UPDATED Instant Critiques of first and second KHN pre-game hockey shows.
Checked out the first pre-game Kraken studio show with Ian Furness holding down the anchor chores. My thoughts:
The trio of announcers (Forslund, Brown, Eddie) are up live in St. Paul, MN, and had KHN mics flagsoff the top, of course. After a few minutes on a three-shot, they tossed to the studio crew, debuting new hire Ian Furness and previous cable contributor Alison Lukan. On the toss, analyst Eddie Olzyck said Ian would have to sing a song to officially join the KHN, something like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" or "Oooga Chucka, Oooga." Okay then. Uh huh.
The studio set's main, huge backdrop was apparently the OCEAN which, of course, houses the Kraken, but it looked more like a lava lamp from the 70s. Certainly did not denote hockey. Nice try, I get it, but not sure it works. The rest of the set on the wide shot was a little better. They did some players/lineup talk with some highlights rolled in.
One thing I have learned as a longtime news and sports show producer is to tell the viewers what is different about this new show right near the top. What is the mission, what is planned, what's new, what's interactive?? In other words, a billboard of sorts. I realize hockey fans just want hockey info, but a billboard effectively serves as a 'trailer' for everybody, especially for the first couple of programs for hardcore and casual viewers old and new. I should note that the show and game Saturday were up against a big CFB matchup between Ohio State and Oregon on KING, plus LSU vs Ole' Miss on KOMO, Big 12 on Fox 13 and FL vs Tenn on ESPN.
Moving on, it's Piper Shaw, another Root Sports holdover like Lukan, interviewing the team captain from the arena after the break and then Furness/Lukan doing some talk with JT Brown, again from the arena, about the continuin road trip and team challenges. This was much too long (clocked it at 4:30), and felt like filler.
Then the studio hosts mention an exciting magnetic schedule giveaway at the next home game. Kraken sparing no expense for fans, right? Not even a tee shirt???
Final segments includes a taped sit down interview with player Will Borgen bookended by Shaw at the arena. Then it was a long studio take from Lukan on the opposing team called 'Know the Foe' sponsored by Ford.
Overall, studio hosts were fine, nothing over the top, thankfully not too much hype, content pretty standard, graphics good, but why call the show Kraken Pre Game???....dullsville. Best you can do, marketing team? How about "First Face Off " or "The Opening Draw" or something a bit more creative. I did expect a little more sports radio energy from Ian F. who I assumed would be showcased as the new star and main anchor. He played it safe and straight. Not fond of the beard, to be honest. They seemed to stay away from closeups on both studio folks. In general, it was just great to see a pre-show on KONG and not ROOT. It was shown on many other markets but no mention about the breadth of the KHN. Missed opporunity to welcome fans. Feedback welcome here.
Grade: C+ Needs some genuine excitement, personality, interaction with viewers in some form.
PS just finished the post game program and not one, not one, closeup of Furness. Who is directing this? Is there a camera out? Not good basic TV production. And if they want to showcase the moving ocean backdrop, we have seen enough.
*** Show #2
I think the pre-show comes from Root Sports studio, as the announcers threw to 'Bellevue' for more. Again, second show has little to separate it from the mundane pedestrian stuff. Boring & no closeups of Ian Furness for 2 shows? Needs a creative producer. BTW Alison is seriously outshining Furness on this show. He is a placeholder. Very little insight or energy. Not impressed. C- Went down a touch today. Still nothing interactive or special for the viewers.
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