I watched a rerun of the skills, and as much of a disaster as it was I think it could have been worse.
I think they were close in many aspects. I liked the golf thing, i liked some shootout attempts, and i didn’t totally hate the surfboard dunk tank thing. Then the hardest shot/fastest skater/accuracy thing are all classics.
The trouble i had was the commercials and the lack of continuity. They were all over the place. Show one shootout attempt then they cut to something random, then show the surfboard thing, then something random followed by a fastest skater round. Everything with commercials in between.
They need to find the personalities and get them on the air during the more dull moments. Subban and Maroon weren’t all stars but they had some mic time, and weren’t afraid to talk or look like idiots. They need more characters. Mic up everybody you can. Helmet cams. The whole 9. Record it Saturday afternoon, cut it up and show it Saturday night.
While we are overhauling it all, kids only in the first few rows, all the way around. Players tossing pucks and swag over the glass and chatting with the kids nonstop. So many times they showed the ice and there would be a line of nhl all stars sitting doing nothing. INTERACT! Go say hi. Thanks for coming, hope you’re having fun. Who’s your favorite team? Oh the bruins, cool let me go get Pasta hold on.
There are SO MANY minor tweaks to this that could make it work.
