Will Fox hit magic number on Sunday?

By: JOHN MAFFEI - Staff Writer | Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:47 PM PST ∞

For aging baby boomers, hitting the Big 5-0 was traumatic.

For TV executives, hitting the Big 5-0 ---- as in a 50 rating ---- is the Holy Grail.

Only three programs in history have topped a 50 rating ---- none of those a sporting event.

The 1983 "M*A*S*H Special" on CBS tops the list at 60.2 with a 1980 "Dallas" episode on CBS second at 53.3 and a 1977 "Roots Part VIII" episode on ABC third at 51.1.

Of the top 30-rated TV programs of all-time, 15 are Super Bowls. None, however, have reached the elusive 50-rating mark.

So when Ed Goren, Fox Sports president, was asked if Sunday's Super Bowl XLII could hit 50, you could almost see the blood drain from his face.

"I don't think we can get that," Goren said of the Patriots-Giants game. "If the game is competitive, it will be one of the most-watched games ever. Viewership will be among the best of all-time.

"But a 50. I don't think so."

Super Bowl XVI ---- 49ers-Bengals in 1982 ---- is the highest-rated sporting event in history, pulling a 49.1 rating for CBS with a 73 share of the audience.

Super Bowl XVII ---- Redskins-Dolphins in 1983 ---- is next with a 48.6 rating for NBC and a 69 share.

But only two Super Bowls in the past eight years ---- Rams-Titans in 2000 and Colts-Bears in 2007 ---- are among the top 50 rated shows at 39 and 46. Neither of those games compare to Sunday's clash.

"There are so many storylines to this game," Goren said. "Can the Patriots run the table and finish a perfect season? Can the Giants finish their reclamation project? And then there is the Boston-New York rivalry."

Joe Buck, who will call Super Bowl XLII from Glendale, Ariz., with Troy Aikman, also thinks a close game will translate to huge ratings.

"Selfishly, the tighter the game, the easier it is to call," Buck said. "The hardest game to call is an early blowout.

"But any way this game goes ---- the Patriots finishing undefeated or the Giants, a No. 5 seed, winning ---- is a great story.

"I don't think we can lose either way."

More Super Bowl

- Kickoff is set for 3:17 p.m. on Fox.

- Buck and Aikman will work their second Super Bowl together. Pam Oliver will work the Giants' sideline and Chris Myers is on the Patriots' sideline.

- Joe Buck and the late Jack Buck, who called Super Bowl IV, are the only father-son team to broadcast a Super Bowl.

- Aikman was the winning quarterback the last time the Super Bowl was played in Arizona. That was Super Bowl XXX in 1996 when the Cowboys beat the Steelers in Sun Devil Stadium.

- Fox will use 29 cameras to cover the game.

- A Nielsen Co. breakdown of Super Bowl viewers had this bit of information: New York viewers purchase above-average amounts of beer, health bars, tequila, Scotch and jarred nuts than the average viewer. Boston viewers purchase above-average amounts of pretzels, health bars, trail mix, beer and tortilla chips.

- Starting tonight at 6 and running on and off through 8 p.m. Saturday, ESPNU will carry seven college football games featuring outstanding performances by participants in Sunday's Super Bowl.

Buck and Aikman speak

- Buck and Aikman have covered all three Giants playoff games this season, and are very familiar with the team. The last time the duo called a Patriots game was last season against the Bears.

"It takes a while to get all the names and numbers," Buck said. "But of all the teams in the AFC, I can't think of any one we're more prepared to broadcast than the Patriots."

- Because there is so much information available, Buck calls the Super Bowl "a trap game."

"There are 60 articles a day just on the Giants," Buck said. "So we can get bogged down in the minutia. We can't fall into that trap. We have to cover it like a regular-season game. And I'm proud of the work we've done this season."

- Because the Super Bowl audience is so large, Buck said, "Every one of our missteps is magnified. There are a lot more people under the tent for a Super Bowl. So we have to cover the basics. We can't assume everyone knows everything. We have to keep the broadcast moving. We have to strike a balance between fans who are on Web sites and watching the NFL Network and those that aren't."

- Aikman believes if the Patriots win "you can make an argument for them as the greatest team of all-time. And I don't see this as the end for them. If the Patriots win, they will be in the class of San Francisco and Pittsburgh as a dynasty."

