Sometime D Magazine contributor and CBS golf analyst David Feherty signed a new contract late last year with CBS that pretty much makes him, like, the Irish Oprah. A few details came out earlier this year about a show he’ll be doing for the Golf Channel as part of the new agreement, but in a FrontBurner exclusive that’s so exclusive that it almost stings he’s talking for the first time about his expanded duties.
It breaks down like this: in addition to doing golf analysis, Feherty will also make appearances on 60 Minutes, The Early Show, CBS Sunday Morning — even perhaps Final Four broadcasts. Don’t expect to see him on the court, though. “I’m not going to be an analyst for a sport where the damn hole is in the air,” he says. Instead, he might produce a taped feature that would air during the broadcast. He says it depends on which teams make it to the Final Four and whether a story emerges that tickles his fancy. (For an idea of what such a Feherty presentation might look like, read the transcript of the bit he did about the Elderly Football League prior to the Super Bowl.)
Feherty’s new contract also allowed him to negotiate his own deal with the Golf Channel (which is owned by Comcast). As part of his gig there, he has created a show called, simply, F, about a fictional golf network. Fred Willard will star as his boss. Feherty says, “It’s a show about not having a show,” and that a blow-up doll of Betty White is involved. The first episode of F is slated to air April 23.
So. How about the terms of the new deal? Feherty put it this way: “I was getting paid a stupid amount of money before. Now I’m being paid an amount that is twice as stupid for slightly more work. It’s a great country.”
