 the george michael sports machine was a syndicated, sports-related television program which was launched in 1984. the show aired weekends, usually on sunday nights, across the nation and originated from wrc-tv in washington, dc, one of nbc's owned and operated stations. most of the series that aired the sports machine were nbc affiliates. the show was an offshoot of a local program that george michael, a former disc jockey who became a sportscaster, hosted in washington beginning in 1980. michael hosted the program for its entire run, which ended in 2007. current sportscenter anchor lindsay czarniak, who was a colleague of michael's at wrc and worked for turner sports and speed channel as well, joined the program as a substitute host in 2004 and became michael's co-host in 2006. ==history== shortly after michael joined wrc-tv in 1980, the station launched the program as george michael's sports final, a local sports wrapup show on sunday evenings, following the late newscast. after a successful four-year run in washington, nbc's other owned-and-operated stationsâat the time in new york city, los angeles, cleveland, and chicagoâadded the program to their sunday late-night schedules, and it was retitled as the george michael sports machine. nbc-affiliated stations began to pick up the show in 1986, and in 1991 group w productions took sports machine into wider national syndication. the show moved to other syndicators such as eyemark entertainment, king world productions, and itc entertainment before nbc enterprises (later nbcuniversal television distribution from 2004 until the show's final episode in 2007) began distributing the program in 2001. as host, george michael presented clips from the weekend's sporting events from across the united states and sometimes outside of the u.s. unlike newer sports-related programming, sports machine did not usually present commentary or criticism and focused on the highlights, and, often toward the end of the show, an in-depth story about a particular athlete. the show was also somewhat unique in its occasional coverage of remarkable high school sports footage, and its occasional coverage of sports largely ignored by other sports wrap-up shows, such as ice hockey, nascar and other auto racing events, professional wrestling, rodeo, and equestrian events. ===influence and criticism=== when the show premiered natio
1980s_American_television_series 1984_American_television_series_debuts 1990s_American_television_series 2000s_American_television_series 2007_American_television_series_endings American_sports_television_series First-run_syndicated_television_programs_in_the_United_States Television_series_by_CBS_Paramount_Television Television_series_by_ITC_Entertainment Television_series_by_Universal_Television