NFL Is Less Serious, but Mohr Is Better

This comedian who is trying to make it as a football commentator is really pretty funny. Another plus is that he knows football and sports in general. And, despite the way he comes across on the air, his new colleagues say he is a good guy too.

Jay Mohr just may work out.

Mohr has joined the cast on Fox Sports Net’s recently expanded “NFL This Morning.” He first made a guest appearance, then got a regular role.

The last two editions of “NFL This Morning” opened with hilarious skits featuring Mohr arriving on the Fox lot in a limo. In the first one, he has to talk his way past a security guard, played by an actor.

Host Chris Myers had this explanation as to why Mohr was a guest: “Carrot Top was already booked in Pomona.”

Last Sunday’s skit opened with Mohr, again in a limo, on a cell phone complaining to his agent about his limited role. “I want to be up front with Terry, J.B., Howie and that skinny white guy. . . . I don’t even get to sit up with the Coach and Joel Meyers.”

Mohr later said, “I don’t even know who Joel Meyers is, that was in the script.”

Producer Mark Mayer said, “We had earlier thought of doing a play on words on Joel Meyers/Chris Myers. Actually, I’m a fan of Joel Meyers.”

Mohr brings energy to an already high-energy show, which is quite a feat since he does Saturday night performances at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, then has to be at work the next day by 5 a.m.

It hasn’t slowed him down. Here’s what Mohr had to say about the Chargers benching Ryan Leaf: “We all know how fragile ‘Cryin’ is. They pulled him for a guy named Moses Moreno. For a moment I thought it was Marino. There’s a huge difference between Dan and Moses. Moses in the Bible parted the Red Sea. Moses Moreno has a problem parting his hair.”

Fox’s thinking here is, football is supposed to be fun.

Putting a comedian on a pregame show, as Fox first did last season with Jimmy Kimmel on its network show with Terry Bradshaw, James Brown and the gang, works a lot better than putting one on a game telecast.

A problem with “NFL This Morning” is that, for those of us in the West, it begins at 7 a.m., and that’s when Mohr’s skits air. Not even Chris Rock is worth getting up for that early on a Sunday morning.

Another problem is, as Mohr alluded to in his second skit, there is a cast of thousands. Myers, Marv Levy, Jackie Slater and Chris Spielman sit up front. Bob Golic, Sean Jones and Billy Ray Smith, called the “Breakfast Bunch,” were added when Fox Sports Net expanded the show to two hours three weeks ago. They sit behind the others, and have now been joined by Mohr.

Mayer credits Fox Sports chairman David Hill for suggesting Mohr. Hill is familiar with Mohr because Hill was also the head of Fox Entertainment when Mohr’s half-hour series, “Action,” was on Fox. It’s now on FX on Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m.

Mohr has been busy filming “Simone,” with Al Pacino and Winona Ryder, but sports fans may know Mohr best for his role as rival agent Bob Sugar in “Jerry Maguire,” or as a regular fill-in host on Jim Rome’s radio show.

Mohr said he met Rome on a flight to baseball’s All-Star game in Denver in 1998. “I went up to him and told him I was a big fan, that I listened every day,” Mohr said. “I sat down next to him and we talked the whole flight.”

Mohr, 29, said when he was growing up in Verona, N.J., he wanted to be a sportscaster. He and his friends would pretend to do “SportsCenter.” Then he became more interested in being an actor and a comedian. Now it appears he’s on his way to being all three.

OLYMPIC WRAP-UP

NBC’s prime-time average rating for its Sydney coverage, a 13.8 with a 24 share, was 36% below its prime-time average for its Atlanta coverage. And ratings released Thursday show that all 162 1/2 hours of NBC’s coverage averaged a 8.9 with a 20, down 39% from Atlanta. . . . Breaking down the prime-time averages by markets, Los Angeles ranked 10th with a 17.9. Salt Lake City was No. 1 at 21.5, New York was No. 22 at 15.7, and of the 48 metered markets, Birmingham, Ala., was last at 9.6.

