive score crawl they use. Makes a world of difference, especially with the in-car shots.

Bob Jenkins is carrying himself better than I thought he would.

During the pre-race, Buhl and Beekhuis were on the verge of becoiming critical but fell back to the safe position, once again, of not assessing blame or pointing fingers. Just shrugged their shoulders and said "aw shucks... who knows". Come on guys! Grow some balls! Are you afraid of losing your jobs or offending your buddies? Most times it sounds like you don't know any more than the casual fan regarding the inner workings of the series. I have to come here to find out Andretti and Green aren't getting along? Is this true. What's the real problem with AGR. It's your job to tell us what you think!

Maybe have someone like a Miller or a Kirby give us the dirt on the seireis in a separate piece in the pre-race and then you guys can distance yourselves from him.

Still don't think Buhl belongs there. Too close to Beekhuis in style and the worse part is that he's a team owner. Not proper.

Pit reporters do a great job.

Camera work and presentation is great. Good race coverage overall, although I think I missed seeing how RHR moved up through tthe field yesterday.

I'd like to see an intro that presents the depth of history that Indycars have. A montage of sorts would be nice. Not tranformers in disguise.

[DanicaFan]

My thoughts... Never liked the switch to Versus before they even started the season and I dont like it now. ;)

Im not saying the coverage is bad because its pretty good but the subscribers are less than half of what the IRL had with ABC/ESPN so as I have said numerous times, makes no sense.
The IRL switching to Versus was also a slap in the face to DirecTV, their series sponsor until they pulled this move to switch. I dont blame DirecTV for dropping them, they went to a direct competitor.

[drewdawg727]

I like the Versus broadcasts, because I cant stand listening to Marty "nails on a chalkboard" Reid and his catch phrases. At least the Versus crew sounds like they're into the racing and not just trying to get a paycheck.

The camera work yesterday wasnt so great....but that is probably cus it was at a Canadian venue and they may not have had their full stats.

I'm glad that they are able to promote the series with their downforce commercials and the little clips of each driver ranting on about how they love racing. The Danica and Izod commercials are too much though.

And about Ryan Hunter-Reay...he got around Danica in turn 1 on lap 1, then passed those 3 cars that had incidents on the first lap, and then did the rest of his passing in the pits. (Mutoh, Viso, Andretti, Tagliani)

[Marbles]

My thoughts... Never liked the switch to Versus before they even started the season and I dont like it now. ;)


Your post reminded about another thing that was refreshing about yesterday's race. It was notable for it's overwhelming lack of focus on DP... even for Versus. She got about as much attention that a driver who's a lap down should get.

[NickFalzone]

I like the coverage, particularly looks great in HD, I like the opening "IndyCar Central" that covers news in the IRL, I like the little segments they do such as the "Up Close" with Dixon and the opening montages of previous races, I mostly like the commentators, and I like the care taken to go to commercials as needed but not constantly like they do on ABC/ESPN. With ABC my biggest issue is they'd cut to a commercial, come back, things would start getting interesting, then Marty would get ADD and cut to another commercial. VS does a better job with that. But I agree that the lack of viewers is a huge concern.

Jack Arute was not a pit reporter yesterday because I believe he was covering Brickyard and ORP/Nationwide races, so they had the IMS guy Kevin Lee who seemed to do a good job. I'm actually most impressed with Lindy and Robbie, who don't have a ton of racing background but seem very good on their feet asking reasonably smart questions. Lindy is also very attractive.

[grungex]

I think she looks like Mr. Mackie from South Park, big balloon head...

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2008-02-23-Mackie.jpg

[Mark in Oshawa]

My thoughts... Never liked the switch to Versus before they even started the season and I dont like it now. ;)

Im not saying the coverage is bad because its pretty good but the subscribers are less than half of what the IRL had with ABC/ESPN so as I have said numerous times, makes no sense.
The IRL switching to Versus was also a slap in the face to DirecTV, their series sponsor until they pulled this move to switch. I dont blame DirecTV for dropping them, they went to a direct competitor.

It makes sense when ABC/ESPN DROPPED the desire to carry the whole series. They have NASCAR don't forget. IT was VS and get paid money for the broadcast or get no dough somewhere else. Not much good from this. I think VS isn't on enough screens, but funny, on a week's holiday in PA and VA, never found a hotel that didn't carry it.

[Chamoo]

I would much prefer to see the IRL on NBC or CBS, but this works for now. Hopefully they are able to get consistent ratings at or around 1 for any Versus races.

Their coverage has been very strong, and the only issue is that they don't have anyone watching the race, even though they are trying hard. Versus is pumping money into this project and it seems like they are making progress.

I would still like to see the 5 races carried on ABC switched over to CBS or NBC. I think they would put more work into those five races than ABC does, which would help Versus out. If Versus could get together with NBC or CBS to make this 5 race network deal work, instead of what ABC does, basically ignoring anything that isn't on their station (which I understand why they do it) it would be a much better and bearable TV deal.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I would much prefer to see the IRL on NBC or CBS, but this works for now. Hopefully they are able to get consistent ratings at or around 1 for any Versus races.

