Monday Night Countdown

Monday Night Countdown
Starring Suzy Kolber
Steve Young
Matt Hasselbeck
Randy Moss
Trent Dilfer
Charles Woodson
Chris Berman
Chris Mortensen
Adam Schefter
Country of origin United States
Production
Running time 120 min.
Production company(s) ESPN
Release
Original network ESPN (1993–present)
Original release September 6, 1993 (as NFL Prime Monday) – Present
External links
Website

Monday Night Countdown, which debuted in 1993 on ESPN, is a television program featuring analysis and news on that night's NFL match to be broadcast on ESPN. The show was originally titled NFL Prime Monday from 1993-97 before it was renamed Monday Night Countdown in 1998. The official name of the show is Monday Night Countdown served by Applebee's. The show's previous sponsor was UPS.

When it debuted, it was one of the first cross-pollinations between ESPN and ABC Sports, which each largely operated under separate management at the time.

History

Monday Night Football on ABC era

The show was initially hosted by Mike Tirico along with analysts Joe Theismann, Craig James, Phil Simms and Ron Jaworski. Mike Ditka also discusses certain topics and Chris Mortensen brings news and rumors from around the league. John Clayton is also a regular guest on the show. Former presenters include Mike Tirico, Bill Parcells, Michael Irvin, and Sterling Sharpe. During the 2005 season, it enjoyed its best ratings ever and was the highest-rated studio sports show on cable television. On occasion, the crew appeared on-site at the game, but for the most part the show is aired from the studios in Bristol, Connecticut.

Monday Night Football moves to ESPN

2006

In 2006, the show began appearing at the Monday Night Football site live as the game moved to ESPN from ABC. Stuart Scott moved to host of NFL Primetime which precedes Monday Night Countdown and Chris Berman moved from NFL Primetime to Monday Night Countdown and was joined by returning analysts Tom Jackson and Michael Irvin along with new analyst from Sunday NFL Countdown Steve Young. Ron Jaworski also contributed to the show along with Chris Mortensen, Ed Werder and Sal Paolantonio. Also, in 2006 Monday Night Countdown introduced a new logo and new graphics as part of The Syndicate's new NFL package for ESPN. In the same fashion as all ESPN NFL studio shows, Monday Night Countdown adopted ABC's alternate football musical theme, though presented as a shuffle.

2007

Beginning with the 2007, the show cutback its onsite presence by having its main anchor team at ESPN studio's in Bristol, but still kept a set at the actual game site.

2008

The Bristol team was Berman, Jackson, Mortensen, Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson, and Cris Carter. The on-site team is Scott, Young, and Emmitt Smith.

2009-2012

The Bristol team was Berman, Jackson, Mortensen, Ditka, Johnson, and Carter. The on-site team was Scott, Young, and Matt Millen (later Trent Dilfer) in the third spot.

On September 17, 2012, Monday Night Countdown moved up to the 6:30 ET timeslot and expanded to 2 hours. As a result, SportsCenter Monday Kickoff had its runtime cut in half, from 60 minutes to 30 minutes only. Additionally, Monday Night Countdown debuted a new program logo that closely resembles that of Monday Night Football and a new graphics scheme package matching that of Monday Night Football. Also, Monday Night Countdown began using MNF's "Heavy Action" theme music as this program's own theme music.

2013

Ray Lewis is added to the on-site team after his retirement from the NFL in 2012.

On December 23, 2013, the final scheduled Monday Night Football broadcast of that season, Chris Berman was at Candlestick Park in San Francisco covering the 49ers' final home game in that stadium, while Stuart Scott was at ESPN's Bristol studios. The 49ers defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 34-24, in the MNF season finale. That game was also the 36th and final Monday Night Football game — and the last NFL game — ever played at Candlestick Park.

2014

On September 8, 2014, Monday Night Countdown moved to a brand-new set inside Digital Center 2 of ESPN's Bristol studios, which shares the same set as Sunday NFL Countdown and NFL Primetime. However, the Monday Night Football graphics package is still used, but the rundown graphic was changed to match the one used on SportsCenter. 1 week later (September 15, 2014), Monday Night Countdown moved up to the 6:00 p.m. ET timeslot, which resulted in SportsCenter Monday Kickoff not returning for the 2014 season and moving the 6:00 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter to ESPN2 on Mondays during the NFL season.

2015

Suzy Kolber, who substituted for the then-ailing Stuart Scott during most of the 2014 season, took over Scott's role permanently as an on-site host. She was previously a sideline reporter for Monday Night Football from 2006-2010. Additionally, Monday Night Countdown debuted a new logo resembling its other NFL-themed studio-show properties, along with a new graphics package that is also used for MNF.

2016

With the exception of Chris Berman (who remained in the Bristol studio), the entire Monday Night Countdown crew were moved to the Monday Night Football game site, joining on-site host Suzy Kolber. Meanwhile, Berman is joined in the Bristol studio each week by former analysts who had previously worked at ESPN. However, Berman and the Countdown crew did the show on November 21 from Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

Personalities

This is a list of personalities that currently or formerly appeared on Monday Night Countdown.

Current

Main Panelists

Secondary Panelists

Contributors

NFL Insiders

Former

^ deceased

Segments

Current

Former

See also

Resources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.