It was an audacious move.
In an effort to jumpstart interest in “Monday Night Football,” ABC hired Dennis Miller to serve as part of the broadcast team in the booth in 2000, joining play-by-play legend Al Michaels and Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Fouts, who served as color analyst.
It was a move met with cheers and jeers at the time. Don Ohlmeyer, who had produced “MNF” during its glory days with Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith, returned to the broadcast tasked with injecting life into the program. He thought way outside the tackle box by bringing in Miller, a comedian known for arcane references and a run on “Saturday Night Live,” where he anchored “Weekend Update” from 1985 until 1991.
Miller’s stint on “MNF” is the subject of a new NFL Shorts documentary that premiered Sept. 29 on HBO called “Miller Night Football.”
The decision to hire him on “MNF” didn’t only catch the public off-guard, though.
“It was an honest reaction of ‘What?!,’ but I was a fan of Dennis,” Fouts, who is featured in the HBO documentary, tells TODAY.com.
“I was excited to meet him, but then figured out that this was kind of an experiment of Don Ohlmeyer’s to try to put something unique on the air for Monday night, kind of like the old days when they had Howard Cosell in the booth,” he says. “I think the idea was to have something that was a little controversial. So I was all onboard for it because it was ‘Monday Night Football.’”
Miller wasn’t a total neophyte in the broadcasting game. By the time he was hired, he had already won five Emmy Awards for his HBO series “Dennis Miller Live.” And while athletes had previously crossed over into the world of pop culture and news — TODAY’s Joe Garagiola, a former baseball player, was an early pioneer when he joined the show in 1967 — a comedian sliding into the booth on one of America’s most hallowed sports programs was unprecedented.
While headlines followed the hiring, Miller was not content to go for laughs just for the sake of getting them.
“I thought that Dennis came well prepared each week. He was excited about the job,” says Fouts, who started his run on “MNF” the same year Miller did and previously played quarterback for the San Diego Chargers between 1973 and 1987, making six Pro Bowls.
Panned by some, lauded by others, Miller’s presence in the booth provided renewed interest in “MNF,” as he had quips at the ready, oftentimes prepping them in advance, with Michael, Fouts and sideline reporter Melissa Stark.
“In Dennis’ mind, you know, he had things that he wanted to say, and he put him in there in his style, and it took awhile to figure out what the rhythm was,” Fouts says. “But once we got going … we got used to each other, and of course, having Al Michaels in the booth was the key because he’s the conductor of that train.”
As the documentary details, things changed in the second season, in 2001. Ohlmeyer left “MNF.” The Sept. 11 terror attacks put a pause on America’s appetite for laughter, several games were noncompetitive and Miller had studied the game to get more into Xs and Os. And then came the big development after the season ended: John Madden, considered the best analyst in the sport, was a free agent, with his contract at Fox running out. ABC came calling.
“He was available, and you just don’t turn down that opportunity to have the Babe Ruth of sports broadcasting,” Fouts says.
Without the confluence of events that preceded Miller and Fouts’ departure from “MNF,” could they and Michaels have continued?
“Oh, definitely,” Fouts says.
Fouts says he and Miller speak “once in a while” and “shared a few laughs” while talking to each other about the documentary. As he reflects a quarter of a century after his time with Miller and Michaels ended, he feels pride in playing a role in once again making “MNF” a water cooler show.
“Looking back at it, I think the documentary tells you that it was entertaining,” he said. “The goal was to bring the interest of ‘Monday Night Football’ back, and I certainly think it did that.”
