Television series
Fox NFL Sunday
is an American sports television program broadcast on the
Fox
television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the
pre-game show
for the network's
National Football League
(NFL) game telecasts under the
NFL on Fox
brand. An audio simulcast of the program airs on sister
radio network
Fox Sports Radio
, which is distributed by
Premiere Radio Networks
. As of 2014, the program has won four
Emmy Awards
.
For sponsorship purposes, the show's full name is
Fox NFL Sunday Presented by
Ford Trucks
, which also promotes Ford's F-Series lineup as "the official pickup truck of the NFL”.
History
[
edit
]
1994?1997
[
edit
]
Fox NFL Sunday
debuted on September 4,
1994
, when Fox inaugurated its NFL game broadcasts through the network's recently acquired broadcast rights to the
National Football Conference
(NFC);
[1]
it was originally hosted by
James Brown
,
Terry Bradshaw
,
Howie Long
and
Jimmy Johnson
(both Brown and Bradshaw had joined the network from
CBS
to help helm Fox's NFL coverage). The program was notable in being the first hour-long NFL pregame show on a broadcast television network; network pregame programs that existed beforehand, such as CBS'
The NFL Today
or
NBC
's
NFL Live!
, aired as 30-minute broadcasts. Fox's show also adopted a looser, more irreverent approach than its predecessors in order to also appeal to the network's younger-skewing audiences.
Fox NFL Sunday
was also the first network pregame program to originate from
Los Angeles
, whereas the CBS and NBC pregame shows were produced in
New York City
(CBS continues to broadcast its pregame from New York, while NBC uses facilities in
Stamford, Connecticut
).
During Jimmy Johnson's initial season on
Fox NFL Sunday
, he would often join the show via satellite from his home in
Florida
. There was much speculation that Johnson would return to coaching during the first year of the program's run. Prior to the end of the year, Johnson made an "announcement", saying he was happy with his new career in broadcasting. But in
1996
, he left the program to become head coach of the
Miami Dolphins
;
Ronnie Lott
was brought in to succeed him, and stayed with the program for two seasons.
During Jimmy Johnson's initial run on the show, the opening introduction would typically feature a comedic
skit
involving several or all of the hosts.
On-location broadcast sites
1998?2002
[
edit
]
In
1998
, on the heels of
NBC
losing the broadcast rights to the NFL's
American Football Conference
(AFC) to
CBS
,
Cris Collinsworth
joined
Fox NFL Sunday
as an analyst ? subsequently replacing Ronnie Lott.
During this period, promotional
claymation
spots and teases became a popular fixture on the program, in which the four hosts were depicted as animated characters in
live-action situations
, usually starring real-life NFL players. Beginning with the
1999
season, comedian
Jimmy Kimmel
(then the co-host of
Comedy Central
's
The Man Show
and
Win Ben Stein's Money
) began making weekly game predictions and performing comedy skits on the show; the
following year
,
Jillian Barberie
(then the weather anchor/co-host of Los Angeles Fox
owned-and-operated station
KTTV
's
Good Day L.A.
) was added to the program to provide weather forecasts for each week's game sites.
On-location broadcast sites
2002?2005
[
edit
]
Cris Collinsworth left the program in 2002, when he was promoted to Fox's newly formed "A Team" of NFL game announcers, alongside
Joe Buck
and
Troy Aikman
(replacing
Pat Summerall
and
John Madden
). Fox produced several
promos
featuring Buck, Collinsworth and Aikman dressed as characters from the
popular 1980s action series of the same name
to promote the network's NFL coverage.
Initially, the vacated fourth seat was to feature a rotating series of guest analysts, with Jimmy Johnson returning in Week 1.
John Elway
sat in during Week 2. For Week 3, Johnson returned, and took over the position permanently (he remains on the program to this day). Jimmy Kimmel left the program after the 2002 season a month before the premiere of his
late-night talk show
on
ABC
,
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
. He was replaced by comedian
Frank Caliendo
? at the time, a cast member on Fox's late night sketch comedy series
MADtv
? who had previously guest starred during Kimmel's skits (performing his well-known impersonation of John Madden). Caliendo's prognostication skits began to feature his various spot-on celebrity impersonations, including Madden,
Jay Leno
,
Jim Rome
and
George W. Bush
, as well as show hosts Brown, Bradshaw, Long and Johnson. James Brown left the program after the
2005 season
, in order to return to CBS to host its rival pregame show
The NFL Today
.
On-location broadcast sites
2005 was the last season in which Fox (along with CBS) aired Saturday afternoon NFL games towards the end of the regular season in December. On these occasions, Fox would precede its coverage with a studio pregame show titled
Fox NFL Saturday
, which had no change in format outside of the day in the title.
