This Week in Baseball
Encyclopedia
This Week in Baseball is a weekly television program
, originally designed to show highlights of the previous week's Major League Baseball
action. TWIB debuted in .
Bowie Kuhn
first took office in , the only network television series that Major League Baseball had was the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week
on NBC. Meanwhile, the National Football League
in sharp contrast, blanketed TV syndication with NFL Films
produced programs like the NFL Films Game of the Week
. Kuhn craved a weekly half-hour show of highlights, lowlights, features, and other fare. So This Week in Baseball was, in a sense, meant to be baseball's answer to NFL Films.
During the heyday of TWIB, the program would air on stations that also had television rights to major league franchises like WTBS in Atlanta
or KTTV
in Los Angeles
or WGN
in Chicago
. TWIB would also air on owned-and-operated NBC stations as a prelude to the Game of the Week.
According to pages 222-223 of Curt Smith
's biography on Mel Allen entitled The Voice: Mel Allen's Untold Story, when NBC lost the rights to the Game of the Week to CBS (who unlike NBC, didn't broadcast regular season games for all 26 weeks of the season) after the season, TWIB, sans a strong anchor, proceeded to either lose markets or move to weaker (often independent
) stations. Even more so, TWIB was now (under the CBS umbrella) averaging a 1-2 rating
and in several places, airing at midnight (as opposed to say for example, WNBC New York at 1:30 p.m.).
hosted and narrated the show from its inception until his death in . Warner Fusselle filled-in for Allen when needed, and Allen was succeeded for a time by former St. Louis Cardinals
shortstop Ozzie Smith
.
relaunched the series in (after a one year
absence off of television). It returned as a pregame show for its Saturday afternoon Major League Baseball telecasts, replacing In the Zone, which had a similar format to NBA Inside Stuff
and was listed as part of the Fox Kids
/4KidsTV line-up.
Although all other children's programs were cancelled by Fox on December 28, 2008, TWIB was retained at least for the 2009 season
, airing for the first time in high definition
.
As of September 2011, the show continues to air Saturday afternoons on Fox, prior to the start of the Fox Saturday Baseball telecast. TWIB also airs during the week on MLB Network
.
in Canada, and is also often played as part of the pre-game entertainment on the TV screens of major league stadiums. Cam "Buzz" Brainard is the current host of TWIB, while a current major league player is profiled each week.
Also, from -, segments of the show were hosted by U.S. fast-pitch softball
sensation Jennie Finch
.
In , TWIB was slated for 26 episodes running from April to the end of September, focusing on stories of various clubs and different baseball themes each week. The segment "Front Row Fan" features celebrities reminiscing about their favorite baseball memories. Guests have included Tom Hanks
, Bernie Mac
, Alyssa Milano
and Kevin James. There is also a play of the week section and TWIBIA, which is where a trivia question is asked before the commercial break.
Highlights of the past week's action are used less frequently, except for a closing highlight reel set to popular songs. The highlight reel is named How 'Bout That?, in reference to Mel Allen's well-known catchphrase. Video is gathered from each of the 30 Clubs' Stadium Loggers, who compile highlights of each game and send them to MLB Productions in Secaucus, NJ.
The program also uses educational segments to help it qualify for E/I
status in the United States.
, a former member of the original Manfred Mann
band. "Jet Set" was first used as the theme for the original 1974-75 version of the game show Jackpot
. It has also been used as introductory music for productions as company training films. When Fox brought TWIB back, a slightly revamped version of "Jet Set" is written.
The closing theme to the show is "Gathering Crowds," composed by Patrick J. O'Hara Scott, a pseudonym
for the same Mike Vickers. It is typically played over a montage of baseball's greatest moments, building to a crescendo with a punctuated 3-note chord as the MLB logo slides into view. The piece has also been utilized to similar effect for montages and credits at the end of local TV newscasts and the like.
. The ad, titled "This Week, See The Game Through His Eyes" featured a photo of a pair of eyes that belonged to the player hosting the show for that week's episode. In the July 14, 2000 edition of USA Today, the ad did not have a pair of eyes. Instead, it featured the 2000 MLB All Star Game logo and the caption, "This Week, See The All Stars Through The Eyes of a Star" because the host was pop star Marc Anthony
.
