I Finally Watched Jason Kelce's Show And I Wish I Didn't

I finally got around to watching Jason Kelce's Friday night weekly show on ESPN and I regret that I did. 

By all accounts, Jason seems like a pretty decent and nice guy. (Even if he did play for the Philadelphia Eagles). But just looking at his face during They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce, you can tell that he is like a practice squad player showing up to NFL training camp. He looks lost, and it's not his fault - he doesn't have a broadcast background and I literally feel bad for him.

THE KELCES ARE BECOMING TOO MUCH

Last night's show had potential with Jerome Bettis, Lane Johnson and even a surprise appearance from, of course, Jason's brother Travis. But the delivery of the whole thing just seemed uncomfortable. Jason needs reps… a lot of them. But beyond that, he is also dealing with what I've been writing and tweeting about for over a year now - the Kelces are becoming way too much in our daily lives.

What Jason is experiencing right now is a combination of not only being put in a broadcasting position he's not familiar with, but also that people and fans have started to turn on the Kelces, because they are the Kelces.

Is Jason Kelce relevant? Absolutely. The success of his New Heights podcast with Travis shows that, as it is frequently one of the most listened to sports shows on a weekly basis. But doing a podcast is much different than live broadcasting, which Kelce and viewers quickly saw when he joined ESPN's Monday Night Football coverage earlier this season. 

He's simply trying too hard to be the party guy, which he naturally is, but it's coming across as too forced on television. (Which I also wrote about in August of last year right here). Sure, Kelce is awesome and fun in a natural setting. But in this digital and social media age, people can immediately spot when it feels phony, which is what is happening when he tries to pound beers or get the crowd riled up during his live segments. 

TOO MUCH OF TRAVIS AND JASON KELCE?

Now, to be fair, I have not watched the previous episodes of his show. But if the ratings are any indication of what other viewers think, then that's not a good sign for Jason. According to Nielsen, They Call It Late Night had 881,000 viewers on its second episode on January 10. Just two weeks later however, that number dropped to 110,000. Not ideal, needless to say. 

What I would do is put Jason in an ESPN ESPYs-type role. Have him do a red carpet or host with Travis. Bring in Caitlin Clark as well and have her do some impromptu interviews with celebs and athletes. 

He would do much better in that kind of gig, rather than a Late Night talk show of all things!

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