The new iteration of Monday Night Countdown on ESPN with longtime SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt hosting has potential to be great. In the eyes of Chad Withrow, though, if the full show is anything like the segment he saw this past week there’s a lot to work on.
Withrow told his Hot Mic co-host Jonathan Hutton on Tuesday that he didn’t watch the entire MNF pre-game show, but he was turned off and disappointed with the on-the-field segment with SVP, Ryan Clark, Marcus Spears, and Stephen A. Smith.
Chad Withrow best described it as a masturbatory segment about Stephen A. and his disdain for the Dallas Cowboys and their fans.
“It was terrible television,” Withrow said. “And I do not understand why a company the size of ESPN and Disney would spend the amount of money they do on a product like the NFL – hand over all that money – and then bring to the public a show of that low of a caliber before the game. I don’t get it.”
Withrow did soften up slightly, saying it’s likely not every segment of Monday Night Countdown is that way, and he admitted he’s not a Stephen A. hater. He just hated the purpose with which they involved Stephen A.
“To bring Stephen A. Smith on set in LA to just provoke two other guys on set, and then start this fake disagreement/argument on-air, it was bad television in a pregame build-up to a Monday Night Football game,” he said. “The preeminent sports product you have on your network that you paid billions for and will continue to do so over the years. It was awful.”
“You lay off talent in front of the camera and also behind it, and they’re betting on the fact that football fans are still going to tune in and watch,” Hutton responded.
