The Versus network debuted its latest show, Sports Unfiltered With Dennis Miller, last night, and it's not bad, but there's nothing about it to make me think I'll become a regular viewer.
It followed the basic late night talk show format, with Miller doing stand-up at the start. (He opened with a joke about Lance Armstrong and Ashley Olsen, saying Olsen was wearing a Livestrong bracelet as a belt.) His brand of humor was fairly similar to what you'd expect, with obscure references tossed into observations about sports. He used the F-word once; it was bleeped.
The people in the studio audience sounded as though they were being paid by the laugh; at one point Miller actually looked angry at the audience for laughing so loudly at a joke that wasn't particularly funny.
After the opening monologue, Miller interviewed Curt Schilling, and gushed over what a "gamer" Schilling is. It was disappointing that Miller would act like such a starstruck fan. Whether he's talking entertainment or sports or politics, Miller is at his best when he's poking fun at pompous gasbags, and it would have been fun to hear him needle Schilling a little bit.
Miller then did an "Ask Dennis" segment that featured a surprise appearance by Jay Leno, and I found it about as amusing as I typically find Jay Leno, which is to say, not very.
The second guest was Al Michaels, and yes, Miller did call him "Albeeno," just as he did when they were Monday Night Football partners. Michaels was funnier than Miller, but they had a pretty interesting conversation about the state of the NFL at the season's halfway point. I liked hearing Miller set up Michaels, rather than the other way around. Maybe they should have done it that way in the MNF booth.
Overall, you'll probably like Sports Unfiltered about as much as you like Miller's other stuff. I thought he was pretty good on Saturday Night Live, liked his HBO show, thought he was mediocre on Monday Night Football and disliked his political stuff. I'm somewhere in the middle on this show, which means if I happen to catch it I might watch, but I'll probably forget about it soon enough because I rarely think to turn on Versus. I figure that's how most viewers will be, and this show won't last long.
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