NFL Primetime

NFL Primetime is asports television program that has aired on ESPN since 1987. The show is presented similarly to ESPN's own SportsCenter, featuring scores, highlights, and analysis of every game ofthe week in the NFL. Untilthe 2006 season, Primetime aired every Sunday night during the NFL seasonand it preceded ESPN's coverage of Sunday Night Football (it even aired when ESPN did not havea Sunday Night game, especially from 1990-97 when TNT had Sunday night gamesthe first half of the season). The show was hosted by Chris Berman,with analysis from Tom Jackson. Berman and Jackson recappedSunday afternoon's NFL games with highlights, statistics, and commentary. Pete Axthelm was a regular from 1987 until his death in 1991.Through the show's history, other co-hosts included John Saunders, Robin Roberts, Bill Pidto,and Stuart Scott.Pidto was often the target of good-natured ribbing by Berman, since Pidto oftendid recaps of games featuring losing teams. Roberts also seemed to be assignedto recap almost every game the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played between 1990 and1992, when the Bucs were fielding some of the worst teams in NFL history. Theposition of co-host was dropped prior to the start of the 1998 season.Ratherthan provide the usual package of scoring highlights, NFL Primetime presented extended highlights whichalso showed less dramatic plays. This provided context for the greater depth ofanalysis of each game. A staple of theshow was the various FirstCom Music instrumental pieces that played in thebackground during the highlights, while Berman and Jackson recapped each game.This often gave the games, even in highlight form, a more epic feel overall.This feature continues during highlights on TheBlitz.For themost part, highlights from the show would feature FirstCom Music scores overthe highlights. Some songs were even played on a consistent basis for certainteams. The Buffalo Bills, for example, often had their game played out(regardless of outcome) to a dramatic piece featuring triumphant passages ofbrass instruments. The Oakland Raiders, meanwhile, were often represented by anominous-sounding piece that featured extensive use of horns and keyboards. Onrare occasions, however, the standard FirstCom Music themes would be replacedby other music themes. For the Raiders-Steelers matchup in 2000, which markedtheir last meeting at Three Rivers Stadium as well as the stadium's second tolast game, the music was replaced by classic NFL Films themes by Sam Spence including "A Golden BoyAgain," "March to the Trenches," and "Raiders' Theme,"while Berman confused then-current Raiders and Steelers with legendary ones. After the NFL returned in Week 2 of the 2001season for the first games after 9/11, the first game highlights for theGiants-Chiefs matchup was presented with a more subdued FirstCom theme that wasnot regularly used by the program.