NFL Monday Night Football (1970– )

Coverage of professional football featuring teams from the National Football League airing on Monday nights during the NFL's regular season.

Stars:

Frank Gifford, Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 2 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Frank Gifford	...	Himself - Play-by-Play Announcer (413 episodes, 1971-1997)
Al Michaels	...	Himself - Play-by-Play Announcer (333 episodes, 1986-2005)
Dan Dierdorf	...	Himself - Color Commentator (202 episodes, 1974-1998)
Howard Cosell	...	Himself - Color Commentator (194 episodes, 1970-1983)
Don Meredith	...	Himself - Color Commentator (170 episodes, 1970-1984)

Storyline

"Are you ready for some football?!" That six-word lyric, as bellowed out each week by country music superstar Hank Williams Jr., preluded each "NFL Monday Night Football" game, the first successful attempt to air a National Football League (NFL) football game in prime-time. Each week, two teams (as chosen months in advance by the NFL) met in what has become a Monday night tradition. Usually, a trio of sports-casters (a play-by-play announcer joined by a color commentator and an analyst) called the action. Half-time interviews with coaches and players, and sideline reports after outstanding plays were also innovations that contributed to the appeal of these games. Many of the games proved to be exciting, though sometimes the games were boring (especially if the teams were a mismatch or not very good, a necessary risk since the games were scheduled months in advance). Often serving as part of the announcing team were former NFL greats including OJ Simpson, Dan Dierdorf, Joe Namath and ...

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Plot Keywords:

american football | non fiction

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Taglines:

Is it Monday yet? (37th season)

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Genres:

Sport

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Details

Official Sites:

Monday Night Football

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 September 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

ABC Monday Night Football

Filming Locations:

ALLTEL Stadium - 1 Alltel Stadium Place, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

American Broadcasting Company (ABC) Sports, National Football League (NFL)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

In 1983, during a Monday Night Football match up between the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, Howard Cosell referred to Redskins wide receiver Alvin Garrett as a "little monkey". Following two months of intense public pressure, he resigned from the MNF broadcast team.

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Connections

Spoofed in The Simpsons: The Cartridge Family (1997)

User Reviews

The Days Of "Frank, Howard and Dandy Don" Never Been Equaled

As someone who has watched this program since its inception, it's kind of sad now to look back at its history. Those who didn't grow up with this "phenomenan," as it was called in the '70s, can't realize how big a deal this sports program was at one time.

In its glory days, "Monday Night Football" was THE event on television each week for any football fan. It wasn't the individual game that particular night. It made no difference who was playing - it was a chance to hear what humorous and/or controversial things Howard Cosell and "Dandy" Don Meredith would say each week. The play-by-play announcer, Frank Gifford (Keith Jackson the first year) was just a "straight man" for Cosell and Meredith.

Cosell played the bad guy and loved it, and Meredith played the "good 'ole boy," and had a pretty good time himself. I can say the latter because I was in the press box for a few Monday night games in Buffalo and "Dandy Don" was feeling no pain, let's just leave it at that. The ratings were so high that celebrities and politicians would frequently enter the booth for a halftime interview.

The significance of the sporting event went downhill when those guys left and it has never really recovered. In fact, as you know, it left ABC for ESPN several years ago. It also has a had numerous "color" guys. Few of them have ever been very popular and some were downright horrible.

I will have always have great memories of Frank, Howard and Don when this program was truly exciting and all of us fans couldn't wait for Monday night.