It’s official. The podcast has gone primetime.
Well, I know that we’ve had primetime players on the podcast before. For instance, the first guest on this edition is Hines Ward, the 8th different Super Bowl MVP to appear on the show since it launched after the first week of the 2010 regular season.
But, this particular edition of the show literally airs in primetime – the first edition of the Rich Eisen Podcast to appear first on NFL Network at 8PM ET. In fact, that’s the way the podcast will debut from now on – Thursday Nights on NFL Network in a half-hour format.
That said, regular listeners of this show will not tell one whit of a difference between what the podcast sounds like. In essence, we haven’t let the television aspect of this show go to our heads. Although I sort of DID just go third-person on you there.
The TV version of the podcast will just be a 30-minute long greatest hits portion of what you’re about to hear on NFL.com, iTunes or one whatever method you’ve chosen to download the program. But, the TV version will take you a behind the scenes of what it takes to pull this type of production off. It’s the ultimate total access you require. As always, feedback is welcome.
As for the show, Hines is his usual laid-back yet intense self talking about his Dancing With The Stars Championship and the heartbreak he still feels when reliving how he finished one step shy of winning the NFL’s Championship this year. Why does he keep playing the game? How much longer might he keep playing the game? Does he think the NFL is really biased against the Steelers? Did James Harrison really almost retire last year because of the fines and rules changes regarding his style of play? As always, Hines does not duck a thing.
Next up, we dial up the most decorated NFL color analyst in the business: 12-time Emmy Award winner Cris Collinsworth of NBC and formerly of Thursday Night Football here on NFL Network. Ever since the lockout skies began to brighten a bit, Collinsworth has taken to Twitter (@CollinsworthNBC) to throw a whole lot of cold water on the labor process. In essence, he has tweeted that he feels half the season if not the entire season will be destroyed by the labor strife. Even with the recent surge in optimism, Collinsworth has expressed his lingering doubts. So, I call up Cris to ask, in essence: What’s up with that?
We also ask the Sunday Night Football in America partner of Al Michaels where he thinks Kevin Kolb might wind up and whether his beloved Bengals truly are sending Carson Palmer off into retirement.
The last guest on the show is Kyle Chandler, the star of the current top-grossing film in America “Super 8.” He’s also been super the past few years as the passionate and frequently-embattled high school football coach Eric Taylor on the brilliant drama “Friday Night Lights.” Ever since this podcast launched, I’ve been eager to have him on to talk about the passion of football and the life lessons he learned playing one of the best TV characters created in quite some time. So, we do just that before delving into his new film directed by “Lost” creator J.J. Abrams and executive produced by the immortal Steven Spielberg. Talk about pop culture manna.
So, we hope you enjoy the first version of the podcast that you can enjoy on two different mediums. And we’re already tinkering how to make this show better and, frankly, we better work on that fast: next week’s guests are Maurice Jones-Drew, Michael Strahan and Warren Sapp TOGETHER in-studio and Saturday Night Live’s Jason Sudeikis.
Download: Multi-Platform Podcast: Hines Ward, Cris Collinsworth and Kyle Chandler
