Versus will formally announce Tuesday that being outspoken or outrageous — or is it obnoxious? — can lead to getting your own national TV talk show.
Even while you're still an active NFL player.
Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens, new Cincinnati Bengals teammates whose respective VH1 reality shows recently wound down, will now move on to their own The T.Ocho Show, a taped talk show on Comcast-owned Versus that kicks off with a preview Tuesday night.
Ochocinco says the show will focus on football but might also touch on "baseball and hockey. With my love of soccer, I'll throw that in. And porn. I'm doing amateur porn, so I'll throw that in. … Do you understand how dangerous this is for us to have a stage like this?"
Says Owens: "There will be topics where Chad and I will get in trouble. We'll talk about issues that aren't talked about in the mainstream media. It's an opportunity for two of loudest mouths who've been in the league."
Well, yes, when you put like that. The show, billed as the first-ever weekly national talk show featuring active NFL players, will be previewed Tuesday night and run for the next five weeks on Tuesday nights with Owens and Ochocinco doing segments in Versus' The Daily Line show (11 ET). On Oct. 12, The T.OchoShow debuts as a stand-alone, to follow Versus' NHL games starting at 10:30 p.m. ET.
The idea for the show, says Versus programming vice president Andy Meyer, became obvious "the minute" that Owens signed with the Bengals and "their Batman and Robin relationship got going." That pairing, he suggests, will serve as a sort of booster rocket for two players who were already well off the media launch pad: "They'd already had significant accomplishments as personalities."
Meyer adds that "we'd love this to be the creation of a new genre of television" where athletes can speak "without layers of editors and beat writers filtering them out."
Owens sounds game. "Some guys get on TV shows and put on their media hats and turn their back on players," he says. "I'm not going to be a brown-noser for nobody. This is something probably a lot of people don't want to see. There'll be jealous people who'll criticize it, just like they criticized my reality show."
That reality show was so behind-the-scenes that viewers saw Owens in sessions with his therapist. The Versus show, he suggests, will also offer up subjects that usually stay behind closed doors. "I don't want to get into a race issue, but when you look at the media talking about (player) holdouts, it's usually about African-Americans," says Owens, noting heavy coverage of New York Jet Darrelle Revis' holdout before he signed a new contract Monday. "When do you see Caucasians shown just trying to get their money? Why is that never talked about? We'll stick out our chests and advocate for guys trying to get paid for what they deserve."
Owens says he's been told he's "a natural in front of cameras" but doesn't see himself going into sportscasting after retiring from the NFL. Ochocinco, who culled through 85 bachelorettes for his The Ultimate Catch VH1 reality show — "it's just what I do in offseasons, but with cameras following me" — figures he'll "go for the whole 9 yards" in post-football media. "Now, I'm setting myself up so I can do whatever I want."
But Ochocinco suggests for now, he and Owens have a unique angle: "What will be refreshing for everybody is we play the game. You'll live the game through us."
Or at least get a taste of its woofing.
Source: USA TodayRead more…
}