NEW YORK — As Fox Sports 1 prepares to launch its new national morning show, "First Thing First," it is also eyeing a return to late-night TV.
"FTF," with Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter, Nick Wright and Jenna Wolfe, will debut Sept. 5 (6:30-9:30 a.m. ET) and serve as a much-needed lead-in to "Undisputed" with Skip Bayless, Shannon Sharpe and Joy Taylor (9:30 a.m. to noon ET). Once "FTF" is off the ground, FS1 will turn its attention to the 11 p.m. ET time slot. The 4-year-old network canceled "Fox Sports Live" with Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole in February.
The network has been airing "MLB Whiparound" and various shows in that slot since Jay and Dan left FS1 and returned to Canada's TSN.
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"After we get ('FTF') off the ground, my next focus is, or I should say our team’s focus, is working on post-live-event (programming). I think that’s really the unicorn. Nobody’s ever been able to figure out what to do in that space," Charlie Dixon, Fox's executive vice president of content for FS1, told Sporting News. "Obviously that's where (ESPN's) 'SportsCenter' does best, because it’s post-live-event. We haven’t solved it, but we have a lot of research going into what we’re going to do there."
FS1 is facing an uphill battle against ESPN.
Fox Sports president Eric Shanks, who took over FS1 after the sudden ouster of Jamie Horowitz on July 3, said FS1 will launch new shows where it makes the most sense.
"Late-night is pretty hard. There's some really good people doing late-night television. Their names are (Jimmy) Kimmel and (Jimmy) Fallon," Shanks said.
The TV graveyard is filled with shows that tried to blend sports and comedy. They range from Bill Simmons' "Any Given Wednesday" on HBO to "Sports Show with Norm Macdonald" on Comedy Central. FS1 tried and failed with "Fox Sports Live," which was tweaked and revamped. Shanks sounded dubious about an encore.
"Comedy and sports inherently go together, but it becomes a niche of a niche. Can wit and sarcasm be included in sports? Yes. 'Fox NFL Sunday' — there’s a lot of fun that we have at 'Fox NFL Sunday,' but it’s not a show completely built around that, because it’s a niche of a niche. So we’ll see."
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Katie Nolan, host of the now-defunct "Garbage Time," would seem to be a promising fit for FS1's late-night ambitions. She previously told Sporting News she'd ideally like to host a weeknight show in the 11 p.m.-to-midnight time slot. In 2016, FS1 was equally jazzed about Nolan; sources said the network wanted "five times as much" Nolan beyond her Wednesday night "Garbage Time" slot.
But Nolan has been MIA since "Garbage Time" went away. Her Fox Sports contract expires at the end of 2017. ESPN has been quietly courting her to be a floating "opinionist." FS1's last hopes of retaining Nolan probably vanished when the network fired Horowitz.
The ex-ESPN executive is famous for supporting his on-air talent. Horowitz was personally producing several new show concepts for Nolan. With him out, all signs point to Nolan jumping to ESPN in 2018 and appearing on new shows featuring Mike Greenberg, Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre.
Nolan herself appears to be playing out her contract from the bench, tweeting occasionally but rarely appearing on FS1 programming.
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Shanks said Fox would "love" to keep her, but he confirmed FS1 has no single new Nolan show in the pipeline.
"Currently there is not a show in development, not any one particular idea. There’s been a lot of conversations about how many days a week, exactly what type of show, a lot of those things. With the focus being on ('First Things First'), I wouldn’t say there’s one particular thing in development with Katie," Shanks said.
Shanks also seems to be in no hurry to replace Horowitz. He appears content to follow the Big Personality/Embrace Debate programming strategy, and talent lineup, Horowitz created.
"It's just something I’m going to have to think about going forward," he said.
During a "First Things First" rehearsal Wednesday, the on-air chemistry between Carter, Wright and Wolfe looked promising. Neither Carter nor Wright has anchored a morning show, which means Wolfe, with studio chops she honed on NBC's "Today" show, could become the show's secret weapon.
7 days until First Things First is LIVE on FS1. RT for the chance to win a jersey this week from @criscarter80 @getnickwright & @JennaWolfe pic.twitter.com/iPD49FjZrM
— FirstThingsFirst (@FTFonFS1) August 29, 2017
"I don't want this to be a numbers-crunching show. I don’t want this to be an issues and personality show," she said. "Whatever the group of people at the office down the street are talking about around the water cooler? That's the first thing we're talking about. What’s firing you up? That better be the second thing we’re talking about. What’s the big thing tomorrow? That better be the third thing."
NOTE: FS1 is also thinking about the afternoon time slot between "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" (noon to 3 p.m. ET) and "Speak for Yourself" with Cowherd and Jason Whitlock (5-6 p.m. ET). That slot is currently blocked half the time by telecasts of Champions League soccer, noted Kevin Draper of The New York Times, but Dixon pointed out that once Turner Sports takes over U.S. TV rights for the Champions League in 2018, FS1 will be able to create an uninterrupted daily block of opinion-driven programming.