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, originally designed to show highlights of the previous week's Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
action. TWIB debuted in .
Genesis of the series
When CommissionerCommissioner of Baseball
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball and its associated minor leagues. Under the direction of the Commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts...
Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kent Kuhn was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, , to September 30,...
first took office in , the only network television series that Major League Baseball had was the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week
Major League Baseball Game of the Week
The Major League Baseball Game of the Week is the de facto title for over-the-air, nationally televised coverage of regular season Major League Baseball games...
on NBC. Meanwhile, the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
in sharp contrast, blanketed TV syndication with NFL Films
NFL Films
NFL Films is a Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based company devoted to producing commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries on the National Football League, as well as other unrelated major events and awards shows...
produced programs like the NFL Films Game of the Week
NFL Films Game of the Week
The NFL Films Game of the Week, formerly known as the NFL Game of the Week, is a program that airs on NFL Network, the official television channel of the National Football League...
. Kuhn craved a weekly half-hour show of highlights, lowlights, features, and other fare. So This Week in Baseball was, in a sense, meant to be baseball's answer to NFL Films.
During the heyday of TWIB, the program would air on stations that also had television rights to major league franchises like WTBS in Atlanta
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
or KTTV
KTTV
KTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP , Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
or WGN
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
in Chicago
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
. TWIB would also air on owned-and-operated NBC stations as a prelude to the Game of the Week.
According to pages 222-223 of Curt Smith
Curt Smith (author)
Curt Smith is an American author, media host and columnist.Smith is a 1973 graduate of SUNY at Geneseo. He worked as a Gannett Company reporter, a speechwriter to former Texas Governor John Connolly, and an editor at the Saturday Evening Post. In 1989 he joined the George H.W...
's biography on Mel Allen entitled The Voice: Mel Allen's Untold Story, when NBC lost the rights to the Game of the Week to CBS (who unlike NBC, didn't broadcast regular season games for all 26 weeks of the season) after the season, TWIB, sans a strong anchor, proceeded to either lose markets or move to weaker (often independent
Independent station
An independent station is in the category of television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any television network....
) stations. Even more so, TWIB was now (under the CBS umbrella) averaging a 1-2 rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
and in several places, airing at midnight (as opposed to say for example, WNBC New York at 1:30 p.m.).
End of the Mel Allen era
Veteran sportscaster Mel AllenMel Allen
Mel Allen was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions...
hosted and narrated the show from its inception until his death in . Warner Fusselle filled-in for Allen when needed, and Allen was succeeded for a time by former St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
shortstop Ozzie Smith
Ozzie Smith
Osborne Earl "Ozzie" Smith is an American former baseball shortstop who played in Major League Baseball for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals from 1978 to 1996...
.
From Syndication to Fox
While TWIB was originally syndicated to various stations around the country, the Fox networkFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
relaunched the series in (after a one year
1999 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: New York Yankees over Atlanta Braves ; Mariano Rivera, MVP*American League Championship Series MVP: Orlando Hernández**American League Division Series:*National League Championship Series MVP: Eddie Pérez...
absence off of television). It returned as a pregame show for its Saturday afternoon Major League Baseball telecasts, replacing In the Zone, which had a similar format to NBA Inside Stuff
NBA Inside Stuff
NBA Inside Stuff is a television program that now airs on NBA TV and previously aired on NBC for many years, then on ABC, featuring behind the scenes activities of NBA players. The program also includes features on fitness and fundamentals of basketball...
and was listed as part of the Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
/4KidsTV line-up.
Although all other children's programs were cancelled by Fox on December 28, 2008, TWIB was retained at least for the 2009 season
2009 Major League Baseball season
The 2009 Major League Baseball season began on Sunday, April 5, 2009 with the Atlanta Braves defeating the 2008 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies 4–1. The regular season ended on October 6, extended two days for a one-game playoff between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins to...
