Nostalgia is not what it used to be. ABC's reboot of "Battle of the Network Stars" is on the bubble, sources tell Sporting News, meaning the show's future is up in the air.
ABC brought back the classic 1970s show last year. The remake was hosted by a Who's Who of ESPN talent, including Mike Greenberg, Joe Tessitore, Cassidy Hubbarth and Cari Champion, with Ronda Rousey and DeMarcus Ware serving as "coaches" of the respective teams.
But "Battle of the Network Stars" is not currently on ABC's production schedule, sources said. ABC executives have not made a final decision on Season 2. This year, ABC canceled shows such as "Scandal," "Marvel's Inhumans" and "Designated Survivor," while renewing "The Bachelor," "Bachelor in Paradise" and "Black-ish."
MORE: ESPN's Cassidy Hubbarth talks sideline reporting, the state of the NBA
ABC and ESPN declined to comment on the future of the show or possible cast changes.
Both ABC and ESPN are majority-owned by Disney. Nearly 40 years after the original's debut, the new "Battle of the Network Stars" debuted June 20, 2017.
The sister Disney networks played up the nostalgia card, dressing Greenberg, Tessitore, Champion and Hubbarth in the canary yellow blazers made famous by "Monday Night Football" and "ABC's Wide World of Sports," and shooting in the same Malibu location as the original.
It was a nice, lucrative side gig for these on-air ESPN talents, enabling them to branch into "entertainment" programming, and giving them a warm Southern California escape from cold Bristol winters.
Greenberg, the host of ESPN's "Get Up!" morning show, was tickled to follow the late, great Howard Cosell as host.
“If someone could go back in time and tell the 10-year-old me, glued to the television, watching Howard Cosell and all the biggest names in television running obstacle courses and playing tug of war, that someday he would be directly involved with 'Battle of the Network Stars,' he would have said it was the coolest thing ever," Greenberg said during the show's launch. "Decades later, that’s exactly how I feel.”
With Cosell at the height of his "MNF" fame, the original "Battle of the Network Stars" debuted in 1976 and ran for 13 seasons.
Many middle-age TV viewers fondly remember the show, which featured series stars from the only three broadcast networks at the time, ABC, CBS and NBC (there was no Fox), competing in track & field, swimming, kayak races and other events.
Sure, it was hokey. But it was fun to see B-listers such as a fatuous Robert Conrad of NBC argue with Gabe Kaplan of ABC's "Welcome Back Kotter" and Telly Savalas of CBS' "Kojak" over race results, while Cosell treated these "controversies" with the mock-seriousness of the Olympics.
(During the politically incorrect "jiggle" era of the '70s, many viewers also tuned in to ogle stars such as "Wonder Woman" Linda Carter, Cheryl Ladd of "Charlie's Angels" and Catherine Bach of "The Dukes of Hazzard" in wet bathing suits and skimpy outfits).
During his stint at ESPN, Bill Simmons named the Conrad vs. Kaplan match race from the show's 1976 debut as his favorite YouTube clip of all time.
After the macho Conrad challenges the geeky Kaplan to a 100-yard dash, he's soundly beaten, with Kaplan's ABC teammates, including a young Ron Howard, mobbing him at the finish line. It's the 1970s version of "Revenge of the Nerds." Kaplan was still asked about it decades later, wrote Simmons.
"It celebrates an impossible-to-fathom era of political incorrectness, egotistical celebs, misguided testosterone and the purest unintentional comedy possible … only it finishes with a Hall of Fame sports moment."
