Cleveland: a good job by CBS

[Muzza]

Cobgratulations to CBS for the excellent coverage of the Cleveland race. Very good pre-race show with an extensive article on Newman/Haas (great historic footage, interviews), the race was almost faultlessly narrated (the only major fault was insisting that Hunter-Reay was still racing when he had already abandoned) and commentated (Daly did a very good job; thanks to the broadcast director for letting Derek being himself instead of making cheap/"for the masses" comments) and we even got the podium ceremony and post-race interviews.

All in all a great job, and I will send an e-mail to the CBS folks to let them know my opinion.

Keep up the good work.


Muzza

P.S.: The loss of image during the race was caused by a power supply problem that affected the whole paddock, and was not a CBS problem. Curiously, that was not the first time that power supply issues "attack" a Champ Car event in Cleveland.

[Snrub]

I dunno, I think there's a way to improve yet. It's more the Molstar production company than CBS, NBC, Speed:
1. I'm pretty sure there were some passes further back that we never saw. Tag on Bourdais was a pretty signiciant one near the front that we didn't get to see.
2. I'm having a hard time figuring out what's going on with the race. They're not doing a very good job tracking the changes on the track. The narraration didn't have a lot of faults, but I think that's partially because they're slim on details. Towards the end they put Tag in 2nd when infact it was Marshall behind PT. Both the commentary and position ticker.
3. Generally it just seems low cost and cheap. I don't know how to describe it, but The commentators aren't that polished at it and it's rare that there are any interesting insights. Jan Bekus is pretty good, but I'm not big on the others.

When someone finds out the ratings, could you post them here?

[macdaddy]

I just wish that the lap counter was always visible on the screen. Other than that, I was pretty happy with the production. Perhaps the most significant turning-point of the race was not caught on camera though, and that was da Matta's contact.

[brightline]

There has never been good camera short on the chicane going onto the front straight that I can remember. A solution would be more onboard cameras.

[Flatspot]

I thought it was the best TV Champ Car has had in quite awhile, like a few years. There is always room for improvement but I felt it was grade A coverage .

I found the race most enjoyable also.

[JohnSSC]

The race coverage is a huge improvement over the Spike TV variant. While I agree with most of Muzza's points, I would like to expand on Snrub's comments.

From my chair in front of the telly the whole show had all of the production value and spontaneity of an infomercial. I kept expecting someone to flash an 800 # and give me the details of how I could have a slimmer waistline in just 60 minutes a week and the "audience" oooohs and aaaahs on cue.

1) the "musical interludes" have to go. If we are going to follow one car around the track using the in-car, great. Let me hear the gear changes and the engine note instead of overlaying an obscure Rolling Stones song. They did this at least 3 Xs and also did it in Monterrey.

2) If they are trying to play up the "event" then they need to show more of the crowd. The pitlane shots make it very evident that OWRS just doesn't have the "glamor" it once did. The pits - especially after the race - are almost devoid of the excitement that used to surround this event.

3) While I appreciated the historical perspective of the N - H piece, I wondered if the emphasis on the glorious past was all that smart. No offense, but it certainly made the comparison to the present obvious in that there is something missing these days and that things are not the same. I did like the interviews with Michael and Mario though - too bad they couldn't get one with Nige!

4) I too wondered what might be going on in the pack as it seemed the focus was on a lone front runner or often a lone car - they were Johnny-on-the-spot though with M. Dominguez's clever use of other cars to slow himself down!

Overall, this is a much better product than last season's. I just wish the coverage were more of a sporting event variety than a fluff piece for some advertiser.

[Liz]

I enjoyed the CBS version of the CCWS, which I watched with a thought of my parents (who are NA$CAR fans and only watch this because I am involved in it) and whether they could figure out what was going on from what they were seeing. I think they could.

I also would lose the "Rock and Roll" from a generation they are not actually trying to woo -- I turned the sound off and went to the International button on the Race Director at that time.

