FRANK Gifford and “Dandy” Don Meredith will return to “Monday Night Football” one last time next week to bid farewell to the ABC Sports program, which is heading to cable next season.
The pair, who were part of the three-man broadcasting team with the late Howard Cosell, will appear in taped segments slated to air at the beginning of next week’s Jets game against the New England Patriots.
Gifford will also be at the game on live TV with “MNF” play-by-play guy Al Michaels.
“There’s kind of a myth out there that Don [Meredith] is reclusive,” Gifford told The Post yesterday. “He just didn’t like life in the fast lane.”
But Gifford, the legendary New York Giant who worked on “MNF” from 1971 to 1997, was instrumental in convincing Meredith – who has turned up on TV only a handful of times since 1984 – to appear on the telecast next week.
“I just called him up,” Gifford says. “We talk several times a week and e-mail almost every day anyway.”
Meredith was part of the original “MNF” broadcast team that included Cosell and Keith Jackson.
For the show’s final network telecast, “MNF” is expected to include pre-taped vignettes encapsulating favorite moments taken from the program’s last four decades on the air.
“MNF” is headed to ABC’s cable cousin, ESPN, next year after 36 seasons.
Over the years, the ratings for “MNF” have plummeted – even though it is still one of the most-watched shows on TV.
For example, during the 1973 season, the show was seen by an average of 23.1 million viewers. In 2004 roughly 16.4 million tuned in. “MNF” had its best season in 1989, with about 25.3 million viewers each week.