‘Full Contact’ looks behind the NFL scenes

Plenty of things can go wrong at such an event, and many do.

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

vindicator entertainment writer

TruTV calls its new series “NFL Full Contact,” but it’s probably not what you expect.

The name implies that it’s about the on-field combat. But it’s really a behind-the-scenes look at how the National Football League — that grand, glorious and fully-televised American obsession — stages events for massive audiences.

What the viewer in his living room sees is a slick and smooth spectacle. But for the television crews and event planners who pull it off on a weekly basis, it’s more like mayhem-as-usual.

NFL Films helped make this documentary-style series, so it’s done in a way that appeals to adrenaline-seekers.

“Full Contact” premieres at 10 p.m. Monday — the day after the Super Bowl — and it’s an especially good way for Pittsburgh Steelers fans to keep the pigskin buzz going. That’s because the first episode is about the NFL season kickoff game that pitted the Tennessee Titans against the Steelers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh back in September.

The Steelers won that game in overtime, but the score is only incidental to “Full Contact.”

The pilot turns the camera on the stress-loving, T-shirt wearing men who capture and bottle the NFL image for the small screen.

There are parallels between these everyday Joes and the players: The cameramen, security guards, stage manager and TV producers need the quick-thinking poise of a quarterback (and sometimes the brute force of a linebacker) to succeed.

That Steelers game was preceded by a free concert at Point State Park, across the river from the stadium, featuring Tim McGraw, the Black Eyed Peas and about 30,000 black-and-gold clad fans.

Plenty of things can go wrong at such an event, and many do. One of the biggest worries of concert manager Dan Parise is that the “casted audience” — those look-good-on-camera folks who are brought close to the stage — isn’t big enough. The pen is half-empty, and throngs are being kept in the background by a cattle fence. That’s bad television, and Parise and company have only minutes to even out the crowd.

There’s also the usual woes: lost children, drunks, a bomb scare ... even an unauthorized Tim McGraw impersonator wandering around where he shouldn’t be.

In short, “Full Contact” isn’t about football.

It’s about the hoopla surrounding it — the tightrope act of creating a live broadcast with thousands of hard-to-control people.

Future episodes will follow the NFL draft, the opening game of the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, the third annual NFL International Series game in London and, finally, the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl, both in south Florida this year.