And by the way, although it was good of them to admit it, I think it would be better if Jeremey Shaw and his colour man would PAY ATTENTION TO THE ACTION rather than continually admitting that they had missed something important that had just happened!

It also kind of backfired when they replayed the car hitting the wall right under their broadcast booth and said "Listen to this!" and then you couldn't hear a thing.

Finally, I repeat my opinion that if they can't teach the commentators to recognize the cars at sight, they ought to spring for large detailed SPOTTER GUIDES so that even when the cars are in identical livery, they can READ THE NUMBER AND TELL WHO IT IS. "Some green car" is not adequate.

[TedN]

1.) I liked the Champ Car cut-away in the pits. Is that new? Don't recall seeing it before.
2.) The super slow-mo shots of the cars in turn 4(?) was great
3.) Whatever happened to the helmet-cam?
4.) What a difference it makes when the broadcaster has a 2.5 hour broadcast window.

Ted

[Muzza]

Very good replies. Just a short comment: the rock'n roll themes were a reference to the Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame, which is located just a few blocks from the Burke Lakefront Airport where the track is laid.

[jjspierx]

I'm really not impressed with the CBS coverage, or the Speed Coverage for that matter of the Champcar races this year. Don't get me wrong, it is loads better than SpikeTV, but there is still tons of room for improvement. Here is a list of some things that bother me.

1. Music videos/interludes - Just seems cheap to me. The music videos MIGHT be ok if they decent video to go along with it, but they always use these camera effects that seem to dull the colors, and they use this blurr effect so only the center of the TV is focused looking, then they do this speed up/slow down thing with the video. It happens all the time. Its the same thing when they show the race recaps from previous races, they use that stupid blurr effect thing that just looks cheap. Have any of you guys watched F1 coverage? It is so sharp and professional looking, I would give anything for Champcar coverage to look that good. Seriously, Toyo Atlantic and Trans-AM coverage looks just as good as the Champcar coverage we are seeing.

2. Derek Daly - He has got to go, but I realize that won't happen. He is the most annoying commentator in the history of commentators. I've talked to numberous other people who are in racing and they all agree whole heartedly. I've noticed that mainly the people that agree with me are racers themselves. There are so many things that Daly does that annoy me. First off he is SO repetitive it makes me sick. Not only is he repetitive from one race to the next, but he's repetitive during coverage of each race. Daly needs to realize that sometimes dead air for a few seconds isn't such a bad thing. He has to constantly fill the airwaves with useless dribble. I think at least 5 times during the coverage he said something along the lines of "Andrew Ranger, only 18 years age, he's just a kid". I mean seriously, give the guy some credit. Say he's young and talented, but he always tries to over dramatacize(sp?) everything(repeatedly). Another instance was Wirdheim's contact with the wall, where he gets everyone to be quite and listen to the impact, which couldn't be heard on TV. I know that sounds picky, but he does things similar to that several times every race. Anyway, there are probably 50 other annoying things he said and did(many things that were just WRONG), but I think you all get the point, I don't like Derek Daly. He is the master of stating the obvious, treating all viewers as if they are idiots. I realize all viewers aren't as informed as we are, but were not stupid either, so lets get an announcer who doesn't talk like we are.(don't even get me started on his F1 coverage). Oh one more thing, last week in Portland, Rick Benjamin asked Daly if Glock's handling problem might be due to a brake bias problem(which was EXATLY my suspicion), Daly shut him down and said "No, I think its just a handling problem". Wouldn't a brake bias problem be a handling problem Daly? I think so.

3. They really need to work on their audio/video sync. There were several times I saw onboard video cameras with audio that was obviously synced to another video shot.

4. The slow-mo closeup shots during Cleveland - GREAT!!! They need more of these, F1 does them all the time, they have special super-slow-mo cameras that take ULTRA high frame rate pics of certain corners so they look AMAZING when they slow them down and show the cars bouncing through the corners. If those cameras are too expensive now for Champcar, no big deal, it still looked good what they showed at Cleveland, watching the wheels bouncing off the ground and showing the drivers hands and heads being bouncing around. They should show us shots like that in slow mo at every race track, its looks cool and really shows how amazing the engineering that goes into those cars is.

