If you missed HBO’s debut of “Joe Buck Live” last night, you missed quite a show.

On it’s own merits, “Joe Buck Live” was not must-see TV for me. I didn’t know it was on, and if I had, I would not have recorded it. Buck is a terrific football and baseball play-by-play guy. He is not a guy who has the credibility to host his own sports talk show. This is his attempt to enter the conversation with Bob Costas or Bryant Gumbel as the gatekeepers of the intellectual side of sports. Someone who can be a ring leader for introspective discussions about issue-oriented sports subjects. Costas has been pulling this off for years and his HBO shows were outstanding. Buck is not a capable replacement. His swarmy, smart-aleck disposition is better suited for “Talk Soup” or another show on Comedy Central, not HBO.

Last night is a perfect example as he coudn’t handle the hilarious, yet unpredictable Arte Lange, who basically took the show to level of vulgarity that is great on Howard Stern–where Lang is a sidekick–but not for sports talk show. Costas never would have booked Lange in the first place.

Video of the segment was pulled off YouTube by HBO today, so you’ll have to catch the rerun on HBO if you subscribe (not worth the $14.99 per month if you don’t), or somewhere else on the net. It’s pretty raunchy, so we’re not posting it here.

Lots of chatter in the Twitterverse on this topic. I’m posting tweets from Buck’s media collegues who are not shy about what they think, or how they feel about Buck.

1. 
   sportsguy33 Love the HBO/Buck spin control today. They put Artie Lange on live cable TV + can’t believe it got out of control. Really? How dumb are you? 16 Jun 2009 from web
2. 
   LATimesfarmer Joe Buck looks down his nose at low-brow types, like reporters who Tweet and intrusive TMZ shooters. He’ll take Artie Lange, thank you. 16 Jun 2009 from web
3. 
   SI_JonHeyman i think joe buck is a very funny guy. but whoever booked artie lang has some ’splainin’ to do. whata disaster! 16 Jun 2009 from web
4. 
   arwarrington Really late, but Joe Buck’s show last night was basically unwatchable until Artie showed up. Some misses, but he exposed Buck as a fraud. 16 Jun 2009 from TweetDeck
5. 
   reid_usa2day Of all the Langes in all the world, the Joe Buck Show picks Artie? How about Clubber, Jessica, Jim or K.D.? http://tr.im/oIO5 16 Jun 2009 from web
6. 
   wingoz in a shocking twist.. HBO pulling video down of Joe Buck Live, citing copyright infringement. i did NOT see that coming 16 Jun 2009 from web

In an unrelated story from the show, Brett Favre revealed to Buck that his return to the NFL is a “maybe” at this point. Only Buck could have gotten uselly closed-lipped Favre to be that vulnerable on live television.

What did you think of the show? Did Buck handle himself well with Lange or did he get punked? Send your replies to @BTsports.

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