MLF on Discovery Channel - Horrible Broadcast

[hoosierbass07]

Ok, I'm a MLF fan.  Maybe I should say - I'm an Outdoor Channel MLF fan.  That is - I love the MLF events on The Outdoor Channel.  

 

When MLF starting up their  Bass Pro Tour or whatever they call it and broadcast it online, I enjoyed what I saw online.  I enjoyed their online

broadcast.  

 

Now those Bass Pro Tour tournaments are being broadcast on the Discovery Channel.  There is something really wrong with the Discovery Channel

broadcast.  The main problem - all it is is hook set after hook set.  I'm not exaggerating!  I've been recording their broadcasts on the Discovery Channel and tied to watch them the past few months but I can't make it thru a whole broadcast.  I can't even stand ten minutes of the broadcast.  There is hardly any fishing going on.  The broadcast goes from one angler doing a hook set, then another angler doing a hook set, over and over, over and over........

 

Hopefully MLF will fix this broadcast problem next year.  

[riverbasser]

I agree it definately isnt the same. Used to enjoy watching them pull up to a place without knowing where and see who can figure it out first.

 

After the knockout round today they apparently told the guys they would be on pool 7 next because Edwin Evers made a comment on how it was his favorite. So I guess it's not even a secret anymore as to where they will fish next? Which to me was a huge part of the format.

[fishballer06]

I still have yet to watch a full "episode" of MLF or BPT. I just can't get into the concept/format. 

[Hawkeye21]

I haven't watched the show on TV but that's because I watched all of them live.  I really enjoy the live format online, it's great.

[SWVABass]

@riverbasser on the BPT they had to tell them where they were fishing none of that was secret. The cup events I think they didn’t tell them until it was time. 

 

I listened to an older BPT yesterday that had Boyd on. He was saying something along the lines, the more traditional fans will have to adjust our expectations of the broadcast as it is not meant to be like watching B.A.S.S. or other 5 fish tourneys. It’s meant to grab the non fishing crowd and get them to watch. And yesterday Rick P. from basscat was saying the ratings on these shows are higher than anything the sport has ever seen basically. Might not grab us but sounds like it’s grabbing new people and getting them to engage.

[12poundbass]

4 hours ago, Swbass15 said:

@riverbasser on the BPT they had to tell them where they were fishing none of that was secret. The cup events I think they didn’t tell them until it was time. 

 

I listened to an older BPT yesterday that had Boyd on. He was saying something along the lines, the more traditional fans will have to adjust our expectations of the broadcast as it is not meant to be like watching B.A.S.S. or other 5 fish tourneys. It’s meant to grab the non fishing crowd and get them to watch. And yesterday Rick P. from basscat was saying the ratings on these shows are higher than anything the sport has ever seen basically. Might not grab us but sounds like it’s grabbing new people and getting them to engage.

I heard Rick Pierce say that as well and I heard Mark and Matt also talk about the ABC coverage Sunday. They pointed out something I hadn’t thought about. What lures they’re using, equipment, what kind of structure they’re on, or pattern. This is geared towards the occasional angler or even non angler. They don’t care about the details, the non anglers attention span isn’t long enough to care about those details. I think the live coverage is geared more for us and the tv products are geared for the others that aren’t as ‘in to it’ as we are. 

[jbsoonerfan]

2 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

I heard Rick Pierce say that as well and I heard Mark and Matt also talk about the ABC coverage Sunday. They pointed out something I hadn’t thought about. What lures they’re using, equipment, what kind of structure they’re on, or pattern. This is geared towards the occasional angler or even non angler. They don’t care about the details, the non anglers attention span isn’t long enough to care about those details. I think the live coverage is geared more for us and the tv products are geared for the others that aren’t as ‘in to it’ as we are. 

Yep, the person who just wants to watch guys catch fish doesn't care about a guy explaining that he is on a rock pile and trying to get a squarebill to bounce off and get bit. Or a guy is fishing a lay down and explaining why he is dragging a jig instead of bouncing it. They don't care about all that, they just want to see fish being caught.

[RichF]

The whole thing doesn't quite make sense to me. Cater to an audience that doesn't really care about the sport? Are these folk ever going to pick up a rod and reel and try it out? Are they gonna drop 70k on a boat, thousands on tackle, and donate money to the tournament organizations?  I guess the idea is to get new people into the show rather than the sport? I wonder how many sponsors will pull out like Skeeter.  If the best in the bizz aren't hockin their sponsors goods, why stay?  