I really need to take notes during the races, cause watching the coverage yesterday I thought of so many other things that I would like to see different, but I'm drawing a blank right now, I think I've done enough damage already though.

[Snrub]

I agree with almost everything you guys have said.

As for the picture, etc. that's a good point, it just doesn't look sharp. F1's colors are always off (PAL<->NTSC conversion? Even so, it's gotten better in the last couple of years), but it looks sharp. Remember when Champ Car was on ABC/ESPN? That's how it needs to look. I don't know exactly what it is that creates that. John's informercial point is well taken. It just seems lousy. I'm not sure what aspects are doing it (picture obviously one of them).

As for other stuff that they missed: Ranger was penalized, I don't remember hearing anything about it. Same with Tag's penalty. Guys like Wirdhiem, Tag and Ranger made a number of passes. They don't seem to have a clue how to cover cars that are in a battle. This is the stuff that makes a race exciting and is the difference between compelling TV and something that isn't going to pull in new fans. Macdaddy's point on CDM is a good one. Hardcore people hear didn't know what happened to him, how would a casual fan? How are they going to get engrossed if there is wierd stuff happening and there is no explaination?

As for Daily, he's a complete tool. jjspierx has done an excellent job of scientifically analyzing his incompetance. The SpeedTV F1 commentary team would be perfectly appropriate and I don't think they have a lot on their plates. Either that or it's time to bring out the big guns: Parker Johnstone.

The slow-mo camera was cool. I actually find the F1 cameras too slow. This year it's been more interesting because you can contrast the different cars to the McLaren which is just so much better.

[Phoenix1]

Do we know if the race was still being recorded at all. I realise there was a power cut but did the cameras have backup and if so will the respective TV companies on the weeks replays show the whole race?

[Mosport67]

I would give the coverage a C+. Way better than Spike but still lacking in terms of what was going on.

They missed AJ's pit stop and kept giving us wrong info.

They really need to be able to show us when a pass takes place or how drivers win or lose on pits. NASCAR and IRL broadcasts have the chart which shows where a driver went in and then came out in terms of his postion.

No question they are trying but asking Bourdais what his favourite word was did not work at all and should have been edited out.

Still I think yesterday was the best broadcast in the last 2 years which bodes well for the future.

[jjspierx]

Originally Posted by Mosport67

I would give the coverage a C+. Way better than Spike but still lacking in terms of what was going on.

They missed AJ's pit stop and kept giving us wrong info.

They really need to be able to show us when a pass takes place or how drivers win or lose on pits. NASCAR and IRL broadcasts have the chart which shows where a driver went in and then came out in terms of his postion.

No question they are trying but asking Bourdais what his favourite word was did not work at all and should have been edited out.

Still I think yesterday was the best broadcast in the last 2 years which bodes well for the future.

That reminds me of anotherthing Mosport67. Those driver question segments are terrible. They ask them non-race related questions, and the drivers are just like "uhhh....." and they spit out some answer. Come on, its not like these drivers are a Tom Cruise or other huge star actor in which case you can get away with asking dumb questions cause the public is obsessed with knowing everything about celebrities. With Champcar drivers, nobody gives a rats ___ what Bourdais's favorite word is. If your going to do an interview piece with a driver, keep the talk about racing please.

And yes you are correct AJ's pitstop and the wrong info. I'll point out that most if not all the wrong info was given by Daly. He talked about drivers that had already crashed as if they were still in the race, he made reference to incidents but quoted the wrong drivers, he talked about how Paul's tire lockup must not have been an issue because he didn't have to pit(when he did pit shortly after because there was a caution flag).

