Fans of MLB Network’s flagship studio show MLB Tonight, along with aspiring producers and engineers looking toward a career in television, should take an interest in Tuesday’s special edition of the program.
MLB Tonight will go behind the scenes from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET and demonstrate to viewers how the signature whip-around highlights show is made each night. From 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., the inside look will air live on MLB Network. Then from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., when the regular MLB Tonight show is airing, fans can follow along with the production in real-time streaming on MLBNetwork.com. MLB.com, and the network’s Twitter and YouTube channels.
“It’s a very special chemistry on MLB Tonight with the staff and talent, the engineering crew, and everyone in the building,” MLB Network VP of Production Josh Bernstein told BSM.
“Specifically with Greg Amsinger, Harold Reynolds, and Dan Plesac, to see how those guys interact on- and off-camera, to see their preparation process and behind the scenes, they’ve logged probably thousands of hours on MLB Tonight over the years, but no one has ever seen how they work. It’s a special opportunity for the fans of the show.”
Bernstein and coordinating producer Marty Montalto emphasize that the MLB Tonight special will air (and stream) live to demonstrate how a fun, but sometimes frenetic, process plays out among the 50-plus technicians and 30-plus production staffers during the program that viewers watch on the air.
“On the production side, it’s just to convey the breadth and the steps of everything that goes into putting on an MLB Tonight,” said Montalto. “I think for the average viewer, they’re watching the finished product and it looks very smooth and very polished. They don’t get to see how the sausage is made behind the scenes, and that’s what we want to show people.”
Of particular interest for producers will be following along as a highlights package is put together for the 7 p.m. ET MLB Tonight. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers will be playing the first half of a doubleheader Tuesday afternoon (beginning at 3:10 p.m. ET), which will be finishing up as the behind-the-scenes special begins its telecast at 6 p.m. ET. That could create some suspense for the show.
“We never really give people a glimpse into our edit facility, which is really dynamic,” Montalto explained. “With the luck of the draw that day, we’re going to have an afternoon game on the air. So there will be highlights being cut from the DBacks-Dodgers game – in progress, as the game is going on.
“We’re going to get that real-time angst and immediacy of everybody in edit working on this. In the middle of the show, something might happen in the game that completely blows the game in a different direction. They might have to scrap the highlight plan and start from scratch.”
Montalto said the excitement that comes from such uncertainty is what keeps him coming back to the job each day. Something unexpected could happen in that DBacks-Dodgers game. What if a no-hitter is in progress? Whatever plans were made could be completely flipped over.
“The show is live. We’ll see what happens. That’s the fun of live TV,” said Bernstein. “It could be a crazy edit session, like Marty said. The game could change at the last minute and we have to adjust everything. But that’s the fun of everybody getting a peek into what we’re doing.”
As mentioned, the show will be live other than a couple of segments that had to be pre-recorded for scheduling purposes and logistics. For instance, the pre-show meeting with on-air talent and producers takes place approximately 90 minutes to two hours before the broadcast. Footage from that meeting will be shown, but the production had to stick to its normal schedule and viewers will be informed that the footage is from earlier in the day.
“I think for fans to be able to see the producers put something together out of thin air will be pretty cool,” said Bernstein. “Literally, a producer walks in the door each day here and it’s a blank slate. You have an hour of programming; you have to fill it. There’s nothing that says what’s going to be in the show until they put something down.”
Additionally, the special will feature a drone tour of the MLB Network studios. For a variety of reasons including safety, that segment had to be produced beforehand with empty facilities allowing the drone to maneuver wherever needed throughout two buildings, six studios, and 20,000 feet of space. Engineers also had to set up lights and cameras where they normally wouldn’t be.
To be expected for a show that has plenty of working elements and moving parts, planning in advance and rehearsals were necessary. That was especially true from a technical standpoint, with people being mic’ed up who aren’t normally, figuring out where lights and cameras needed to be placed in rooms where they typically wouldn’t be, and making sure video and audio are working properly.
That preparation also resulted in some plans changing, such as where host Siera Santos will be located during the behind-the-scenes coverage. The original idea was to have Santos move from room to room as needed. But putting her in a “mission control” type of station where she could lead viewers to where the show was going was more practical. Reporter Scott Braun and analyst Cliff Floyd will instead rove throughout the studios, providing sideline reporting type of coverage for what’s being done for the broadcast.
“We have a really fun place, we have a special group of people to put things together,” Bernstein said. “I just thought it would be pretty cool for people to see how we do what we do. MLB Tonight is a multiple Emmy winner and for people to see how that’s put together every night is something I’ve been thinking about for quite a while. It’s a chance to get a look behind the scenes and we’re excited about it. We had to find the right night and the right group, and everything falls into place.
The special behind-the scenes edition of MLB Tonight will air on MLB Network from 6 p.m. ET to 7 p.m. ET. Fans can then follow along with the production via streaming on MLB Network’s digital channels as the regular show broadcasts from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
