Joe Buck’s show really coming together

October 15th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

I know it’s an inconceivable notion that Joe Buck’s show could somehow sound unentertaining — because Joe Buck is the premier broadcaster in the world, and don’t you forget it — but yeah, this basically sounds terrible:

TVGuide.com: Tell me a little bit about the late-night pilot you shot for Fox.

Buck: At this point, it’s just a pilot. I guess the next step is just to wait for Fox to let me know if they like it or not. I’m proud of it. The idea was hatched when I was working on these spots for Budweiser with a Saturday Night Live writer named Matt Piedmont. We hit it off and one of the spots we did was this interview in the back of a cab. So we decided to expand that and do it as a pilot for Fox.

TVGuide.com: So it’s a talk show in a cab?

Buck: It starts and ends in the cab. The middle portion has skits and an interview segment that takes place in a New York loft. It was fun. I did one sketch with David Spade and another one with Paul Rudd.

TVGuide.com: I heard a real New York City taxi driver named Abebe is going to be your cohost.

Buck: That’s the best part. He’s a legitimate, everyday, working cabdriver, who was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Cuba. If this thing ever takes off, it’ll be the American dream for him. So he’s the cohost and he’s a smart, sweet, funny guy.

TVGuide.com: Won’t McCarver get jealous of Abebe?

Buck: He might. McCarver’s natural instinct is jealousy, so there’s no doubt that my spending time with Abebe will step on his toes a little bit. It’s OK, though. I think I can make time for Troy, Tim and Abebe without hurting any of their feelings too much.

Brandon Lloyd’s feelings about any Buck-Troy Aikman relationship jealousy aside, I’m not sure this is the formula for success. Not only do most cab drivers I’ve met communicate solely through loud screams into their Bluetooths (Blueteeth?), this is sounding like a pretty unbelievable mash up of intolerable genres. One-third Taxicab Confessions, one-third Friends, one-third poor man’s SNL, three-thirds Joe Buck … ugh. Really? This is the next logical direction? Oh, right. I suppose it is.

(HT: Sports Media Watch, via Can’t Stop the Bleeding)