[mountainstar]

I've always liked Daly and maybe that's because he started his broadcasting career around the time I started watching racing, so I guess I'm just used to him.

I really liked Beekhuis and Benjamin in the booth at Portland and I thought that went well and would like to see that return.

[JohnSSC]

Just a quick note here for Muzza: IIRC, they have done the "music video" sequence at least once in every broadcast but they really overplayed it with the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame references.

As far as Daly, he just come across as a self-important goober. During the F1 coverage (not meaning to get you started jj) he must have mentioned "My F1 career as a driver" about ten times and quoted the exact number of HIS race starts (and named the Teams he drove for) at least once. I really get annoyed with the shrieks and howls everytime a car gets slightly twitchy, let alone off-course. You would think the thing is exploding or something the way he carries on!

[Liz]

I'm with you all on Daly. The most annoying thing with him though was when Dave The Pain asked his opinion of the F1 Debacle -- and the man has not raced in F1 for 35 years! How can you possibly have any relevant point of view (other than the one we individually have) and pretend it's based on experience when your experience comes from another planet? Would you ask the opinion of a 1970s computer expert on the problems of Windows XP?

And I agree with the repetitive characterization of Andrew Ranger -- whom Robin Miller calls 'better than Villeneuve' -- it doesn't matter what age you are if you are a good driver, and I suspect if Ranger were an American, he would be hailed as the Second Coming of A.J. Foyt and nobody would have mentioned his age. The comments about Nelson Phillipe were more insightful than those about Ranger, and they are pretty much the same age. What's with that?

F1 only shows the front two cars trundling around miles ahead of the pack, and ignores the good stuff going on in the back of the field, so that doesn't surprise me. I believe Champ Car is trying with the CBS broadcasts to pull in people who don't like racing or think they don't -- "Look, it's not only RACING, it's a MUSIC VIDEO and pretty and tuneful too!" The advertising for the Molson Indy Toronto is focused on all the stuff that is NOT Champ Car related -- the 20th anniversary of the race and we're pretending that people are NOT coming for the racing? What on earth?

[Flatspot]

We are all die hard race fans here. Let's face the fact that 90% of the people watching the race on Sunday were not. As much as many of us don't care care about Derek Daly's past career most of the people watching have to beleive he has better insight than someone who has never been in racing. I tend to beleive he does also, not due to the fact that he raced a car in another lifetime but that he lives everyday of his life around racing today. I think I know quite a bit about racing myself but if I were asked to put my money where my mouth is and do a head-up quiz against Daly on the current inside scoop of today's racing world, I would have to decline as I know I would get my butt kicked.

As much as you and I would like to see a show that was designed for the hardcore race freak, I am willing to lighten up and watch a 2.5 hours Champ Car infomercial in order to help get open wheel racing in North America back on the map.

I still think it was the best coverage of Champ Car we've seen in a few years. Try to see the bright side.

[spye]

Not only did derek daly say that the flatspot on tracys car must have not affected him because he didnt need to change his tires, well not only did he change his tires 2 laps after that flatspot due to a caution when tracy ducked into the pits for the final time he put on fresh tires as well.

So he had 2 sets of tires since the flatspot. I agree with the many other posts above this one....If he doesnt know what to say just (be quiet) for a bit dead air isnt all that bad. I would rather hear nothing than (errored) facts that even the average viewer would be scratching thier heads. /rant off


cory hill


EDIT: Welcome to 10T's, Cory! And I (we all) mean that! But dodging the autocensor, even by using acronyms, is frowned upon.

[racerkeke]

I agree that someone should give the commentators a spotter's guide, or teach them how to build their own in such a way that they remember the cars*. Heck, if I can figure out which "green car" it is in one glance, so should they. I've only worked two Champ races so far this season and they've been to all of them!

*My notes from Portland say 5 has a green camera and 15 has a yellow one, and the predominant colour of the 5's helmet is white (this would be head-on, as I saw it at that turn) while 15's is multicoloured.

keke