HAS L.A. FOUND MR. WRIGHT?

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Media

Hey, whatever happened to Van Earl Wright? Someone in the office asked the question the other day.

Wasn't he at Fox doing the national news show, then got his own gig, then did something, then got fired? No, that was Keith Olbermann.

Wasn't he at Fox doing the local news show, then got replaced by some woman? No, that was Todd Donoho. Or Randy Kerdoon. Take your pick.

No, wait, I saw him on the ``Southern California Sports Report,''someone else confirmed. And he was as annoying as heck.

No, that was John Fricke.

``Oh, that could easily have been me,'' Wright confirmed, tracked down at The Kettle Restaurant near the Manhattan Beach pier having a heathy breakfast the other day.

For the past three weeks, Wright has segued from the abbreviated national updates to three nights a week as a SoCal Sports Report co-anchor, a position he hopes to strap himself into for quite awhile.

The ongoing problem with Fox's local 10 p.m. postgame extended sportscast is that the talent, production staff, name changes and start times have been in a constant, confusing game of musical chairs, which is about as entertaining to follow as ``The Adventures of Pluto Nash.''

It's one of the things that eventually killed Fox's attempt at a extended national sports show to compete with ESPN and CNN, and Wright was among those caught in that name-game equation for a few years before it slowly fizzled out last fall after a launch in November 1996.

``(The national show) had a chance to succeed, but there were just too many changes, which is a reality of the business, but it's disappointing,'' said Wright, who, when seen on the street, is more likely to be recognized as the ``guy on CNN,'' the network where he hasn't been for nine years and that doesn't do much, if any, sports anymore.

Heck, Wright today could be known as the anchor on ``Inside Schwartz'' (the NBC sit-com that quietly died last season) or from appearances on HBO's ``Arli$$'' (he's made four of them). Again, nothing consistent, so it barely registers with the audience.

``One of the most important things of any TV success is consistency,'' Wright continued. ``If you want them to rely on you, you've got to be dependable and consistent.''

Wright, who turned 40 last January, said he's thankful just to be able not to move in the past five years and establish a family with kids who are 6, 4 and 1 years old. He searched several broadcast options as he watched friends such as Kevin Frazier leave to ESPN and others transferred to other Fox properties, or get laid off.

``I can only hope I can settle down with this show,'' said Wright, who joined Fox Sports Net in September 1997. ``It's really the way to go with local news, to make a local connection, to compete against ESPN.''

``Van Earl's experience and credibility will help us to continue to improve our regional news,'' said Steve Simpson, the vice president and GM of FSN and FSN2.

And maybe he'll finally be recognized in L.A. as the guy who is from, as he says it in his sardonic Southern drawl, Losssssss ANNN-ge-leees.

``Talk to me in two years,'' Wright said.

--Finding focus: You wonder how some of these shows get on TV, and if you go back far enough, it's probably because some focus group - a bunch of people off the street paid a few bucks to screen it and give an opinion - helped convinced the programming department it could fly.

So here's an idea: take the best of these Average Joes and put the cameras on them.

Part of ESPN's latest original ``entertainment'' will be a half-hour show called ``The Focus Group'' (4 p.m. Tuesdays) that takes ``sports enthusiasts'' from around the country and allows them to debate topics. There's also an ESPN.com element to let those at home chime in.

Artie Bulgrin, ESPN's head of research and sales development who'll also host the festivities, said it'll look like a sports radio call-in program but done with ``some of the best fans in America'' recruited from actual focus groups they've used in the past to help shape ESPN's lineup.

One of the new reality game shows the group must have rubber stamped is ``Beg, Borrow & Deal,'' an eight-episode sports version of MTV's ``Road Rules'' that starts Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Two four-person teams started in Times Square with no money and had to accomplish 10 of the 40 challenges as they figured out how to get to Alcatraz Island in San Francisco in 30 days with cameras in their faces at all times.

Among the list of tasks: Give a bath to any college mascot (must last at least 20 seconds), be the anchor of a local TV sportscast or host a local radio sports show, spend eight continuous hours with the Stanley Cup, play in a prison basketball game, be a ring-card girl (or guy) in a televised boxing match or play any state governor in a game of Twister at his office.

Half the contestants on the premiere show live in the Los Angeles area. One of them, 25-year-old Juliet Rogulewski, is a USC journalism graduate who was voted by her high school classmates in Chicago as ``Most Likely To Be on ESPN.''

So there's something to bring up at the 10-year reunion.

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--The sixth season of Fox Sports Net 2's high school football game of the week starts a nine-week regular-season schedule with Hart of Newhall vs. Los Alamitos (today, 7 p.m.). In addition to Jim Watson!off and John Jackson, the broadcast team has added Petros Papadakis as a sideline reporter.

--Whatever happened to little Ricky Schroeder? After they off'd him on ``NYPD Blue'' - still can't get over how Sipowicz's partner was left rolled up in a rug in some vacant lot - he's been resurrected by the Disney family as the host for ``The New American Sportsman.'' Which actually isn't quite new since it started on ESPN's Original Entertainment two-hour block last Monday at 5 p.m. In the next episode, Schroeder goes snook fishing. Although it would be more apropos for him to troll for corpses in the East River or hunt for stool pigeons.

--As part of ESPN's ``College GameDay'' (Saturday, 7:30 a.m. start), reporter Adrian Karsten takes a look at the 20th anniversary of the day Northwestern ended a 34-game losing streak. Why would that be of interest? Karsten was a defensive tackle on those teams that went 1-42-1 from '79 to '82.

--Rex Hudler, who just had his contract extended for Angels games on Fox Sports Net, gets the call on Fox's regional coverage of the Angels-Rangers game Saturday at 1 p.m. on Channel 11 withJosh Lewin.

--Bob Costas' first gig for HBO boxing is hosting Saturday's Oscar De La Hoya-Fernando Vargas bash in Las Vegas. But you'll have to pay $54.95 to see him.

WHAT CHOKES

--Department of corrections: To fix some information from last week's column, ESPN's ``Sunday NFL Countdown'' has only six members (not seven) and the show runs two hours (not 90 minutes). Shows how much we all really need to pay attention to these important matters.

--KXTA 1150-AM's Arnie Spanier, a perpetual bottom-five in the annual Best and Worst of L.A. Sportscasters poll, says he's leaving the station after today. So who's left not to listen to now?

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