"NFL Monday Night Football" (1970) TV series 1970-????

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Directors:

Drew Esocoff
Larry Kamm

Writer:

Dennis Miller (writer) (2000-2002)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | unknown

Release Date:

21 September 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Sport

Tagline:

Is it Monday yet? (37th season)

Plot:

Coverage of professional football featuring teams from the National Football League airing on Monday nights during the NFL's regular season.

Plot Keywords:

American Football | Non Fiction

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Frank Gifford	...	Himself - Play-by-Play Announcer / ... (413 episodes, 1971-1997)
Al Michaels	...	Himself - Play-by-Play Announcer / ... (333 episodes, 1986-2005)
Dan Dierdorf	...	Himself - Color Commentator / ... (202 episodes, 1974-1998)
Howard Cosell	...	Himself - Color Commentator / ... (195 episodes, 1970-1983)
Don Meredith	...	Himself - Color Commentator / ... (170 episodes, 1970-1984)

Also Known As:

"ABC Monday Night Football" (USA)
"ESPN Monday Night Football" (USA)
"M.N.F." (USA)
"Monday Night Football" (USA)
"Thursday Night Editions of Monday Night Football" (USA) (new title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

ALLTEL Stadium - One ALLTEL Stadium Place, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Company:

American Broadcasting Company (ABC) Sports

Trivia:

In 1983, during a Monday Night Football match up between the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, Howard Cosell referred to Redskins wide receiver Alvin Garrett as a "little monkey". Following two months of intense public pressure, he resigned from the MNF broadcast team.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Anna Faris/Duffy (#34.3)" (2008)

The Days Of "Frank, Howard and Dandy Don" Never Been Equaled

As someone who has watched this program since its inception, it's kind of sad now to look back at its history. Those who didn't grow up with this "phenomenan," as it was called in the '70s, can't realize how big a deal this sports program was at one time.

In its glory days, "Monday Night Football" was THE event on television each week for any football fan. It wasn't the individual game that particular night. It made no difference who was playing - it was a chance to hear what humorous and/or controversial things Howard Cosell and "Dandy" Don Meredith would say each week. The play-by-play announcer, Frank Gifford (Keith Jackson the first year) was just a "straight man" for Cosell and Meredith.

Cosell played the bad guy and loved it, and Meredith played the "good 'ole boy," and had a pretty good time himself. I can say the latter because I was in the press box for a few Monday night games in Buffalo and "Dandy Don" was feeling no pain, let's just leave it at that. The ratings were so high that celebrities and politicians would frequently enter the booth for a halftime interview.

The significance of the sporting event went downhill when those guys left and it has never really recovered. In fact, as you know, it left ABC for ESPN several years ago. It also has a had numerous "color" guys. Few of them have ever been very popular and some were downright horrible.

I will have always have great memories of Frank, Howard and Don when this program was truly exciting and all of us fans couldn't wait for Monday night.