Michelle Beadle Is Returning To ESPN

“The Crossover” attempted to capture the magic of ESPN’s “SportsNation” with Colin Cowherd, which doomed it from the start. Michelle Beadle and co-host Dave Briggs had zero on-screen chemistry, the set looked dark and dumpy (compared to “SportsNation’s” upbeat look), and every segment seemed phony and poorly planned. To be honest, it just looked like NBC thought Beadle’s natural charisma, sports knowledge, congenial bedside manner with often-difficult athletes and good looks would carry the show through an out-dated sports talk show format.

Well, it couldn’t.

With expansion of NFL programming and NHL season starting, NBCSN cancels low-rated "The Crossover"

After sacking her co-host in May, the show was still basically an under-organized series of longwinded chit-chats about the news stories of the day, and forceful melding of sports and pop culture/entertainment. What did change after Brigg’s departure, was that one of the guys that sorta-kinda replaced him often awkwardly flirted with Beadle on-air like an old-school Ron Burgundy broadcast… and it’s clear Beadle wasn’t digging it. He even does it in the clip above. “What? You don’t like my voice?”

No, she doesn’t care about your voice. She does care about moving on, however, as these tweets very clearly illustrate.

Beadle left ESPN in May of 2012 for a rumored $750k at NBC, which included obligatory appearances on several other of the network’s programs. Expect to see her transition into a more prominent role on shows like “Access Hollywood,” until she can work out a more permanent role doing shit she actually wants to do…

…which apparently is leave NBC, and return to ESPN. One bridge is burnt, another rebuilt. C’est la vie!

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead says that Beadle sufficiently pissed off the higher ups at NBC Sports after going on the Sports Media podcast and speaking frankly about the promotional limitations a show on that network is faced with — and now “sources say the situation between [Beadle and NBC execs] is now untenable.” Personally, we think she made a good point when she said, “I’ve got more followers on Twitter than the network gets viewers,” though executive producer Sam Flood seemed to think she was crossing the line. Understandable on both counts. He pulled the plug on the show after she made the comments.

[The Big Lead]”I didn’t really get into having my own show to always be put on the backburner. It’s frustrating. It’s hard to get to some sort of regularity, the times change and we’re all over the place … [the show airs] every day except days when sailing, soccer and/or bike racing [are on].”

McIntyre reports they’ve had disagreements in the past over the direction of the show. Beadle favoring a younger, hipper direction, while Flood wanted to make the show look how did — which was dated and lame if you ask us. Now she’s on her way back to where it all started (not YES Network, after that).

[TBL]Rumors are swirling that as soon as her agent and NBC can come to an agreement, her days at NBC will be over and there’s a very good chance she’ll return to ESPN.

Less than a year and a half after leaving, she’ll be ESPN-bound once again, perhaps to fill-in at “SportsNation” after they lost Beadle replacement host, Charissa Thompson, to Fox Sports 1. Hey, to quote Beadle herself, “Here’s to do overs!”

UPDATE:

As per Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch, everyone’s favorite sports anchor will officially be done with NBC Sports in March, when she will return to ESPN and ultimately host or co-host a New York-based show with another ESPN talent at some point,” though “there is a chance she could appear on SportsNation initially.” With all this down time, tons of fans, and even more talent, one would assume that Beadle will be back in action as soon as possible.