2 hours to reveal the brackets now?

[ChicosBailBonds]

That appears to be the deal as the brackets show now is 5:30 to 7:30pm

[We R Final Four]

20 min of brackets and 1:40 of analysis.

[ATL MU Warrior]

20 min of brackets and 1:40 of analysis.

And double the commercials and $$'s for the network

[brewcity77]

If they're getting 2 hours, they'll stretch it out as much as they can. First block they'll just give the top-4 seeds and the number one overall seed. My guess is they won't finish announcing teams until the 1:30 mark. Probably spread the time of announcing each regional to one block, about 6-8 minutes, then come back from commercial and discuss that region. Two blocks for each region, then wrap up the last 30 minutes discussing everyone's predictions and such. They'll do whatever they can to keep the audience the full 2 hours.

[4everwarriors]

Oh, da drama, hey?

[GooooMarquette]

Just hope Gottlieb doesn't have a wardrobe malfunction at halftime.

[chapman]

20 min of brackets and 1:40 of analysis.

30 minutes - Reviewing brackets and match-ups
40 minutes - Commercials
50 minutes - Circle-jerk over #1 seeds.  If UNC or Kansas aren't on the top line, 20 minutes to be re-allocated to commercials

[MU82]

I like it!

With all that extra time, surely they'll find a spot for Marquette in the tournament!!

[ChicosBailBonds]

Lowest ratings since 1995....LOL

Didn't help that the brackets were leaked, but 2 hours is just stupid....as is Doug Gottlieb.



DEFENDING THE PROCESS: CBS' Doug Gottlieb this morning went on WKRK-FM in Cleveland and defended the net's selection show and its process of staggering the release of the brackets over the two-hour program. He said, "Have you ever watched the Academy Awards? Do they give away 'Best Picture' first or last?" He noted that is the last award so "people tune in." Gottlieb singled out SI.com's Richard Deitsch, who "covers television and obviously doesn't know anything about television, because you would never unleash the bracket early." Gottlieb: "The only reason that the last bracket was revealed when it was revealed last night was because the bracket was leaked digitally on the Internet. Otherwise, it would have been even later in the show, which is the right thing. That's TV Production 101 -- whatever you can do to hold your audience as long as you can hold them." He added, "I'm actually blown away by people who cover television who obviously don't know how television works." Gottlieb said after the bracket had been leaked, the "only thing I know we did was we revealed quicker through the final bracket instead of holding it out some" ("The Ken Carman Show," WKRK-FM, 3/14). ESPN Radio's Mike Greenberg said, "I've never seen as much complaining in my life as I did on Twitter yesterday about the way CBS handled that show. Listen, it would be completely disingenuous and hypocritical for any of us who work in this industry to be complaining that they tried to do what everyone tries to do. They took a one-hour show that works like crazy and figured we could make more money trying to get into a two-hour show" ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 3/14).

WAYS TO FIX THINGS: SI's Deitsch wrote he appreciates CBS "wanting to add more commentary to its selection show," but the net "committed the cardinal sin of alienating its audience by extending the bracket reveal for far too long." The show started at 5:30pm, and viewers waited 20 minutes "for the first tournament game to be revealed." It took "more than one hour" for viewers to find out the second half of the bracket. A solution to avoid another leak of the bracket would be to "front-load the program so that all the brackets are revealed within the first 35 minutes and spend the next 85 minutes going heavy on analysis and interviews" (SI.com, 3/13). SPORTING NEWS' Michael McCarthy writes CBS' on-air personnel "debated, dawdled and delayed" the bracket, resulting in it taking 77 minutes "to reveal ... the complete bracket." McCarthy: "What CBS should have done is reveal the bracket at the beginning of the show -- and then let the taking heads take over to discuss matchups, possible Cinderella schools and the rest" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 3/14). In St. Louis, Dan Caesar notes another solution for CBS would be "scaling back the show to 60 minutes instead of making the program into an advertising-heavy yakkfest." During one portion of the telecast, CBS had analyst Charles Barkley predict each region via a touch screen video board, but he "fumbled his way through the procedure, often touching the wrong team." It was an "amateur-hour exercise." Caesar: "Let's hope for a return to a 60-minute show next year. It not only would be a viewer service but also would reduce the impact of any pirated posting of the bracket" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 3/14).