2006?2007
[
edit
]
On August 13, 2006, Fox announced that Joe Buck and
Curt Menefee
would succeed James Brown as hosts of the program. Because Buck was already serving as the lead play-by-play announcer for the
NFL on Fox
game broadcasts, each week's edition of
Fox NFL Sunday
was broadcast from the site of the network's top game of the week, in a move similar to
Fox's NASCAR coverage
, in which the pre-race show is telecast from the site of that week's race. Menefee hosted the halftime and postgame segments on location with the
Fox NFL Sunday
crew. Chris Rose served as the update host during game breaks. As a result of Buck going on assignment for
Fox's MLB postseason coverage
, Menefee substituted for Buck as the full-time host from Hollywood. During Weeks 6 through 8, while the show broadcast from Hollywood, Jillian Reynolds (nee Barberie) returned as weather anchor for the game-day forecast segments.
During Weeks 16 and 17, Buck served as the full-time host from Hollywood, with the rest of the
Fox NFL Sunday
crew.
Dick Stockton
took over as the main play-by-play analyst alongside
Troy Aikman
and
Pam Oliver
, while Menefee returned to the booth as secondary play-by-play analyst alongside
Daryl Johnston
and
Tony Siragusa
. Though the show returned to Hollywood for two weeks, Jillian Reynolds was absent, presumably having gone on
maternity leave
, as she was pregnant with her first child at the time.
During Wild Card weekend, Menefee substituted for Buck as host of the Hollywood-originated pregame show broadcast. Meanwhile, Buck called the January 7, 2007 game between the
New York Giants
at the
Philadelphia Eagles
. During the Divisional Playoffs, Menefee once again substituted for Joe Buck as host, as the pregame show again originated from Hollywood for both games. Stockton called the Saturday, January 13 game between the
Philadelphia Eagles
at the
New Orleans Saints
and Buck called the Sunday, January 14 game between the
Seattle Seahawks
at the
Chicago Bears
.
For the 2006 NFC Championship Game between the
New Orleans Saints
and
Chicago Bears
on January 21, 2007, Joe Buck hosted the pregame show with the
Fox NFL Sunday
crew on location from
Soldier Field
. After Buck joined Aikman for play-by-play duties, Menefee took over as host for the remainder of the game and hosted the halftime and postgame shows. Terry Bradshaw handled the trophy ceremony during the postgame show.
2006?2007 on-location broadcast sites
Week
|
Location (Game)
|
Preseason Week 1
(August 14, 2006)
|
Fox
Hollywood
Studio 2A (
Indianapolis Colts
at
St. Louis Rams
)
|
Preseason Week 2
(August 18, 2006)
|
Giants Stadium
(
Kansas City Chiefs
at
New York Giants
)
|
Preseason Week 3
(August 24, 2006)
|
Bank of America Stadium
(
Miami Dolphins
at
Carolina Panthers
)
|
Week 1
(September 10, 2006)
|
Alltel Stadium
(
Dallas Cowboys
at
Jacksonville Jaguars
)
|
Week 2
(September 17, 2006)
|
Lincoln Financial Field
(
New York Giants
at
Philadelphia Eagles
)
|
Week 3
(September 24, 2006)
|
Qwest Field
(
New York Giants
at
Seattle Seahawks
)
|
Week 4
(October 1, 2006)
|
Bank of America Stadium
(
New Orleans Saints
at
Carolina Panthers
)
|
Week 5
(October 8, 2006)
|
Lincoln Financial Field
(
Dallas Cowboys
at
Philadelphia Eagles
)
|
Week 6
(October 15, 2006)
|
Fox Hollywood Studio 2A
|
Week 7
(October 22, 2006)
|
Fox Hollywood Studio 2A
|
Week 8
(October 29, 2006)
|
Fox Hollywood Studio 2A
|
Week 9
(November 5, 2006)
|
FedExField
(
Dallas Cowboys
at
Washington Redskins
)
|
Week 10
(November 12, 2006)
|
Heinz Field
(
New Orleans Saints
at
Pittsburgh Steelers
)
|
Week 11
(November 19, 2006)
|
Giants Stadium
(
Chicago Bears
at
New York Jets
)
|
Week 12 (
Thanksgiving
)
(November 23, 2006)
|
Texas Stadium
(
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
at
Dallas Cowboys
)
|
Week 12 (Sunday)
(November 26, 2006)
|
Gillette Stadium
(
Chicago Bears
at
New England Patriots
)
|
Week 13
(December 3, 2006)
|
Giants Stadium
(
Dallas Cowboys
at
New York Giants
)
|
Week 14
(December 10, 2006)
|
Bank of America Stadium
(
New York Giants
at
Carolina Panthers
)
|
Week 15
(December 17, 2006)
|
Giants Stadium
(
Philadelphia Eagles
at
New York Giants
)
|
Week 16
(December 24, 2006)
|
Fox Hollywood Studio 2A
|
Week 17
