Opinion: Fox’s Lurid Legacy, From Joan and Al to Paige and Sage

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.* * * The Fox Broadcasting Company is just about eight months older than I am. Even when I was 4 or 5 years old, I grasped the idea that Fox was the “other” one of the networks in the big four, even if I didn’t appreciate the historical and business underpinnings of why. I saw my mother’s begrudging acceptance of my preschool love for “The Simpsons,” and I remember how weirdly dismissive she was and how quick she changed the channel when she found me watching an episode of “Married with Children.” The UFC on Fox card this Saturday in Sacramento, California, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s 22nd card on Fox, is taking me back to my youth. When it was “the other network,” Fox relied on sensational programming to try to forge ahead. It hitched its early wagon to a Joan Rivers late night show. Even when the 1990s rolled on and brought the channel respectability, especially after it nabbed the game-changing National Football League deal, the network’s penchant for raunch seemed dyed in the wool. Never mind longstanding shows like “Cops” and “America’s Most Wanted,” the mid-90s brought the hiring of Mike Darnell, Fox’s eventual President of Alternative Programming, who only doubled down on Fox’s salacious predisposition. Yes, this is the man who gave the world “American Idol,” revolutionizing the talent show concept by having a mean, posh man say mean, posh things to would-be singers. Darnell is also the lurid mind that blessed us with “Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?” “When Animals Attack,” “Man vs. Beast,” “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” and perhaps my all-time favorite Fox exploit-a-thon, “The Swan,” where women competed in a elimination-style pageant to “win” a battery of plastic surgeries, with the winner incrementally cutting up her entire body before transforming into a ghoulish lake bird in the finale. Today, we may all accept Fox as just another one of the big four American television networks, but it’ll always be the “other” network. Even if the deal was predicated on the Fox conglomerate wanting strong programming for the launch of Fox Sports 1, maybe we shouldn’t have been so surprised when the UFC wound up with the company, with shows on network Fox. When you consider it was the network that brought us “Celebrity Boxing,” it’s almost surprising Fox didn’t put the UFC on television in the late hours 20 years ago. Now, you can point to a questionable fight to make a televised Fox main card here or there, but this Saturday’s card at the new Golden 1 Center smacks of both a surrealism and sensationalism that hearkens back to Fox’s nascent days. First of all, a historically noteworthy fighter in Urijah Faber is retiring in his own backyard, but it’s the sub-story to our main event, where “Dancing with the Stars” darling Paige VanZant takes on Michelle Waterson. I have no fundamental gripes with the UFC leveraging the appeal of two attractive women fighting each other, especially when it’s a totally sensible, competitive matchup. On top of that, this is truly the best platform to leverage Paige VanZant’s mainstream celebrity; the kind of folks who caught wind of her through DWTS aren’t going to buy a $60 pay-per-view because she’s appearing on the main card. Watching more network TV, on the other hand? Far more palatable. If Holly Holm can peak at 4.7 million viewers, outside of the NFL season, while fighting Valentina Shevchenko, VanZant may be able to turn in an even more impressive number. VanZant is already a legitimate UFC roster fighter at 115 pounds; she’s got tons of untapped potential; and she’s fun to watch. If being the spark for network broadcasts is …

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