From politics to parties; from Hooters girls to the President of the United States, FNC’s two hours on the Fox broadcast network this morning accomplished what it set out to do: “explore the social impact of the Super Bowl and how it intertwines with politics.”
That line from the press release is about as dry as the Arizona desert. Fox Super Sunday, however, was more exciting.
Much of the two hour show was standard fare: discussions of Super Bowl ads and political ads; talking heads talking politics; interviews with Fox Sports’ hosts, Terry Bradshaw and Jimmy Johnson.
But mixed with the fun, (like when co-anchors Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly tried to play a Wii football game before handing off to two Hooters girls) there was news, including new poll numbers from Rasmussen showing Sen. Barack Obama is now leading Sen. Hillary Clinton in delegate-rich California.
Shepard Smith, anchoring from Glendale, was tough on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (above), pushing him on the issue of the Patriots videotaping controversy and a possible Congressional investigation. Admitting the videotapes were destroyed on his orders, Goodell added that any talk about other videotaping from previous seasons simply isn’t true. “There are no new facts on this,” Goodell said. “This is Super Bowl week…people take this stage to take an opportunity to spread more rumors.”
Fast paced, it was. Perhaps too fast. Hemmer seemed to rush through his interview with political strategists Margaret Hoover and Kirsten Powers. And when Smith interviewed college students Tiffany Wilson and Ryan Cost from FNC campus partner ThePalestra.com, the students spoke for a total of :48 seconds.
One of the best moments came when the Super Bowl and Super Tuesday truly merged: Fox 10 reporter Steve Krafft interviewed several Giants and Patriots players about which candidate they are supporting. We also learned Alice Cooper is an undecided voter, adding Pee Wee Herman might be a good choice.
Interviews with President Bush, Obama and Archie Manning plus a look at the FNC Super Tuesday set, all made the two-hour platform a well-rounded kick-off to the Super Bowl which FNC hopes will translate into added viewers on Super Tuesday.