(December 31, 2006)
|
Fox Hollywood Studio 2A
|
NFC Wild Card Playoff (Sunday)
(January 7, 2007)
|
Fox Hollywood Studio 2A
|
NFC Divisional Playoff (Saturday)
(January 13, 2007)
|
Fox Hollywood Studio 2A
|
NFC Divisional Playoff (Sunday)
(January 14, 2007)
|
Fox Hollywood Studio 2A
|
NFC Championship Game
(January 21, 2007)
|
Soldier Field
(
New Orleans Saints
at
Chicago Bears
)
|
2007?present
[
edit
]
In March 2007, it was announced that the program (then branded on-air as
The Built Ford Tough Fox NFL Sunday
, via a sponsorship agreement with
Ford Motor Company
)
would resume studio broadcasts for the
2007 season
, with Curt Menefee assuming full-time hosting duties and Joe Buck reverting to play-by-play only. Jillian Reynolds, who was coming off maternity leave, returned full-time as the program's weather anchor. However, the pre-game show was on-site at
Lambeau Field
for the 2007 NFC Championship Game between the
New York Giants
and the
Green Bay Packers
and at
Super Bowl XLII
.
For the 2007 season,
Fox NFL Sunday
introduced a new feature, a pre-recorded segment titled "Grumpy Old Coaches", in which Jimmy Johnson and fellow former
Dallas Cowboys
head coach
Barry Switzer
discuss the past week in football. A segment of highlights and commentary of the previous day's
college football
games was also featured, as a gesture to Fox's then recent acquisition of broadcast rights to the
Bowl Championship Series
(BCS). This segment was dropped following the 2007 season.
On June 24, 2008, it was announced that former New York Giants defensive end
Michael Strahan
would join the show as an analyst.
[8]
On November 8, 2009, a special two-hour edition of the program was broadcast on-location from
Afghanistan
, featuring an audience of U.S. soldiers. While the regular
Fox NFL Sunday
crew did the pregame show,
Chris Rose
served as the studio host and anchored the in-game highlights, as
John Lynch
and
Trent Green
served as studio analysts for the halftime and post-game reports during the broadcast. On January 24, 2010,
Fox NFL Sunday
broadcast on-location from
New Orleans
for the 2009 NFC Championship Game.
On January 23, 2011,
Fox NFL Sunday
also broadcast an on-location edition at
Soldier Field
in
Chicago
for the 2010 NFC Championship Game; the program held its
Super Bowl XLV
pregame show in
Arlington, Texas
on February 6, 2011.
Starting with the
2011 NFL season
, the show introduced a new feature called "Fox :45", which is usually formatted a sing-along parody of a famous song, or as a comedic sketch. The parodies and sketches usually relate to current events occurring during the football season. The program also introduced the "
Twitter
Tracker", which scrolls tweets from NFL players and coaches.
On August 2, 2012, Frank Caliendo announced on his official Twitter account that he would not return to
Fox NFL Sunday
as a prognosticator for the
2012
season;
comedian and former
Saturday Night Live
cast member
Rob Riggle
was eventually named as his replacement.
[10]
On September 11, 2016,
Fox NFL Sunday
was broadcast on location in
Houston
(the host city of
Super Bowl LI
) for the start of the
2016 NFL season
. This also marked Curt Menefee's tenth season as full-time host of the pregame show. While the crew did the pregame, halftime and post-game shows,
Charissa Thompson
(host of
Fox NFL Kickoff
) served as the studio host and anchored the in-game highlights.
Riggle left the program after the 2019 season and wasn't replaced, with the role of prognosticator dropped from the program starting with the 2020 season.
During the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns, Jimmy Johnson was not in the studio, working remotely from Florida as a precaution.
[11]
Then for the games on November 22, the whole team was momentarily replaced due to greater COVID-19 restrictions within the state of California, with Chris Myers taking over the hosting duties and former players Reggie Bush and Charles Woodson taking over the analyst's roles.
[12]
Once the Thanksgiving games were underway the regular crew came back minus Bradshaw.
In May 2022, it was announced that former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton would be joining as an analyst on days when Jimmy Johnson would be out.
