In the 1990s, NBC’s Thursday night lineup of Seinfeld, Friends, and ER was billed by the network as “Must See TV”. Today, must-see sports TV is manifested in some exceptional talents doing it their way – loud, proud, and unbowed.
In this week’s column, I focus on six women who are true originals doling out broadcasting excellence and offering a 2023 version of Must See TV.
Elle Duncan anchors ESPN’s 6:00 PM SportsCenter alongside Kevin Negandhi. She also hosts The Elle Duncan Show on YouTube TV focusing on sports and cultural issues.
“Fearless” is the word that comes to mind when speaking about Duncan. She has been resolutely honest and candid in discussing her experiences with racism while working at NESN in Boston. Duncan has also been out front discussing social issues and calling out injustices beyond the sports world.
Her work is refreshing, lively, and timely, and her personality is both eclectic and electric. Duncan is straight-up funny in the truest sense of the word. Her “Taking the Elle” segments on SportsCenter are thoroughly original and entertaining.
Beyond her abilities as a top-flight sports anchor and her bravery in debating issues of all kinds, it is Duncan’s irreverent sense of humor that sets her apart. The Atlanta native is unabashed in her outward fandom for Georgia sports teams and is a sports television star in every sense of the word – unquestionably the most versatile talent at ESPN.
Like Duncan, the multitalented Colleen Wolfe takes versatility to an art form. She hosts a variety of NFL Network shows such as NFL GameDay Kickoff and Power Rankings. She is also a key part of the network’s on-location coverage of events such as the Super Bowl and NFL Draft.
Wolfe is a broadcaster squarely on the rise. In her work as the weekend host of Good Morning Football, the popular program never missed a beat, quite an accomplishment given that Wolfe was taking over hosting duties first from Kay Adams and then Jamie Erdahl, two splendid talents.
Wolfe’s brimming enthusiasm for football breaks through the screen on every broadcast. Prior to NFL Network, Wolfe worked for FOX 29, Comcast SportsNet, and Sports Radio 94 WIP in Philadelphia. She has never forgotten her Philly roots and supports her home team, the Eagles, without hammering us over the head with it.
She is just fun to watch, and her zeal pulls the audience in and keeps us there. While she takes on a lot of diverse assignments at NFL Network, calling her a utility player would be a disservice. Wolfe is a frontline personality who thrives in any television setting.
Enthusiasm is also the watchword for another must-see TV broadcaster. Jackie Redmond rose to prominence covering pro hockey for NHL Network, WBD Sport, and Rogers Sportsnet in her native Canada. In 2021, Redmond joined WWE as co-host of Raw Talk and SmackDown LowDown alongside Matt Camp.
This past June, she was elevated to backstage interviewer for WWE’s Monday Night Raw. Thankfully, she remains part of the NHL Network team as well. Redmond is a vivacious sprite springing from NHL Network’s On the Fly to MLB Network’s Quick Pitch, and now, the WWE.
In all of her work, Redmond occupies the screen with personality, preparation, and purpose. The WWE is a perfect landing spot as she combines sports and entertainment as well as anyone on television today.
On NHL Network, Redmond has often been paired with experienced, tough, and much older cohosts – hardened hockey dudes like Ken Daneyko, Bruce Boudreau, and Stu Grimson. Redman holds her own and then some. You can tell that she lives and breathes the hockey heritage.
She has also wisely cultivated her social media presence building her brand and showcasing herself to fans on multiple platforms. Redmond is unafraid to show her fashion sense and femininity.
She also gives her social media followers a glimpse of her life off-camera with travel posts as well as reels and videos. She is an ever-burgeoning talent with no ceiling of success.
Similar to Redmond, ESPN’s Chiney Ogwumike lights up the screen with style, flair, and personality. A Los Angeles Sparks WNBA veteran, Ogwumike brings basketball sass and savvy to her role as a panelist on NBA Today. She is also a regular contributor to SportsCenter, First Take, Get Up, and NBA Countdown.
On NBA Today, Ogwumike brings real-life, hardcourt experience to her commentary. She dissects the game as well as anyone this side of Doris Burke and Hubie Brown and stands up in debate with the vociferous likes of co-panelists Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins.
