Make Page Six a Preferred Source In the lead-up to Wednesday’s premiere of “The Russini Report,” NFL reporter Dianna Russini’s weird comeback on a sports betting site headquartered in Costa Rica, a promo quoted her as saying, “I’m back. And I have a lot to say.”Well, not for the first 45 minutes she didn’t.Meant to kick off at noon, the BetUS program repeated a warm-up video over and over again saying “show starting soon” for nearly an hour underscored by the sort of nntz-nntz club music that summons images of an empty Tampa dance floor at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday.
But the show’s X account claimed the party was actually hopping. They said the website was pushed over its limit, so massively clicked on this lunchtime stream was.“Well… you broke it,” a post read. “The premiere of The Russini Report drew a record-breaking audience today! We’re adding more seats so everyone gets in.”Uh huh.Considering “The Russini Report” X account has just 2,500 followers and the official BetUS one has a marginally better 19.1K, it seems like there should have been plenty of chairs for everybody — and then some.
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The premiere’s crash is certainly an apt metaphor for the former highly paid reporter at The Athletic who resigned from her lucrative gig after Page Six published photos of her and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel holding hands at a resort in Arizona.
That’s where all the best reporters interview their sources, you know.Six months later, 43-year-old Russini is back — only in a rather less impressive setting than her old TV gig as an on-air ESPN contributor.
Once the show started, it made public access look like HBO.
The program turned out to be a pre-tape from what appears to be her very normal-looking home office. The decor was memorabilia on beige walls, a wooden shelf, blinds and lighting by the DMV.
I thought a sports betting site might have had the cash to give one of their new marquee shows some production value. Maybe a few lamps. Nope. Any one of us could produce “The Russini Report,” and probably get it to actually stream on time.
She began on the defense. Throwing scraps to her detractors, the host briefly and vaguely addressed the sticky situation with Vrabel at the beginning.
“Over the last few months, I have had a lot of time to think about my life and my priorities and the person I wanna be moving forward,” she said.
The person she wants to be: One who works for a betting site that’s not licensed by any US state’s gaming authority, and a colleague of Dennis Rodman.
Russini was OK. Leading an entire broadcast, rather than contributing commentary, she’s trying too hard to be casual, and is a tad monotonous.
After tip-toeing around her scandal, she monologued about what happens next with Lamar Jackson, and interviewed radio hosts Damon Amendolara and Spike Eskin. The vibe was “my very first podcast.” Topics rapidly jumped around, and the graphics (a video clip here, a photo there) were rudimentary.
At the end, Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells called in for just a couple of innocuous questions.
If viewership really was enormous, then good for her. But based on this first effort, “The Russini Report” looks to be just more background noise.
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