Craig Carton’s new FS1 show debuts with Mark Schlereth in the driver’s seat

Craig Carton is prominently featured on the show, which used to bear his name, but this definitely isn’t The Carton Show anymore.

FS1 debuted Breakfast Ball Monday afternoon at noon, although the show will air regularly from 8-10 a.m. ET once the network formally launches its new post-Skip Bayless lineup next week. It marks the third time in three years that FS1 will attempt to build a morning show around Carton. In 2022, Carton was alongside Cody Decker and a cast of rotating analysts. Last year, it was Carton alongside David Jacoby and a cast of rotating analysts.

Now it’s Carton, Danny Parkins and Mark Schlereth on the newly named Breakfast Ball show.

More suspiring than ditching The Carton Show name is the fact that Carton also ditched being the show’s quarterback. Breakfast Ball premiered with Carton in his usual chair, but he was no longer in the driver’s seat. In a surprising twist, that role now belongs to Schlereth.

Carton and Parkins made their careers by driving radio shows and would have been the seemingly obvious choices to drive this TV venture for FS1. Instead, Schlereth introduces each topic while taking Breakfast Ball in and out of commercial breaks. It’s fine, but it strips Carton and Parkins of something they were great at. Carton was given the opportunity to quarterback a TV show for the last two years without much ratings success, so wanting to change it up makes sense, but Schlereth taking over is a surprise.

Breakfast Ball , however, appears intent on leaning on Schlereth and his three Super Bowl rings as its sports expert, with Carton and Parkins providing the more NARP perspective. It’s a dynamic that worked between Carton and Boomer Esiason for years on WFAN. Carton, however, was the point guard of that dynamic, controlling when to abandon sports for comedy or hijinks, and he was great at sensing the moment. It might be harder to recreate that dynamic with Schlereth directing the show.

Breakfast Ball debuted with little pizzazz; it was fine, the content was fine, the chemistry was fine. Which for a show featuring three hosts who met each other last week and had two days of rehearsals before launching, is a compliment. Schlereth has been a part-time contributor to Carton’s morning TV shows for the last two years, but this is the first time they’re working together regularly.

No one seemed uncomfortable or tried too hard to make their mark; everything was fine. If anything, Parkins didn’t try hard enough to assert himself. Carton is very comfortable in that chair, studio and timeslot for FS1. He won’t be shy about getting his airtime, meaning Parkins will have to fight more for his. But again, it’s day one on a show that Parkins is co-hosting with people he met last week.

If the show felt like it was just pieced together, that’s because it literally was. No one, not even the hosts, had this trio hosting a national TV show together three weeks ago. There’s plenty of talent at the table; turning that into something cohesive and enthusing remains the challenge.

[ Breakfast Ball ]

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