[13]
On-air staff
[
edit
]
Current on-air staff
[
edit
]
Former on-air staff
[
edit
]
On-air staff chart
[
edit
]
Cleatus the Robot
[
edit
]
"Cleatus the Robot" is a
CGI
-animated robot character that serves as the official mascot for
Fox NFL Sunday,
and the entirety of Fox Sports. It was named through a viewer contest held in the winter of 2007, in which fans were asked to submit entries to select the robot's name. Cleatus made his first appearance on the program during the 2005?06 NFL season, but was not used regularly until
the following season
. The character was designed by
Legacy Effects
.
Cleatus mainly appears during the
opening sequence
of the program, as well as during end-of-break sponsorship tags within the program and during game telecasts, certain identifications for Fox Sports used to close sports broadcasts and as a cue to Fox stations to air local advertisements during commercial breaks, and brief promotions for movies and television series. In the latter instance, he commonly gets attacked by a CGI character from the subject of the advertisement (such as
Iron Man
, a
dragon
from the movie
Eragon
, a
T-1000
robot from the Fox drama
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
, and
The Burger King
, who taunted Cleatus by throwing objects at him). Cleatus is also seen doing various things such as hopping on two feet, playing an
electric guitar
, shaking out his limbs, and performing dance moves such as
The Swim
and the
Electric Slide
; during the Fox broadcast of a
Denver Broncos
game on December 11, 2011, he also Tebowed (the kneeling
prayer
position popularized by former Broncos player
Tim Tebow
).
Games aired on the weekend following
New Year's Day
typically show Cleatus sitting on a bench holding an
ice pack
to his head, as if nursing a hangover. During the MLB postseason in October until the conclusion of the
World Series
(both of which air on Fox), the character is also seen taking baseballs from a basket and hitting them with a bat towards the background. Cleatus is usually replaced with a robotic turkey during Fox's
Thanksgiving NFL game
broadcasts.
Fox has since manufactured an
action figure
of the character, which it sells on the Fox Sports website,
[14]
available in the character's normal appearance as well as in special uniforms customized for all 32 NFL franchises.
In response to the creation of Cleatus, Fox Sports created Digger, an animated gopher mascot for
NASCAR on Fox
telecasts; the character was originally seen only during the races when the in-track cameras knowns as the "Digger Cam" were shown, but his role soon expanded. Unlike Cleatus, however, Digger was not well received by fans, and sparked an internet and
Twitter
outcry for his removal from the broadcast. While Digger was featured heavily in 2009, he only made cameo appearances in 2010 before being phased out completely the following year. Starting in 2014,
Frank Krimel
is the driver of
Fox Sports 1
Cleatus competing in
Monster Jam
.
Cleatus was included in an episode of
The Simpsons
, "
The Spy Who Learned Me
", and in sketches on
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
.
During the 2019
WWE draft
, Cleatus the Robot would appear in war room-style backstage vignettes with actors portraying Fox executives making selections for the
WWE Smackdown
brand.
Sky Sports
in the
United Kingdom
, which was until October 2018 owned by
21st Century Fox
, uses a modified version of the Cleatus opening sequence and sponsorship tags with their own branding.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
CBS, NBC Battle for AFC Rights // Fox Steals NFC Package
,
Chicago Sun-Times
, December 18, 1993.
- ^
[1]
Archived
January 8, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
[2]
Archived
November 18, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"NFL Marketing Notes: Fox To Broadcast From Ford Field ? SportsBusiness Daily | SportsBusiness Journal | SportsBusiness Daily Global"
. SportsBusiness Daily
. Retrieved
September 24,
2012
.
- ^
Bouchette, Ed (October 16, 2003).
"Steelers Report: 10/16/03"
.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
.
- ^
Griffith, Bill (October 17, 2004).
"It's a road game for the Fox team"
.
The Boston Globe
.
- ^
NFL.com
- ^
a
b
"Rob Riggle set to replace Frank Caliendo on Fox NFL pregame"
.
USA Today
. August 27, 2012
. Retrieved
September 23,
2012
.
- ^
"Star-studded FOX Sports NFL pregame shows casts won't be in studio"
.
USA Today
. November 21, 2020
. Retrieved
November 26,
2020
.
- ^
"Casts of 'Fox NFL Sunday' and 'Fox NFL Kickoff' Removed From Studio Over COVID-19 Concerns"
. November 22, 2020
. Retrieved
November 26,
2020
.
- ^
Selbe, Nick (May 16, 2022).
"Sean Payton to Join Fox Studio Show in 2022, per Report"
.
Sports Illustrated
. Retrieved
September 18,
2022
.
- ^
"Cleatus ? Fox Sports Robot"
.
FoxSports.com
. Retrieved
October 23,
2011
.
External links
[
edit
]
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