SKATE TV: ALL LUTZES ALL THE TIME?

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Media

By the time ABC squeezes every toe loop, sit spin and Michelle Kwan interview out of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships this weekend, there'll be 16 hours of TV programming for six telecasts spread over four channels.

Plenty of coverage for most, not enough for some.

For those who could watch this stuff every waking hour - and you know who you are - why hasn't someone followed the lead of golf, tennis and motor sports and come up with, say, The Skating Channel?

``I'm sure somewhere around the world at one time or another since cable has expanded, it's been discussed,'' said Curt Gowdy Jr., in his third decade as the producer of ABC's figure skating coverage and in town to coordinate the Staples Center extravaganza.

``But with what we have already on our networks, especially with live and taped, I think it's pretty much covered.''

Think of the kiss-and-cry box for a second:

Morning programming would have coaching clinics with Frank Carroll and a whiparound to live coverage of those crack-of-dawn practices of all the big names.

Afternoons could be more of the ``How To'' shows: picking the right Musak, sequin-sewing for fun and profit and Zamboni repair for dummies.

All of which leads to prime time - and live events never are a requirement apparently. They haven't been to this point. Anything can be taped and saved and replayed ad nauseam. From real championship-level events to those elaborate recreations of ``Mulan'' with Tara Lipinski in sheik's clothing.

Weekends, of course, are the classic skates - gotta see the one where Skippy Baxter introduces the split Lutz jump in '39. And don't overlook an ``Unbuttoned With Dick Button'' talk show.

Garbage? You could call it that without getting much of an argument.

Doug Wilson, ABC's director for skating coverage since 1967, puts another spin on it.

``There's enough events probably. And every four years, there's a ratings spike for skating that has happened for a long time since it became a real TV event in the '60s.

``But 24/7 just on ice skating? Maybe it's me, but it's like looking at a great piece of art or listening to an opera. It's meant to be enjoyed and savored and experienced, then to back away from it, and go back and see it again.

``So to saturate one channel with it ... I'm not sure I could watch it.''

Would it help if we added a morning exercise show with Katarina Witt?

--Live on tape: Thursday night was your warmup for next month's NBC coverage of the Winter Games from Salt Lake City - ABC had the ``live'' telecast of the men's championships on a three-hour delay here at 8 p.m.

``Blame the solar system,'' Wilson said.

Meaning, they'd love to have it live everywhere, but 5 p.m. here won't have nearly the audience that 8 p.m. will have, so it's delayed. So, again, deal with it.

It's the same procedure for Saturday's women's championships, but there's another element of confusion. Because the NFL wild-card games were pushed back a week following the terrorist events of Sept. 11, ABC's doubleheader coverage goes into prime time. The skating coverage, which would have been on ABC, has been moved to ABC Family Channel from 8-11 p.m.

``This could end up as the most-watched show ever on the Family Channel,'' said Gowdy, whose network recently purchased the channel from Fox. ``Today, in light of what's happened on Sept. 11, skating is an event that's very family orientated, very intimate and there's no question about whether a skater has experienced the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.''

Gowdy calls Staples Center a ``cozy living room'' setting, playing perfectly to the cameras for the network coverage. ABC has more than a dozen cameras in use, plus the ``stro-motion'' for the second consecutive year, which is a camera with a computer interface that allows viewers to see the full sequence of the skater's jump with multilayer imaging.

--The NBA Channel: The five-year-old CNN-SI never made it past 20 million homes and never turned a profit as it tried to compete with ESPN and Fox as a sports-news channel.

No wonder it's going to be torn down and rebuilt as a new channel - half- owned by the NBA - once the new rights deal with ABC and AOL Time Warner is completed.

Live game coverage is just part of the proposed programming. The rest? Would you consider a morning exercise show with Mrs. Rick Fox?

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--Keith Olbermann update: The former (fill in a network) sportscaster has agreed to become a contributor to CNN's ``NewsNight with Aaron Brown.'' Later this month, Olbermann will revive a twice-daily series of sports and news commentaries originated by Howard Cosell called ``Speaking Of Sports and Speaking Of Everything,'' for ABC Radio.

--Cal State Northridge's appearance on Fox Sports Net on Thursday won't be the only TV exposure for the basketball team. The Big West Conference's TV game of the week on KDOC lands at CSUN for the Matadors' game Saturday against Cal Poly at 7 p.m. CSUN has three home appearances on the independent channel, all at home, plus the postseason tournament March 7-8. Randy Rosenbloom does the play-by-play with former Lakers forward (and UC Santa Barbara star) Don Ford as the colorman.

--Dick Enberg and Billy Packer are on the call for Saturday's CBS national coverage of UCLA against top-ranked Kansas from Pauley Pavilion.

WHAT CHOKES

--If there's any reason to need information on the early days of ABC's ``Monday Night Football,'' an out-of-print book called ``Monday Night Mayhem'' by Marc Gunther and Bill Carter can be useful. Read that. Because watching TNT's dramatization of it Monday (9 p.m. with numerous re-airings) is about as productive with your time as standing in line at 7-Eleven for a lottery ticket. Apparently, the entire budget of this thing was spent on John Turturro's toupee, which isn't half as annoying as his unflattering imitation of Howard Cosell dressed as what looks to be Grandpa Munster's long-lost brother. Nick Turturro (John's brother) does a credible job recreating gambling-crazed producer Chet Forte, but the other ``actors'' assigned to pose as Don Meredith, Frank Gifford, Roone Arledge, Keith Jackson and even O.J. Simpson only serve to tie this all together as one giant please-don't-invite-me Halloween buffoon party. C'mon, Jay Thomas (aka Eddie Lebec) as Pete Rozelle? That says it all.

--Fox Sports Net announced its ratings for the Dec. 31 Silicon Valley Bowl were up 128 percent over last year. No kidding. When it debuted a year ago, it had a 0.61 rating. This year it was 1.39. Meaning, what, that 36 people watched this time instead of 17?

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Brad Beyer, John Turturro and Kevin Anderson, as they pretend to be Don Meredith, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford, telling it like it was, circa early 1970s.

Courtesy of TNT