, airing for the first time in high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
.
As of September 2011, the show continues to air Saturday afternoons on Fox, prior to the start of the Fox Saturday Baseball telecast. TWIB also airs during the week on MLB Network
MLB Network
MLB Network is an American television specialty channel dedicated to professional baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball. Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications have minority ownership of the new network, with MLB retaining a controlling two-thirds share...
.
Format
The show also airs on regional sports networks around the country, on Rogers SportsnetRogers Sportsnet
Sportsnet was launched on October 9, 1998 as CTV Sportsnet. The name was chosen to match the regional "Fox Sports Net" operations across the United States...
in Canada, and is also often played as part of the pre-game entertainment on the TV screens of major league stadiums. Cam "Buzz" Brainard is the current host of TWIB, while a current major league player is profiled each week.
Also, from -, segments of the show were hosted by U.S. fast-pitch softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
sensation Jennie Finch
Jennie Finch
Jennie Lynn Finch , who occasionally uses her husband's surname Daigle, is a former American softball player who pitched for the USA national softball team and the Chicago Bandits. Finch helped lead Team USA to the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics...
.
In , TWIB was slated for 26 episodes running from April to the end of September, focusing on stories of various clubs and different baseball themes each week. The segment "Front Row Fan" features celebrities reminiscing about their favorite baseball memories. Guests have included Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, Bernie Mac
Bernie Mac
Bernard Jeffrey McCullough , better known by his stage name, Bernie Mac, was an American actor and comedian. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L...
, Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Jayne Milano is an American actress and former singer, known for her childhood role as Samantha Micelli in the sitcom Who's the Boss? and an eight-year stint as Phoebe Halliwell on the series Charmed. She was also a series regular on the original Melrose Place portraying the role of...
and Kevin James. There is also a play of the week section and TWIBIA, which is where a trivia question is asked before the commercial break.
Highlights of the past week's action are used less frequently, except for a closing highlight reel set to popular songs. The highlight reel is named How 'Bout That?, in reference to Mel Allen's well-known catchphrase. Video is gathered from each of the 30 Clubs' Stadium Loggers, who compile highlights of each game and send them to MLB Productions in Secaucus, NJ.
The program also uses educational segments to help it qualify for E/I
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
status in the United States.
Music
The opening theme music to TWIB is "Jet Set," composed by Mike VickersMike Vickers
Mike Vickers is a British musician who came to prominence as guitarist, flautist and saxophonist with the 1960s band, Manfred Mann. He originally played flute and saxophone but with the increasing popularity of guitars in bands it was decided that Manfred Mann should have a guitarist in its line-up...
, a former member of the original Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
band. "Jet Set" was first used as the theme for the original 1974-75 version of the game show Jackpot
Jackpot (game show)
Jackpot! is a television game show seen in three different runs between 1974 and 1990. Geoff Edwards hosted the original version of this Bob Stewart production from January 7, 1974 until September 26, 1975 on NBC. A second version, produced in Canada, aired from September 30, 1985 to December 30,...
. It has also been used as introductory music for productions as company training films. When Fox brought TWIB back, a slightly revamped version of "Jet Set" is written.
The closing theme to the show is "Gathering Crowds," composed by Patrick J. O'Hara Scott, a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
for the same Mike Vickers. It is typically played over a montage of baseball's greatest moments, building to a crescendo with a punctuated 3-note chord as the MLB logo slides into view. The piece has also been utilized to similar effect for montages and credits at the end of local TV newscasts and the like.
Advertising
During the show's first season on Fox in , there was an advertising campaign that appeared every Friday in USA TodayUSA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
. The ad, titled "This Week, See The Game Through His Eyes" featured a photo of a pair of eyes that belonged to the player hosting the show for that week's episode. In the July 14, 2000 edition of USA Today, the ad did not have a pair of eyes. Instead, it featured the 2000 MLB All Star Game logo and the caption, "This Week, See The All Stars Through The Eyes of a Star" because the host was pop star Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony is an American singer-songwriter, actor and producer. Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy–winner has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads...
.