Football TV: Sundays with Peyton and Marvin
Until the debut of
Sundays with Peyton and Marvin in the fall of 1998, Sunday TV had a sad footballessness. This show, which has now been going strong for nine seasons, emerged from the unlikely town of Indianapolis -- which until the late 90s was known mostly for its annual auto race, and for being where the Colts' Mayflower moving vans went in 1983. Shows out of this city usually remained at the bottom of the Nielsen's for years. But since then,
Peyton and Marvin has gone on to win numerous Emmy Awards, with supporting Emmys through the years going to Reggie Wayne, Mike Vanderjagt and Edgerrin James. Fans across America have tuned in any time the show appeared on national television; the only exception is the Baltimore area, where ratings remain sluggish. The only criticism of the show has been some disappointing season finales, but head writer Tony Dungy is fantastic at what he does, so many fans expect this might be the best season yet.
With the 90s Dallas drama
America’s Team dropping in the ratings, Sunday TV needed something to fill the void. There were many promising new shows, such in 1998 when the
Purple Circus debuted starring the Minnesota Vikings, who went 15-1 and delighted audiences for four months with Randal Cunningham and Randy Moss, or the 2000
Greatest Show on Turf
of the Saint Louis Rams, but alas, these proved to be great for one season only, forgotten when the teams faded and key players moved to other networks. Who would rise to fill the void, and give audiences a quality show that would be talked about for years to come?
I had the chance to catch the episode on Sunday, November 5th. In this show, Peyton and Marvin were on location in a place where they had struggled time and time again: Foxborough, MA, against
Tom Brady and Friends, which is a northeast favorite and always seemed to finish on top of the ratings during the January Sweeps month. On this night, the Indianapolis show was dazzling. In a memorable, apparently unscripted scene, it looked as if the Pats defense would have Peyton completing passes to the dirt, either with the ball or with his face, but Peyton had other plans. Instead, when the Pats defense flushed him out of the pocket and appeared to have an easy sack, he found Marvin for 44 yards on third down on the Colts first drive. He would find Marvin eight more times, and with supporting actor Wayne nine times as well. (The previous week, in another great episode, Peyton hooked up with Wayne for 3 TDs against Denver, shredding the Broncos defense designed to stop him.) Marvin shined too, not just on the 44-yard play early in the game, but throughout -- with two touchdown catches and 145 yards -- making the much-vaunted Pats D look like a Pee Wee league en route to Marvin moving atop
the Colts all-time receiving list.
I must admit, as a TV fan it was easy to overlook the return of this show at the start of the fall season. I’d always enjoyed what James brought to the show in his role as the running back, and with him gone my fear was the show might quickly be forgotten by the midseason. I was sucked in by the allure of the fast-paced, fun-to-watch
Welcome to the Jungle, a comedy-drama with a reality-show twist about a team from the home of
WKRP donning orange-and-black, that kept audiences entertained on the field but also trying to guess each week which members of the cast would be wearing black-and-white stripes the following week. While the show still is entertaining, it’s also left me disappointed because it's been inconsistent. At times its lead actors Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson have been fantastic, but offset by a very disappointing supporting cast on the other side of the ball. Looking only at defense, the orange-and-black rank in the bottom third of the league, which has prevented this show from taking off. The show still has a lot of potential, but midway through the season, audiences have returned to the ever-reliable
Sundays with Peyton and Marvin, which never seems to disappoint.
Below the radar screen, though,
Sundays with Peyton and Marvin has returned yet again to give audiences great programming, week in and week out. Thus far, the November opener has been my favorite episode, but with plenty of the season left,
head writer Dungy has some twists up his sleeve. Perhaps in past seasons, you’ve only caught the January season finales and thought the show was overrated. This is a legitimate criticism, for while the show is hot now, to be remembered 10 or 20 years down the road, like the 70s favorite
The Steel Curtain, you have to come out on top during January.
Welcome to the Jungle I thought would do that this year, but more and more it looks like this veteran program just isn’t going to fade this TV season. Before tuning in come January, be sure to check out
Peyton and Marvin and I guarantee you’ll be drawn in from start to finish. It’s a thing of beauty to watch. This year might just feature a bonus episode in February, to be shot on location in Miami, with the big Emmy given to the entire cast to be awarded. Occasionally the show has a special Monday night airing, so be sure to check local listings for details.
