A City Rejoices, but the Focus Is Elsewhere
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: February 7, 2010
The final act of CBS’s Super Bowl broadcast Sunday night left me wondering how prepared the network was for a New Orleans victory. This was not an ordinary city whose Saints upset the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17. This was the team representing Hurricane Katrina survivors and the team that had not been to the Super Bowl in a lifetime dating to 1967.
Yet in the immediate aftermath of the game, CBS showed only quickie shots of Bourbon Street. Was that the best CBS had for us? One could argue that it would have been justified in cutting to gathering points in the city after critical moments during the game. But there’s no argument about what it should have done when the game was over.
Reaction shots of a few seconds each was not enough to tell this story.
Showing cities celebrating titles has become trite. But New Orleans is different, as riveting pregame segments by James Brown and Wynton Marsalis amply demonstrated.
When Jim Nantz cited the names of various streets and sections of New Orleans, I thought CBS’s cameras would go there. When CBS left Sun Life Stadium about 10:15 p.m. Eastern, it should have gone directly to the happy heart of New Orleans for 15 minutes and delayed the start of its new series “Undercover Boss.” But that was not to be.
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