US Speed channel coverage

[Bibendum]

I'm curious to know whether my impression of US television coverage is shared out there.

Briefly -- I was delighted to see David Hobbs and Steve Matchett back again; David has a lovely dry sense of humour and is good at puncturing pretension, while Steve just about always tells me something technical or tactical that I haven't heard elsewhere.

I grew to admire Bob Varsha last year and, after a period of disaffection, I became fond of Sam Posey's zaniness.

So, now: This Rick de-something. A difficult job to do, continuity. He's just starting in F1, far as I can tell. So one makes allowances. But he doesn't seem to know when not to talk -- for instance, when one of his better-informed colleagues is saying something, or when the drivers are giving their post-qualifying press conference, or when the action on the track needs no comment. (As for talking over the drivers, one sensed David and/or Steve trying to shut him up, but he persisted; during the post-race, presumably, one or both of them had a forearm firmly clamped over his voluble gullet...) Moreover, he seems prone to fill dead air with endlessly repeated comments on what he sees as "the story line" -- for instance, MS's possible 5th championship. I found this rather wearing. And did he need to keep imploring us -- probably one of the more devoted and specific sports followings in the country -- to "stick around" as they went to commercial? He'll get better, I'm sure; I was dubious about Varsha at first.

And then, endless, endlessly long, promos and bumpers for Speed channel generally and F1 coverage in particular. I reckon we could have seen 5 more minutes of racing had they pared this transitional junk to a reasonable level. Sigh.

So -- what do you think? How does this compare to last year; or, for that matter, from what I've written here, to what you're seeing in Australia, UK, Germany, Finland, etc.?

best to all,
Bibendum

[pablo]

Rick deBruhl has done F1 in the past, namely with David Hobbs back in the early 90s. I thought he did not do a particularly good job and seemed to fawn over MS and Ferrari far too much. No doubt the man deserve all the respect in the world, but deBruhl sounded like Ferrari's PR man. Hobbs and Matchett both do excellent work on the broad cast and offer up their insider points of view very well.

[botsquad]

Originally posted by Bibendum
So, now: This Rick de-something. So -- what do you think?

rick somthing...he's actually the worst ive ever heard.

he'd fit right in with jason preistly.

good example....when the rain squall had cemented the
the starting grid....

rick something just couldn't comprehend why any of the teams
would go out in the wet.

steve machette kindly reminded him about wet setup testing.

[Bibendum]

Ooooh, please don't remind me of Jason Priestly! I note with horror that ABC will be broadcasting, not just the US GP but Monza as well; which means we can look forward to some vapid second-rate television 'star' wandering around the pit lane showing off that he knows all the drivers...*from a different series*! D'oh.

I suspect deBruhl's skills will develop fairly rapidly; I certainly hope so. Another good example of silliness was his "do you think Stoddart will be telling Mark Webber just to let Salo past?" As it turns out, of course, Stoddart was yelling at Webber on the radio "Don't let him past! We need the points!" As one would expect of a RACING director... But, again, deBruhl will figure this sort of thing out once he's worn in a bit.

[Powered by JPM]

Originally posted by Bibendum
Ooooh, please don't remind me of Jason Priestly! I note with horror that ABC will be broadcasting, not just the US GP but Monza as well; which means we can look forward to some vapid second-rate television 'star' wandering around the pit lane showing off that he knows all the drivers...*from a different series*! D'oh.

hahaha Priestly's comments were classic...but Antonio Sabato Jr's comments and analysis was PURE COMEDY GOLD!(why he was covering F1 is beyond my scope of reasoning)

This Rick guy was pretty boring for the most part...but at the end he said something praising Juans move on TGF and added "im not exactly shumachers biggest fan.."

Ive read numerous posts poking fun at Posey, but i think he is better than this guy...just my 2cents

[Nicholas]

Originally posted by Bibendum
Another good example of silliness was his "do you think Stoddart will be telling Mark Webber just to let Salo past?"

Aargh! The fool!

[BBKing]

It was kind of OK. I just sent an email to speed channel to suggest their English commentatorS to work on their accent. We are in America and they should talk for Americans. Drop that silly english accent. I cannot tell when they say "eyes" and when they say "a ss"....lol

[Roy2]

I liked the way he commented on the race when MS was swarming JPM to pass him. He got quite excited about the action and called it a 'killer race'.

I think he loves the racing and will do okay.

[jonboyG]

What's the deal with US F1 coverage? I'm moving to San Diego in august for a couple of years and I really don;t want to miss out on 2 years of F1 action.

[strad]

I got to like Varsha a lot. A solid guy that studied and knew his subject matter. This Rick DeVurl (sorry if I misspelled it Rick)seems to be full of enthusiasim, maybe too full of enthusiasim. He just can't seem to be able to be quiet. Ever.
I have no way of knowing how the Brits approach it, but I would like someone like the British soccer announcers..they seem to feel you know whats going on and don't comment un-nessacarily. American TV assumes you need comentary.

[EERO]

I really liked Varsha, he was clever, insightful and had a viciously sarcastic sense of humour. The reduced strength Posey was tolerable but it was the addition of Matchett and Winsor that really made the broadcasts sing.

Thank God the latter two are back. DeBruhel is tedious, lifeless, dull, boring and something else like boring.

And despite the fact that I recall his name from the early '90's on the ESPN broadcasts, he remains as anonymous as an Italian F1 driver form the late '80's.

I think the revamped Speed Channel telecasts lack the real spark that Speedvision had worked so hard to develop.

[Lee Janotta]

Originally posted by BBKing
It was kind of OK. I just sent an email to speed channel to suggest their English commentatorS to work on their accent. We are in America and they should talk for Americans. Drop that silly english accent. I cannot tell when they say "eyes" and when they say "a ss"....lol

Aww, I like David Hobbs! His tongue-in-cheek comments are great, especially last year at the USGP when he remarked that Yoong was driving without either hand or brain controls. And he's too old to change. Personally, I don't have any trouble understanding the English members of the staff, and I wouldn't mind one bit having a single English-language feed. Then again, I've been watching documentaries with English hosts since before I could walk....

[fast95pony]

David and Steve are great . Rick ?? Not so great .
The general coverage was great ,but why did they go to a commercial break (to show endless self-promotional commercials ) in the middle of the post-qualifying interview ??

I miss Murray Walker !!

Alan