ESPN Makes a Big Play off the Field

Cable World,  August 25, 2003  

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Byline: SHIRLEY BRADY

When I told my gridiron-loving boyfriend that ESPN is launching its first scripted drama this week and that Playmakers features the lives of football players between games, he quipped, "The only action I want to see on ESPN is what happens on the field."

So I made Andrew watch the preview screening tape with me, and while he was somewhat dubious at first, by the end of the second episode he was wanting more. (Specifically, he wants to find out what happens to an aging running back usurped by a cocky upstart played by Omar Gooding.)

Although Andrew got into the characters, he did point out some caveats that could make him bail on the series. He noted the similarities to Any Given Sunday's Dennis-Quaid-as-aging-quarterback plot and the potential for similar sports drama cliches as the series unspools. He was struck by Gooding's resemblance to older brother Cuba Gooding Jr.'s portrayal of Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire. He felt the fast-switching voiceovers and interior monologues could grow confusing and tired. And he took some pleasure in spotting Canadian accents and Toronto landmarks from my hometown in the background.

But if more viewers like Andrew are willing to give the one-hour drama - running Tuesdays at 9 p.m. from Aug. 26 to Nov. 3 - a fighting chance as the plotlines unfold, then Mark Shapiro, ESPN's EVP of programming and production, will be one happy man.

Shapiro would be even happier if more folks like me - non-football fans, sporadic ESPN viewers, women - would check out the series when it kicks off in a commercial-free premiere (and in hi-def on ESPN HD, to boot) this week.

That might be a tougher proposition. The series' ripped-from-the-headlines plots may not have as much resonance for non-NFL followers, even though its fictional team belongs to a fictitious league.

Don't sports fans want to watch sports and more sports, not sports as a backdrop to a made-up story line? After all, isn't sports the original unscripted reality hit of television?

ESPN research begs to differ, which is why it now allots 5% of its lineup to originals including movies such as Ice Bowl (penned by Joe Eszterhas and slated for Q1 2004) and another project in development with director Spike Lee, based on his 1998 film He Got Game.

Playmakers is indeed a bold move, one that may pay off - although this viewer would prefer a half-hour comedy expanding on the network's hilarious This Is SportsCenter promos.

Now that's what I'd call appointment viewing.

THE NEXT QUESTION:

*Will Playmakers' raw edginess, drugs and sex make it The Sopranos of ESPN - or see it sleeping with the fishes by November?

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