Indycar TV coverage ABC and NBC Sports

I would like to discuss the TV coverage of Indycar. I have seen no improvemet in the coverage and find the main "announcers" Marty Reid (ABC) and Bob Jenkins (NBC Sports) to be just plain inept!
Jenkins fumbles with names, mis identifies cars and is horribly boring and seems completely unexcited about racing.
Just listen to Bob Varsha, Leigh Diffey and the great Paul Page. They all know a lot about racing and have some excitment in their voices. Listening to Reid and Jenkins fumble through a broadcast sounds like they are reading a script and not keeping up with what's going on out on the track and in the pits.

I think Bob Jenkins is kind of annoying, but I like Jon Beekhuis (and not because of his last name which is Dutch, he probably has a Dutch background seeing his last name). I wish Robbie Buhl would make a comeback to NBC anyway. And for ABC? Honestly I prefer Scott Goodyear instead of Marty Reid. Of course both cannot even get close to Paul Page.. Man, I wish that man came back as a lead commentator on ABC. I'm used to listen to the boring and awful Dutch commentary, so I don't have to complain that much about the IndyCar coverages on NBC and ABC.

Wally and Jon are great. They can see strategies and they can see when a car is getting squirrelly on the track. When they see close calls they get vocal about it (just like I do) so it feels like they are watching the same race and enjoying it. I don't dislike Bob, but he had a rough day yesterday. Messed up names (my wife and I still say "Kevin Briscoe" to each other all the time as a joke), misspoken words, etc just happened too much.

Overall I think they do a great job. Miller even had a rough start as well, but I hope to hear more of him as the season continues. I think Bell was a nice addition and it's always nice to get a current driver's perspective on something. Wheldon showed it was a success so I'm glad Bell can do the same.

One thing I really liked seeing happened towards the end of the race. Two small packs of cars were running near each other. As the first group went through a corner without incident, the cameraman started panning on them to complete his shot. Just as he started to pan, the second group entered the corner and a pass was happening. The cameraman saw it, stopped his pan and moved back to the pass to get it. Unfortunately the control booth had likely already counted down for the next camera to kick in so the shot was cut before the pass was complete, but it was nice to see the camera person paying attention and tossing the script to focus on some action.

I don't have a big problem with the "color commentators". I like Beekhuis - he knows racing especially the tech side of it but the main guys , Jenkins and Reid seem like they are announcing a "rowing competition", no offense to rowers! It seems that they both try way too hard to be "calm" which translates to "Boring" not to mention how Jenkins couldn't tell the difference between Rahal's car and Franchitti's car! He also said about four times that Barichello was driving a 2 tone blue car as if he was trying to remind himself which car was Ruben's. I started to make a list of all his mistakes but gave up after a while especially when Jenkins said "Helio Castro" was leading the race while later saying that Castroneves was fighting back in the pack (mistaking Castroneves for another car). Reid and Jenkins just keep on making the same mistakes and don't get any better!

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Originally Posted by pjracer

I don't have a big problem with the "color commentators". I like Beekhuis - he knows racing especially the tech side of it but the main guys , Jenkins and Reid seem like they are announcing a "rowing competition", no offense to rowers! It seems that they both try way too hard to be "calm" which translates to "Boring" not to mention how Jenkins couldn't tell the difference between Rahal's car and Franchitti's car! He also said about four times that Barichello was driving a 2 tone blue car as if he was trying to remind himself which car was Ruben's. I started to make a list of all his mistakes but gave up after a while especially when Jenkins said "Helio Castro" was leading the race while later saying that Castroneves was fighting back in the pack (mistaking Castroneves for another car). Reid and Jenkins just keep on making the same mistakes and don't get any better!

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Yeah, the Helio Castro thing was at the beginning of the race!

Some others that I remember:

Grand Pee (misspoke Prix)
De Simona...

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Originally Posted by numanoid

Grand Pee (misspoke Prix)
De Simona...

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I laughed my a** off when he said those two. :D

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Originally Posted by numanoid

Wally and Jon are great. They can see strategies and they can see when a car is getting squirrelly on the track. When they see close calls they get vocal about it (just like I do) so it feels like they are watching the same race and enjoying it. I don't dislike Bob, but he had a rough day yesterday. Messed up names (my wife and I still say "Kevin Briscoe" to each other all the time as a joke), misspoken words, etc just happened too much.

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"Katherine's leg car is in the gravol!" :)

NBC should get Bob Varsha. With Jon and Wally they would be the perfect trio!

Missed Lindy Thackston as well. But overall an excellent broadcast. Great sound, great camera work (the cars seemed fast) and covering all the action.

JB and WD are strong and Jenkins, as much as I hate to admit it, he's put in his years and overall, he doesn't detract from the goings on. He's actually giving us some light moments. There's others I'd like to see there but the ship appears to be on a pretty steady course. If I had a choice between Reid or Jenkins at Indy, I'd choose Jenkins.

Get started on your Jenkins-isms!

The NBC crew blows ABC out of the water.

I cut Bob some slack since he has been around for so long in the world of racing. He's aged, but I still think he belongs in the booth.

Jenkins over Reid ANY DAY!

Gary