Ogwumike and NBA Today host Malika Andrews are a devastating pair, complementing each other with different styles – Andrews the reserved ringleader, and Ogwumike the brash commentator.
Her basketball resume is impressive as a two-time WNBA All-Star and Rookie of the Year. At Stanford, Ogwumike was a three-time First Team All-American, two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year, three-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, and four-time All-Pac 12 First Team.
Not much has changed. Ogwumike is still the person you want with the ball in her hands when the show is on the line. Like Redmond, Ogwumike is fast becoming a sports television fashion icon as well.
Her fabulous mix of force and femininity draws in viewers like water to a sponge and appeals to a diverse audience. Basically, if you love hoops, you have to love Chiney Ogwumike.
Kristina Pink has similarly carved out an impressive niche for herself. The NFL on FOX sideline reporter and interviewer extraordinaire is taking her roles to another level of performance and power.
A FOX mainstay since 2012, Pink cut her media teeth at the local level with stops at WTVJ-TV in Miami, WGNO-TV in New Orleans, and WDBD-TV in Jackson, MS. She now works with the top tier team of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Mike Pereira, and Erin Andrews for FOX Sports’ NFL coverage.
In the mode of NFL Network’s Melissa Stark, ESPN/ABC’s Lisa Salters, and FOX sideline reporter icon Pam Oliver, Pink has distinguished herself as an essential part of the broadcast. Her specialty has become the postgame interview.
This past week, she had an excellent chat with Minnesota’s Joshua Dobbs after his amazing victory over the Falcons having just joined the team that week.
She also filed a solid interview with Micah Parsons ahead of last week’s huge Cowboys-Eagles matchup. I look forward to Pink’s reporting contributions. Earlier this season, she had excellent exchanges with Eagles’ wide receiver A.J. Brown and Texans’ rookie quarterback CJ Stroud.
In a postgame interview with Titans running back Derrick Henry a few weeks back, she asked him about the keys to victory leading Henry to a great answer about Tennessee’s offensive line. Pink has a knack for asking the right questions thereby eliciting enlightening answers from her interview subjects.
Speaking of experienced and hard-working reporters, ESPN’s Courtney Cronin has risen from the network’s Chicago Bears reporter to a wide-ranging talent seemingly omnipresent on numerous productions.
Cronin is a host for ESPN Radio and a regular guest on SportsCenter, First Take, and Around the Horn. Reporter’s chops are Cronin’s stock in trade.
Before lighting it up on ESPN, she was a sportswriter for the San Jose Mercury News covering the Warriors, Raiders, 49ers, Giants, A’s, and Sharks. She also covered the SEC for The Clarion-Ledger in Mississippi.
Cronin has developed into a dynamic sports commentator – a breakthrough star on the long-running Around the Horn hosted by Tony Reali. On that show, Cronin engages in heated debate with grizzled vets like Bob Ryan, Woody Paige, Tim Cowlishaw, and Kevin Blackistone as well as contemporaries Pablo Torres, Sarah Spain, Mina Kimes, and Israel Gutierrez among others.
She kicks ass and take names among all of these sports gabbers, regularly tallying the most points in Reali’s debate scoring system. Cronin made a name for herself as ESPN’s Chicago Bears reporter and remains locked into the Windy City sports scene.
Her Twitter/X account is chock full of regular news, insights, and injury reports about the Bears while her sphere of influence and knowledge continues to expand.
Cronin is accurate, direct, and brings a reporter’s credibility to everything that she does. You can tell that her background is in the written word as she is articulate and direct in her analysis and opinions.
Well, there you have it, six women who are working their craft and generating content that simply cannot be missed. Next week, a look at some breakthrough men of Must See TV.
John Molori is a weekly columnist for Barrett Sports Media. He has previously contributed to ESPNW, Patriots Football Weekly, Golf Content Network, Methuen Life Magazine, and wrote a syndicated Media Blitz column in the New England region, which was published by numerous outlets including The Boston Metro, Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, and the Eagle-Tribune. His career also includes fourteen years in television as a News and Sports Reporter, Host, Producer working for Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T. He can be reached on Twitter @MoloriMedia.