[12poundbass]

1 hour ago, RichF said:

The whole thing doesn't quite make sense to me. Cater to an audience that doesn't really care about the sport? Are these folk ever going to pick up a rod and reel and try it out? Are they gonna drop 70k on a boat, thousands on tackle, and donate money to the tournament organizations?  I guess the idea is to get new people into the show rather than the sport? I wonder how many sponsors will pull out like Skeeter.  If the best in the bizz aren't hockin their sponsors goods, why stay?  

Because you will have the dad and child who want to give it a shot because it looked fun on tv. They will google the names on the anglers jerseys and they have a potential new customer. I guess there were new commercials too, but I skipped those. 
 

I sometimes google things I see on tv, or on vehicles out and about, or I hear on the radio out of boredom or curiosity. That’s advertising at it’s best. 

[Columbia Craw]

There must be more profitability in outdoor clothing and ATV's than fishing lures and and boats.  It's a self serving format.  It's better than watching Judge Judy or Gun Smoke re-runs. Well, at least the Judge Judy part.

[Paul Roberts]

Wow, sounds like the producers can't understand why someone would want to watch fishing. Cut to the "excitement". Sounds like some heads need to roll over there.

[jbsoonerfan]

Deer hunting has BLOWN up in recent years thanks to hunting shows. The reason being that guys watch a show and see these giant deer being killed and they think they can go out and do the same thing. This drives up prices on everything from bows to arrows and ATV's to hunting leases. I doubt the industry would be as big as it is if they showed the reality of deer hunting. I'm talking about sitting for hours and hours and sometimes never seeing a deer, or some guys hunting for 3-4 years and never killing a buck. The average Joe may watch this new format and think it is super easy to go out and catch 70-80 fish in a day, all they need is a new boat with all the bells and whistles. If you don't think there are guys out there who will go buy a new boat and all new gear to give it a try, you are kidding yourself.

[RichF]

Eh, maybe. 

[hoosierbass07]

All of this has me worried MLF's ultimate goal is to become another cable reality TV show.  My opinion on reality TV shows - they are all trash.  Nothing wrong if any of you enjoy watching them.  But I find them very trashy.  Discovery Channel is now full of reality TV programming.  The MLF events on Discovery have a non-tournament feel about them, like MLF is trying to hide the fact that it is a tournament, and instead it is men yanking of their fishing rods really really hard every scene.  It will be interesting to see where MLF goes in 2020.  

[Rpratt]

Am I missing something? I thought all they are showing on the Discovery channel is the recaps of of the tournaments from this past year. Which would mean just highlights. So yeah, that's pretty much what BASS has done for years and years also. I don't see any formula change for viewing between the two. Just maybe what channel the 2 shows are on, and who is behind the mic, and if I remembered either one was on because I either just plain forgot or not yet awake ?

 

I believe starting on January 4 on the outdoor channel is going to be the start of the cup series that we have not seen, nor know who won those events. Basically the old format by which the anglers earned to be on after every 2 tournaments from the past year. So this year is going to have 4 cup series that will be aired. 

[BassNJake]

 

19 hours ago, RichF said:

The whole thing doesn't quite make sense to me. Cater to an audience that doesn't really care about the sport? Are these folk ever going to pick up a rod and reel and try it out? Are they gonna drop 70k on a boat, thousands on tackle, and donate money to the tournament organizations?  I guess the idea is to get new people into the show rather than the sport? I wonder how many sponsors will pull out like Skeeter.  If the best in the bizz aren't hockin their sponsors goods, why stay?  

 

This reminds me of FLW 15 years ago.

They had sponsors like Walmart, Chevy, Tide, Kellogs .... the non fishing sponsors.

As soon as things started to get a little tight, these sponsors dropped like flies.

Leaving FLW to try and scramble to make things right again.

They never could make it right financially and had to be bought out.

 

 

[SWVABass]

Not sure how many folks on here listen to BTL but they have really hit this topic hard since MLF wrapped up there season. They had Boyd on and talked about how they are NOT targeting the traditional fishing crowd. They are trying to make this a “game” and the catches are the “score”. The education on how, where, what and why is all in the media content on the webpage. 

 

What I found interesting was when asked about if he thought anyone would leave Boyd said nope all the anglers love it and it’s great. About month later folks jumped ship. 

 

Another interesting interview that that ties into this and tournament fishing over all is the interview with Randy Blauket(spelling) and his take on how if you have an aspiration to be a pro you better be rich. Check em out. A lot of what we are trying to understand they talk openly about on those interviews.