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING: Many people on Twitter criticized the elongated show, with Purdue Basketball Dir of Operations Elliot Bloom writing, "CBS did to the Selection Show what Indiana did to the single-class HS basketball tournament. Tried to fix it when it wasn't broken." The N.Y. Post's Mike Vaccaro: "CBS has been flayed for years for the way it does the Tournament. Makes sense they'd eventually get around to ruining the selection show." WFXT-Fox' Tom Leyden: "The selection show was the worst it's ever been. Has nothing to do with Doug. Terrible TV."  The Ringer's Bryan Curtis: "The funny part of the CBS selection show backlash is that we're all just fine with *one*-hour staged media events. Two is beyond the pale." Sports On Earth's Matt Brown: "At this rate the inevitable next step for the Selection Show is taking a break in the middle for a Pitbull performance." ESPN's Brett McMurphy: "To improve next year's ratings, CBS is going to add another hour to selection show & televise it on New Year's Eve."

PACE OF PLAY: In N.Y., Victor Mather notes some fans -- "weary of CBS's pace -- applauded the leak" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/14). The AP noted CBS' broadcast "drew wide criticism on social media for drawing out the selections." Some Kentucky players "fell asleep during the show at the home of coach John Calipari," and others waiting for their draw "found out about their matchups early as news of the leaked bracket went viral" (AP, 3/13). FOXSPORTS.com's Chris Chase wrote the show was "dragging on worse than an episode of '2 Broke Girls'" (FOXSPORTS.com, 3/13). In DC, Norman Chad wrote, "I'm not sitting there for two hours to see what the 8-9 matchup in the South Region is unless they throw in a good cassoulet recipe and El Chapo makes a surprise appearance on set" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 3/13).

CHARLES ISN'T IN CHARGE: Barkley's inclusion on CBS/Turner's NCAA coverage has long been questioned, and following his appearance on last night's selection show, that criticism again came to the forefront on Twitter. Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith: "Why can't CBS grasp that just because Charles Barkley is good at commenting on the NBA, that doesn't make him good on college basketball?" BTN.com's Tom Dienhart: "Charles Barkley analyzing college hoops. This still amazes me." The K.C. Star's Sam Mellinger: "You can almost see Charles Barkley light up when he can name a player or a coach on one of the teams he's talking about." USA Today's Dan Wolken: "Filling airtime with Barkley, who doesn't really watch college basketball is becoming a tradition unlike any other." The Indianapolis Star's Zak Keffer: "Imagine the bubble teams having to sit through watching Barkley fail to understand how to use the touchscreen." Meanwhile, the San Diego Union-Tribune's Jay Posner wrote, "Say what you want about Doug Gottlieb but he is killing the committee when called for. Appreciate the candor."

[mu03eng]

The bracket show was a disaster and after the bracket leaked and I confirmed it was real I turned off the selection show for the first in pretty much my life.

Even without the bracket show I was either A) making fun of the selection show on twitter or B) doing laundry and not watching.

Just a s#!t show all around.

[GooooMarquette]

Not having to watch Gottllieb for 2 hours took a bit of the sting out of MU's disappointing season.

[MerrittsMustache]

I have LOVED Selection Sunday since I was kid. As long as I can remember, I've printed a clean bracket, written down the match-ups as they were announced and started filling it out on the spot.

This year, I turned the show off about 40 minutes in (thru 1 region) and tossed my 25%-complete bracket in the trash without even knowing that the brackets had been leaked online. I figured that I'd just find them later in the evening because I couldn't sit through another minute of time-killing. Dragging it out was brutal. Absolutely brutal.

[MomofMUltiples]

Get a clue, Doug. This ain't the academy awards.  You don't have the celebrities, you don't have the dresses.  Just four guys sitting around in suits talking for two hours.  Easy enough for folks to say, "iIm out, I'll just go to ESPN at 7:30 and see the brackets."

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Not having to watch Gottllieb for 2 hours took a bit of the sting out of MU's disappointing season.

At least Gottlieb did say, "That any team that lost to St. John's (calling you Syracuse) doesn't belong in this year's tournament."

[WellsstreetWanderer]

When I saw it was two hours, I went and played with my grandkids.