Just as Jon Voights on-target portrayal of controversial sportscaster Howard Cosell) in the 2002 biopic Ali was making the theatrical rounds, actor John Turturro offered his own spin on Humble Howard in the made-for-cable movie Monday Night Mayhem. Based on the book by Bill Carter and Marc Gunther, the film chronicles the creation of ABC Televisions Monday Night Football telecast in 1970, then continues with the weekly telecasts rapid ascent to the top of the ratings. Reasoning that such a momentous undertaking needed a spectacular star lineup in the announcing booth, ABCs aggressive sports director Roone Arledge (John Heard) teams the highly opinionated, irritatingly erudite Cosell with not one but two charismatic ex-athletes, Dandy Don Meredith (Brad Beyer) and Frank Gifford (Kevin Anderson). The film makes much of Cosells open disdain towards his intellectually inferior co-anchors and of Meredith and Giffords reaction to their booth-mates jibes, and also recreates many of Monday Night Footballs highlights, notably Cosells announcement in the middle of an important game that John Lennon has just been murdered. Monday Night Mayhem originally aired on January 14, 2002, not on ABC (surprise, surprise!) but as part of the TNT cable networks prime time lineup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide