Bowen Says Two Dropped Shows Didn't 'Resonate'

In a year that witnessed Kevin VanDam win three events in a row, two complete redos of the Bassmaster Tour and the announcement of a new FLW Series, maybe the biggest news of all was that sports powerhouse ESPN dedicated 5 full hours of Saturday-morning programming to bass-related content.

BassFans accustomed to a bass show sandwiched between bird hunts, tarpon chases and saltwater odysseys could now saturate themselves with bass programs that ran the gamut from how-to to news to debate.

But the face of ESPN2's "Bass Block" is changing. Schooled by Denny Brauer was the first casualty – canceled indefinitely. Then the axe fell on Loudmouth Bass – the first show to offer an in-depth analysis of the issues facing today's sport.

In the middle of those cancellations, BassCenter turned over a softer leaf. Hosts John Kernan and Byron Velvick ditched their SportsCenter-like suits and soft-pedaled on hard-news items in favor of more how-to and human interest.

Why the cancellations? The reason, according to ESPN Outdoors senior coordinating producer Dan Bowen, is the two shows didn't "resonate" with viewers. Instead, current and future programming will be geared more toward giving viewers something they "can take out on the water with them."

The new direction is curious, given ESPN's history. The network made its mark in sports programming – and became one of the most recognizable sports brands in the world – because it shoveled through the layers of minutiae within every major sport. Contract talks, off-the-field problems, stats, superstitions, rules issues – it was all butter on ESPN's bread.

Not so for bass fishing, which Bowen described as a "participatory" rather than "spectator" sport.

Bass Classification

What BassCenter and Loudmouth Bass originally sought, as any viewer could attest, was to treat bass fishing as any other major sport. Rules, personalities, stats, controversy and pretty much anything else that could be served up found its way to the plate.

BassCenter's approach since its beginning was somewhat softball in nature – it often glanced the surface of issues as they arose – but Loudmouth Bass took it all head-on.

In a way, Loudmouth Bass was predicated on the BassFan model – debate, news and opinion centered on the notion that bass fishing is a legitimate professional sport – as well as on the ESPN show Pardon the Interruption, which it was originally intended to emulate. But Bowen said that approach didn't "resonate" with fans.

"Fishing is by and large a participatory sport, and all the other sports (football, baseball) are by and large spectator sports," he said. "You won't be playing for the Yankees next season. But all of those values that a baseball commentator would bring – statistical analysis, rivalries, achievements, contracts, struggles in the locker room – these are just a few of the hundreds of ingredients vital to interest in a spectator sport.

"With a participatory sport, it's more important to get out on water and do it yourself. It's more important to take something away from a program – take it and apply it. So if I'm taking my buddy out on Saturday, I'm going to apply it and become better at it.

"I think that we don't need to stir up a lot of the complex machinations of the inner workings of the bass world to get people interested. I think we need to speak much more on a level that is akin to those things that are experiential and personal.

"In other words, less concept, and more true to an experience an angler wants to have."

The determination of what "resonated" and what didn't came through various channels. He said: "There are factors, whether ratings, focus groups – people (were) just saying, 'That's a really good show, but not necessarily what I want to take away from an outdoor viewing experience.' They're not necessarily interested in discussing the merits of the (Professional Anglers Association) or the difference between field sizes on one tour vs. another. People just wanted to learn to become better fishermen."

Too Technical?

But that sounds a lot like the format of Schooled by Denny Brauer, which put an average angler in a boat and had his performance critiqued by one of the best bass anglers of all time. The point was so that the "schoolees" and the audience could learn – so they could, using Bowen's words, "take something away from a program – take it and apply it."

Bowen noted that Schooled by Denny Brauer was a show that anglers could take something away from. But had other criticisms – or rather, the same ones.

"Every show is different, and probably a lot of what I said, believe it or not, would apply to Denny," he said. "I think we were a little overly scientific – again, maybe not entirely delivering the goods in the way that best served our fans. It was the same kind of problem (as with Loudmouth Bass), but totally different. It didn't resonate with our viewers.

"I'll be the first to say it: Denny did a fantastic job. His energy, his passion – it seemed very obvious that Denny was just hitting it out of the ballpark on every level I can imagine. I just think maybe the substance – the subject matter itself – was a little thicker, a little more dense, than I think anyone needs it to be."

The Survivors

So far, Schooled and Loudmouth Bass are the only two casualties of the reworked Bass Block – unless you count the revamped BassCenter formula. They were the two "headiest" shows, one could say - they delivered the most in-depth content geared toward accomplished anglers, at least compared to surviving shows Bass Tech and Beat Charlie Moore.

Bowen noted that canceling the shows wasn't an effort to "dumb down" programming, as often happens in bass media to serve a larger audience.

"Let me make this clear: I'm not saying the goal is to dumb anything down," he said. "It's to (make it) feel like more of an experience. With Loudmouth Bass, when I think of how it is now, it's changed so much, always keeping in mind, 'What changes can we make to make Loudmouth Bass more experiential?' Sometimes the model for a program – its spine and very infrastructure – you can try to change it, but by the end of the day, there's only so much you can do.

"Let's face it. Loudmouth Bass was a debate program. So how far can you take it and make it feel like a good father-and-son fishing show? That's the whole nutshell. Clearly, we worked hard and gave those shows a lot of time to make them work."

And Bowen did point to Bass Tech and Beat Charlie Moore as two shows that achieve what Loudmouth Bass didn't. After Bass Tech, he said viewers can "take something away. You can say, 'I've got this busted-up, beat-up old boat sunk in the bottom of my lake and guess what? These people are teaching me how I can pull that thing out, Rhino-Line it, trick it out, and all of a sudden for minimal cost, I have a boat.' It's like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It's all about the takeaway."

And Charlie Moore falls into the "experiential window," where "anyone in America can challenge this guy. It's an opportunity for any fisherman in America to live vicariously through fishermen who line up against him. Charlie serves the experiential side of the viewing experience."

Next in Line

Both Loudmouth Bass and Schooled by Denny Brauer are still being aired, but will end soon, which brings up the question of what new shows will replace them. According to Bowen, that decision is being made right now.

"We're definitely right in the thick of knowing exactly what we need to do to replace the shows that will be leaving us," he said. "When they're launched (the new shows), whether it's Jan. 1 or in the second quarter, remains to be seen.

"I don't think we can say, 'What show will replace Denny or Loudmouth Bass?' We should simply say, 'What are the next two shows that will better-serve our fans? What are the next two things we need to do to kick it up a level?'"

Notable

> Dan Bowen received BassFan's 6th Man Award this year. The award is given to the person whose behind-the-scenes efforts make outstanding contributions to his/her company and/or the company's pro staff, and promote advancement in the sport as a whole. He was presented the award at the 2005 Cabela's Top Gun Championship

> Loudmouth Bass hosts Mark Zona and Jay Kumar (BassFan's founder and CEO) could not comment on the show because they are currently in production and under contract.

> BassFan readers who have written in to the BassFan FeedBack section have been critical of both the Brauer and Loudmouth cancellations by an overwhelming majority, and have been equally vociferous about wanting Beat Charlie Moore cancelled.