Like the Dow Jones of late, ABC’s revamped “Monday Night Football” has been doing a steady nosedive.
And despite the enlistment of funnyman Dennis Miller as color commentator this spring, “MNF” has nonetheless ended up with the worst season in the network’s program in 31 years, according to an Associated Press report.
Ratings are down 7 percent from a year ago and almost 30 percent from 1994.
With those kinds of figures, it is uncertain whether Miller or the show’s producer, Don Ohlmeyer, will be back for the next season, and the Alphabet Network has remained elusive on the issue of personnel changes in the future.
“If there are some changes, it’s hard to predict because they would come out of the dark,” ABC Sports Vice President Mark Mandel said Wednesday. “We are extremely pleased with all of the talent.”
SPEAKING OF ‘MNF’: Ironically, last week’s “Monday Night Football” showdown between St. Louis and Tampa Bay came in as the No. 1 rated show last week. Along with three episodes of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” the two shows have taken ABC all the way to the top of the ratings war, beating out CBS, NBC and Fox for the crown, according to Nielsen’s figures.
BACK FOR MORE: The WB has picked up another 10 episodes of the multi-ethnic sitcom “For You Love” and an additional 13 episodes of “The Steve Harvey Show” for the 2001-02 season, trade papers report.
