Friday, December 14, 2012

2012 ENTERTAINMENT HIGHLIGHTS: NO. 14


AFL 360
When the Fox Footy channel left our screens in 2006, one of the most-missed elements was the presence of daily football news program White Line Fever, hosted by the late, great Clinton Grybas. It became a tradition at my house to sit down most evenings and have dinner in front of it, and I missed that tradition a great deal once Fox Footy ceased transmission.

Luckily, when Fox Footy sealed a new rights deal with the AFL for 2012, I was pleased to discover that the man I consider the finest person covering AFL in Australia, Gerard Whateley, would be fronting the newly four-nights-a-week AFL 360. With his co-host Mark Robinson (as aggravating as he is hilarious), the two present an outstanding odd-couple recap of the days AFL news. Robinson can be massively over-reactionary, but he’s balanced out by Whateley’s relentlessly balanced, logical approach. They’re a great team. It’s a great show, and an AFL junkie’s dream.

Honourable Mention: The charmingly messy Before the Game is a thousand times funnier than the long-since-irrelevant The Footy Show. Though The Footy Show still has its moments when it comes to feature interviews and breaking news stories, and two pretty good hosts in Garry Lyon and James Brayshaw, its obsession with Sam Newman has long since condemned it to dinosaur status. Before the Game is the new way, my friends. Get on board.

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