- Having played in and won a Super Bowl, Aikman knows the game from two sides.

"This game is special," he said. "You get to see how the players as well as the announcers perform on center stage."

Super Bowl pregame

The "Fox Super Bowl Sunday" pregame show kicks off at 11 a.m.

The first 30 minutes should be news oriented with late reports on the Giants and Patriots as well as a look back at the Dec. 29 Giants-Patriots game and a look at the unbeaten 1972 Dolphins.

At 11:30 a.m., Ryan Seacrest takes over for red carpet interviews.

At noon, Frank Caliendo gets involved, going into character to make predictions.

After that, there are more features, leading to a performance by Alicia Keys at 2 p.m.

"Look at the evolution of the Super Bowl," Goren said. "It has gone from a game, to a day to a weekend to a national holiday.

"It has evolved to where the biggest names in entertainment attend. So it's logical for us to capture that.

"Believe me, in four hours of pregame, we have plenty of time for everything."

Super Bowl ads

At a cost of $2.7 million for a 30-second spot, all ad segments for Sunday's game on Fox are sold.

Because sex sells, Victoria's Secret jumps back into the game for the first time since 1999 with an ad featuring model Adriana Lima. And GoDaddy.com has a steamy spot with race-car driver Danica Patrick.

Early reviews say to watch for Pepsi and Doritos spots.

And there will be plenty of trailers for upcoming movies.

Super Bowl radio

- XX Sports Radio 1090 will carry the game broadcast. Marv Albert and Boomer Esiason provide the play-by-play with John Dockery and Kevin Kiley working the sidelines. Jim Gray hosts the pregame and halftime shows.

- The coverage on 1090 begins at 10 a.m. with a pregame show, featuring Mike Jackson and Tom Howell. The station switches to national coverage at 2 p.m. with a full postgame show until 8 p.m.

- Lee Hamilton's show from 3-7 p.m. today on XTRA Sports 1360 will have a decidedly Super Bowl tilt, featuring segments with Al Michaels, Randy Cross, Bob Trumpy, Tony Boselli and Marshall Faulk.

Ratings game

- All 19 Chargers games in the 2007 season ranked above all other programs in San Diego on the day of its telecast. For the season, Chargers games averaged a 25.7 rating in San Diego with about 270,000 households. The most-viewed Chargers game of the season in San Diego was the Jan. 20 game against the Patriots, which did a 43.1 rating.

- Tiger Woods' final-round romp at the Buick Open at Torrey Pines on CBS last week was the top-rated sporting event of the weekend.

- NBC's coverage of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships drew a 3.5 rating and a 5 share of the audience Sunday night. That's up 500 percent from last year when then event was on ESPN. Saturday's prime-time coverage on NBC drew a 3.8 rating, up 65 percent from last year on ESPN.

- NHL fans are starting to catch on that national games are on Versus. The network's telecast of last Sunday's All-Star Game drew a 0.8 rating with 588,736 households. That's up 14 percent from last year's All-Star Game. Regular-season NHL games on Versus are averaging 0.3, up from 0.2 last season.

- Despite the NHL's increase, all eight telecasts of ESPN's Winter X Games over the weekend performed better than the NHL All-Star Game. The X Games averaged 863,000 homes per telecast ---- up 17 percent from 2007.

Around the dial

- If you're home Saturday evening and searching for something good on TV, try the Arizona-UCLA men's basketball game at 6 p.m. on ESPN, featuring the No. 5-ranked Bruins and Arizona's Chase Budinger, a former La Costa Canyon standout.

- Starting Saturday, ESPN's Fran Frischilla will work six college basketball games and a studio show in seven cities over a 10-day span. He starts with a game at Colorado and goes to Kansas, Oklahoma, Bristol, Conn., Iowa State, Notre Dame and Texas.

- Michael Wilbon, the co-host of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" suffered a mild heart attack Monday. He had an angioplasty and was resting in Scottsdale, Ariz.

- "NASCAR Now", ESPN2's daily 30-minute NASCAR new and information show, returns Monday and airs at 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Staff writer John Maffei's TV/Radio Column appears every Friday. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.