Bob Costas, on his way home to St. Louis, had a layover in Los Angeles on Wednesday night so he could make a surprise appearance on Jay Leno’s show. During a skit, Leno took a lock of Costas’ hair to have it tested to see if he had dyed it. The lighting in the NBC studio in Sydney made it appear as though he did.

Costas figures he came out pretty well unscathed. What he had to do, going on live to talk about events that had already taken place, wasn’t easy. He’ll rest this week, then work the American League championship series. Skip Caray, borrowed from Turner, has been his fill-in on the divisional playoffs.

SHORT WAVES

One good thing about Fox taking over the baseball postseason next year is, the television schedule will be easier to figure out. . . . Hey, CBS isn’t giving us a Ram game this Sunday! The reason is, the Rams are off. Last Sunday, CBS gave us the Chargers and Rams. Didn’t anyone at CBS know this was going to be a rout? . . . CBS golf commentator Ken Venturi, who has been contemplating retirement, has decided to return next season. But he’ll work only six tournaments, including the Masters and the PGA. . . . NBC’s versatile Paul Sunderland got some good news while doing volleyball commentary in Sydney. He found out he’ll be doing NBA play-by-play this season. . . . Recommended viewing: Fox Sports Net’s “Going Deep” Sunday at 7 p.m. takes an in-depth look at civility in sports, or the lack thereof. In one segment, correspondent Tom Murray examines the alarming behavior by both kids and parents. And on a one-hour “Outside the Lines” special Tuesday at 4 p.m., ESPN takes an in-depth look at the coaching profession.

IN CLOSING

In the final analysis, NBC’s biggest mistake was paying $702 million for the rights to the Sydney Olympics. NBC put itself in a position where it had to get the highest possible ratings. Otherwise, it could have shown events live on cable, then reshown them as a package in prime time on the big network.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Sept. 30-Oct. 1.

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Olympics (prime time) 4 11.3 23 Olympics (daytime) 4 5.9 15 Olympics (late night) 4 4.1 17 College football: Washington at Oregon 7 4.4 11 College football: Air Force at UNLV 7 1.6 4 Baseball: Seattle at Angels 9 1.6 4 Baseball: Virginia Tech at Boston College 2 1.5 4

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Cable Network Rating Share College football: USC at Oregon State FSN2 2.5 6 College football: Arizona State at UCLA FSN 2.4 4 College football: Missouri at Nebraska FSN 1.3 3 College football: Illinois at Minnesota ESPN 1.0 3 Olympics MSNBC 0.9 3 College football: Tennessee at LSU ESPN 0.9 2 Horse racing: Louisiana Super Derby ESPN 0.8 2 Golf: Buick Challenge ESPN 0.6 2 MLS playoffs: Chicago at New York/New Jersey ESPN2 0.6 1 Olympics CNBC 0.5 1

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Olympics (prime time) 4 14.7 24 Olympics (daytime) 4 5.5 13 Pro football: Tampa Bay at Washington 11 9.8 23 Pro football: San Diego at St. Louis 2 8.5 21 Pro football: New York Giants at Tennessee 11 5.0 12 Soccer: Guadalajara vs. Atletico Celaya 34 2.8 7 Baseball: Dodgers at San Diego 5 1.3 3 Auto racing: CART Grand Prix of Houston 7 1.3 3

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Cable Network Rating Share Pro football: Atlanta at Philadelphia ESPN 6.3 11 Auto racing: Winston Cup NAPA AutoCare 500 ESPN 0.8 2 Olympics MSNBC 0.6 2 Baseball: Texas at Oakland ESPN 0.4 1 Golf: Buick Challenge ESPN 0.4 1

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: MONDAY: NFL, Seattle at Kansas City, Ch. 7, 14.2/22. TUESDAY: Baseball, New York Yankees at Oakland, Ch. 4, 5.8/10. WEDNESDAY: Baseball, New York Yankees at Oakland, Ch. 11, 6.3/11.

Note: Each rating point represents 51,350 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.