Alas Poor Jillian, We Have Loved Thee

Fox NFL Sunday has let Jillian Barberie go as "Weather Girl." Reason behind it all is that with Joe Buck now being the host of the Pre-Game show, the program's going on the road.

Jillian can't come on the road.

Jillian Barberie, whose weather reporting on Fox's NFL pregame show pioneered the notion that NFL TV can get almost risque, won't return this season. To allow game play-by-play announcer Joe Buck to host its pregame show, Fox will turn it into a road show that will set up each weekend in the parking lot outside the stadium where Buck will work his games. Fox coordinating producer Scott Ackerson says it would have been "too hard logistically" for Barberie, who has a local morning show in Los Angeles, to come along. Still, he adds, "I love Jillian."

Fox NFL studio star Terry Bradshaw is already nostalgic: "When she first came on, I thought, 'Oh boy, there's something to play with!' Uh, television-wise. But I was just going through a divorce. God bless Fox. We'll do anything!"

Pretty much, but that's a good thing in show business. This season, says Ackerson, the wandering pregame show might also put lots of fans onscreen. Like, say, in throwing contests with Bradshaw? "Funny you should mention that. We've thought about target practices against Terry."

Bradshaw plans big changes: "I will be serious. I just want to break down the games, get back to what Fox saw in me at CBS — a guy with incredible knowledge of sports. No more hayseed. I' going to earn the respect of viewers, win an Emmy every year — then melt down the trophies for a necklace." Bradshaw can do irony.

We here at the BBA who enjoyed oogling Jillian, shall miss oogling Jillian.