Their coverage has been very strong, and the only issue is that they don't have anyone watching the race, even though they are trying hard. Versus is pumping money into this project and it seems like they are making progress.

I would still like to see the 5 races carried on ABC switched over to CBS or NBC. I think they would put more work into those five races than ABC does, which would help Versus out. If Versus could get together with NBC or CBS to make this 5 race network deal work, instead of what ABC does, basically ignoring anything that isn't on their station (which I understand why they do it) it would be a much better and bearable TV deal.

Chamoo, you only have to watch what VS is doing with the NHL deal and how NBC treats the NHL while paying them nothing to understand what it is to be a "fringe" sport on network TV vs getting money on a cable/digital station. VS has potential and is doing the job from a critical point of view, but they will not get the eyeballs they need. The IRL has to keep doing deals with the devil ( the networks ) because they don't have enough drawing power to dictate their terms like the PGA, NFL or NASCAR can.

[Marbles]

As others have mentioned regarding the Mid-Ohio race, race coverage was rather poor. There was passing, we just didn't get to see it. The most painful part were the cut-a-ways; just as a pass was about to be executed the shot changed. Perhaps they had someone new in the trailer. Hopefully they'll pick their game back up next race.

I caught some Friday practice for the first time on Indycar.com and I've got to say that for the bit I heard, I was impressed with the commentary.

They discussed the big hate-on that Doornbos and Rahal had for each other since the CC days and how even the PR people at NHL were trying to figure a way to spin such a union. How a driver like Servia (old news) could only help Rahal. The lack of chemistry in the AGR team and how it was such a different situation from a few years ago. Wheldon's situation etc.

Bottom line: These guys work for Indycar and seem to have little fear of ruffling a few feathers. What's the excuse for the Versus boys.

[nigelred5]

It makes sense when ABC/ESPN DROPPED the desire to carry the whole series. They have NASCAR don't forget. IT was VS and get paid money for the broadcast or get no dough somewhere else. Not much good from this. I think VS isn't on enough screens, but funny, on a week's holiday in PA and VA, never found a hotel that didn't carry it.

It's hard to find cable system in a major area in the Middle atlantic that isn't owned by Comcast, so it's not a problem with them carrying their own channel. It's when you try to get a cable competetor to carry their main rival's wholly owned programming that we're running into problems. I think the coverage is light years better than what the IRL got from ESPN/ABC. Much better picture,

Can we get the original Pre- Nascar hyped Speed Channel back?

I have a little problem with the name of the channel to be honest. Not totally sure what it is, I just don't like the VS or the Versus written out. It just doesnt' draw me in. It relies on you making "the connection". To be honest, when they first announced the channel was coming, I had no idea the it was going to be an all sports channel. MAybe it needa a tag line under it or something to promote itself bettter as an ALL sports type network.
I know for certain from the reports and press releases I read that they intentionally avoided any mention of Comcast in the name and wanted it to expand on their regional sports-net channels.

It's almost a little too Spike-like to me with some of what they are doing to the channel even though the production values are lightyears above Spike. TNN was a great channel for off the beaten track sports back in the day, but the change to Spike just turned it into a joke for me. VS. is sort of doing that as well. I know it's big now, but I"m not into the MMA. I guess it's just too much of a sports entertainment or an "MMA channel" feel to me. I prefer the feel of hte ir sports net channels that feel like, well, a sports channel.

[nigelred5]

I seem to recall when the deal was announced, that all of the programming was being produced by the same ESPN team, whether it was on ABC or VS. Has that changed already?

My biggest thing is, no matter which network a particular race is on, keep the same production, the same announcers, the same time blocks. I hate that it is constantly changing race to race. Itls like when Fox takes over the F1 dates, even with the same announcers, they cut it all to hell. Change the logo and keep everything else the same.

[Placid]

At least it beats a sudden death golf playoff on ABC/ESPN.

[nigelred5]

At least it beats a sudden death golf playoff on ABC/ESPN.

Amen to that!

[Lousada]

At least it beats a sudden death golf playoff on ABC/ESPN.

But that golf playoff gave Mid-Ohio the highest non-indy ratings of the season. The ratings this year you'd better not know....

[NickFalzone]

Mid-Ohio got a .2 on Versus, not good.

[indycool]

The telecasts on Versus themselves are better than we have seen in a long time, IMO. It's good to see Jenkins back at the mike, Buhl is a good analyst and Beekhuis is getting there. Pit road is outstanding.

Ratings? Face it folks, it's a long road back.

[Mark in Oshawa]

The telecasts on Versus themselves are better than we have seen in a long time, IMO. It's good to see Jenkins back at the mike, Buhl is a good analyst and Beekhuis is getting there. Pit road is outstanding.

Ratings? Face it folks, it's a long road back.

Longer than anyone had thought, and longer than some are willing to tolerate from what I have read on the subject.

It's a shame it got to this point in the first place but there is no point in crying about it.