Dennis Miller Tones Down 'MNF' Schtick

Sept. 5 -- Dennis Miller changed his game plan.

Through three preseason Monday Night Football broadcasts,the irreverent comedian-turned-commentator seemed to be saying eachand every thing that popped into his rapid-fire mind.

When the game counted for the first time, though, he appeared tohave hit upon a new and winning formula: moderation.

During the Super Bowl-champion St. Louis Rams’ 41-36 victoryover the Denver Broncos in the regular-season opener for both theteams and ABC’s program, Miller refrained from too muchover-the-top esoterica, picking his spots to go for laughs.

The network could not have asked for a better contest and theratings brought good news for ABC, considering the game was playedon Labor Day (the NFL has said it will start its season after theholiday in the future).

The overnight Nielsen rating for the broadcast was a 15.9 with a26 share, down just slightly from last year’s 16.1/27 for theopener. More impressively, Monday’s preliminary rating was 9percent higher than the last time the NFL opened on Labor Dayweekend, in 1998.

The overnight ratings measure the country’s largest 48 markets.National ratings were due late today.

Hired to Spice Up Broadcasts

Miller was hired in June as part of a complete overhaul ofMonday Night Football, which has seen its Nielsen ratingsdecline each of the past five seasons. Producer Don Ohlmeyer, withthe show during its heyday in the 1970s, returned and handpicked anew cast, keeping only play-by-play announcer Al Michaels.

The thinking was Miller would create a “buzz” that could boost interest in the program, possibly with the samelove-him-or-hate-him appeal Howard Cosell once had.

In a winking nod to the show’s past, Miller donned thebanana-yellow ABC’s Wide World of Sports jacket the announcers wore decades ago.

But that was about as anachronistic as Miller would get Monday.

Sure, there was a reference to ancient Rome’s founding twins,and the occasional bizarre comment — “Schlereth has been scopedmore than a redneck abducted by aliens,” about oft-operated-on Broncos lineman Mark Schlereth — but Miller held himself in checkfor the most part.