I like Espn's current version of this enough to give it a 6 rating. I am old enough to remember 1970 - the 1st season. Now that is when I would have given it an 8 and here is why.
When ABC first started the Monday Night Football Series, it became the first network to add extra cameras & angles to the game to bring it up to where it is today. They were first to use extra slow motion & instant replays. The late Roone Arledge was a real innovator.
The original announcing team for the 1st season was Keith Jackson ( not Fautless Frank Gifford), Howard Cosell & Dandy Don Meredith. This was the best announcing team. They only slipped a little with Gifford, but the early games with Jackson were gems because Jackson would do great play by play & ignore the other 2 clowns in the booth. This was the magic that made the first season a ratings sensation.
When season 2 came along, Gifford came in & it slipped to about a 7.5. It stayed there a long time & even when Meredith first left, it still was a seven although his rotating replacements like Alex Karras, & Fred the Hammer Williamson were a notch below Meredith. Giffords play by play started to slip a little too.
Then, Howard Cosell got canned due to a racist media. This is when the series really got unhinged & slipped below a 5 rating. It stayed there until after Dennis Miller bowed out. Bringing in John Madden took it back to 6 & it is staying there now because the announcers are OK, & the fastest 3 minutes are keeping it there. Actually, the Monday night team is doing better than NBC is on Sunday Nights with Madden.
That being said, this can never again be the sensation it was when it started. My all time rating for the best announcing was no doubt the original team. Keith Jackson with Howard & Don was the chemistry that made it, all the rest of the folks have been riding long coat tails since 1970.
At least it has come back as when Dennis Miller was on, I thought I was going to hear Don Meredith start singing "Turn out the lights, the parties over."
When ABC first started the Monday Night Football Series, it became the first network to add extra cameras & angles to the game to bring it up to where it is today. They were first to use extra slow motion & instant replays. The late Roone Arledge was a real innovator.
The original announcing team for the 1st season was Keith Jackson ( not Fautless Frank Gifford), Howard Cosell & Dandy Don Meredith. This was the best announcing team. They only slipped a little with Gifford, but the early games with Jackson were gems because Jackson would do great play by play & ignore the other 2 clowns in the booth. This was the magic that made the first season a ratings sensation.
When season 2 came along, Gifford came in & it slipped to about a 7.5. It stayed there a long time & even when Meredith first left, it still was a seven although his rotating replacements like Alex Karras, & Fred the Hammer Williamson were a notch below Meredith. Giffords play by play started to slip a little too.
Then, Howard Cosell got canned due to a racist media. This is when the series really got unhinged & slipped below a 5 rating. It stayed there until after Dennis Miller bowed out. Bringing in John Madden took it back to 6 & it is staying there now because the announcers are OK, & the fastest 3 minutes are keeping it there. Actually, the Monday night team is doing better than NBC is on Sunday Nights with Madden.
That being said, this can never again be the sensation it was when it started. My all time rating for the best announcing was no doubt the original team. Keith Jackson with Howard & Don was the chemistry that made it, all the rest of the folks have been riding long coat tails since 1970.
At least it has come back as when Dennis Miller was on, I thought I was going to hear Don Meredith start singing "Turn out the lights, the parties over."