[Johnbt]

"It will be interesting to see where MLF goes in 2020."

 

If they don't care about showing how the fish are caught, maybe they'll figure out the real money is over on the cooking network.    Yum, baked, broiled and fried fish.

[schplurg]

On 12/19/2019 at 4:23 AM, Swbass15 said:

@riverbasser on the BPT they had to tell them where they were fishing none of that was secret. The cup events I think they didn’t tell them until it was time. 

 

I listened to an older BPT yesterday that had Boyd on. He was saying something along the lines, the more traditional fans will have to adjust our expectations of the broadcast as it is not meant to be like watching B.A.S.S. or other 5 fish tourneys. It’s meant to grab the non fishing crowd and get them to watch. And yesterday Rick P. from basscat was saying the ratings on these shows are higher than anything the sport has ever seen basically. Might not grab us but sounds like it’s grabbing new people and getting them to engage.

 

I think dumming up, or altering something significantly in the hopes of attracting more people often makes things worse in the end. The stuff that is made for the masses is typically garbage, whether it's music, TV, movies or sports.

 

And as for attracting more people, I don't see that really benefiting me as an angler. Too few people and lakes will close I suppose, but too many people is worse. Just my personal view on it.

[SWVABass]

@schplurg I agree that trying to produce a show to specific group seems to water it down. But I am struggling to understand why you think growing sport would be bad?

[RichF]

3 hours ago, Swbass15 said:

@schplurg I agree that trying to produce a show to specific group seems to water it down. But I am struggling to understand why you think growing sport would be bad?

I'm still struggling to understand what they mean by "growing the sport".  

[OCdockskipper]

4 hours ago, Swbass15 said:

@schplurg I agree that trying to produce a show to specific group seems to water it down. But I am struggling to understand why you think growing sport would be bad?

I think it depends on what is the definition of "growing the sport".

 

If they define "growing the sport" as being a representative of the sport to the public at large, making it more accepted to the non-fishing public and financing those things that take on obstacles to it (pollution, poaching, etc), then it would be good.

 

However, if they define "growing the sport" as getting more people involved, people who know just enough about boats, fishing and the outdoors to be dangerous, the result will be more anglers on the same amount of water, more pressure on the fish and overall worse conditions for the fish.  Not good.

 

As a resident of Southern California, I see often how things that become fads blow through the population and don't benefit the activity or sport in the long run.  All it does is make the folks engaged in selling products a little wealthy for a short period of time.  For example, my home lake is surrounded by homes, most with pontoon boats.  Most of these homeowners are the least sea worthy folks in the world, they have no clue about the difference between a boat and a car and really have no interest in learning etiquette of the waterways.  Thank heavens, most of them only take their boats out on 4th of July, it would be a horrible mess if they were on the water weekly.

 

If you are a casual fan of something, the audience that MLF is aiming at, you really don't care about it in the long run.

[RichF]

To me, growing the sport is making it more accessible to more people.  Nothing MLF has done gives me the impression that this is their aim.  I guess we'll just have to see how the new feeder system works in 2 more years (or whenever they decide to implement it).

[hoosierbass07]

It might be a waste of time to "grow the sport" considering fishing is closer to "hunting" than it is to sports like baseball and football and basketball.  Half the world is female and most consider fish to be "icky" or slimy and not interested in the sport of professional bass fishing or fishing in general.  

 

The fishing shows come back on TV this weekend/next week and I saw the MLF Bass Pro Tour on the Sportsman Channel.  I don't want to bash MLF too much because I'm a big fan but man, its starting to look like they want to be on every cable channel along with poker.  The poker/texas hold'em book has come and gone.  About ten/fifteen years ago or so I remember the book store carrying four or five different poker playing magazines when the fad was big.  Now I don't think they carry any poker magazines and if they it's only one.  That fad has come and gone.  

 

MLF better make sure they stick with being a real sport and not a fad.  After seeing their broadcasts on The Discovery Channel I'm not sure what they want to be.  Thankfully MLF comes back on the Outdoor Channel next week.  Hopefully that broadcast will be the same old MLF that I really enjoy.  

[slonezp]

I'm a little late to the game. I'm watching it for the first time since everyone bailed from BASS to compete. Yawn...Who wants to watch guys spend all day catching 1 pound bass? I can do that myself. This format evens the playing field. It takes a lot of the skill out of fishing. I don't want an even playing field when watching sports. I want to see the best guys compete at the top of their game.