Make Your Reservations for the Emmy's Right Now, ESPN
One of the greatest cinematic achievements in modern times was A Season On The Brink, the 2002 ESPN movie about Bobby Knight. The film had Brian Dennehy brilliantly playing the former Indiana coach. In one of the great injustices of award show history, Dennehy was absolutely robbed of both a Golden Globe and Emmy in the "Best Actor in a Made For Television Movie" category. Inexplicably, that honor went to William H. Macy's interpretation of a retarded salesman in the utterly forgettable Door to Door.
To make up for this snub, ESPN has come roaring back. Starting on Monday, July 9, immediately after the Home Run Derby, the Worldwide Leader will premiere an 8 part mini-series called The Bronx Is Burning. This is how ESPN describes it on the official website for the film: "The Bronx is Burning is the story of the 1977 Yankees quest to win their first world championship in 15 years despite being racked with turbulence, turmoil and dissension."
The commercials for this have been absolutely fascinating. In them, we see George Steinbrenner yelling at Billy Martin, players fighting in the dugout, and Reggie Jackson proclaiming, "He can't handle my talent or intellect!" It is grand entertainment, and those are just the advertisements.
John Turturro, of The Big Lebowski, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou and other films, will play Billy Martin in a role he was born for. Unfortunately, his ears were not, so the ESPN make-up artists spared no expense and donned him with the most outstanding set of big, floppy ears you will ever see. Genius, ESPN. Pure genius.
Playing George Steinbrenner is respected actor Oliver Platt, who is known for his roles in A Time to Kill and Ready to Rumble, among others. Thankfully, Platt has experience working in the field of baseball, as seen in his appearance on Miami Vice in the episode entitled, Baseballs of Death.
One other casting note is the improbable but brilliant choice of Alan Ruck, aka Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, as Steve Jacobson, a reporter who covered the team for New York Newsday.
The Bronx Is Burning has a chance to become a classic in the truest sense of the word. ESPN has shown their acumen for making quality films time and time again. By broadening their horizons to produce an 8 part mini-series, the time is ripe for the network to expand their horizons and become a dominant force in the world of made-for-TV movies and mini-series.
There is no doubt the people who create those Hallmark Hall of Fame productions are shaking in their boots this very instant, stricken with fear over ESPN's impending glory in the made-for-TV genre.
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8 Comments:
You have a really cool blog here.
Don't they say those "those, who can't do, teach"? I guess these days it's "those who can't do, blog".
I'm going to take a minute to defend the WWL. Season on the Brink was 5 years ago. Since then, they have made Playmakers, picked up the Contender, and made a very, very good movie called Four Minutes. I have very much enjoyed all of those productions. Not all of thier stuff is perfect, but even HBO has flops.
I guess it's much easier to sit around the house in your undies, spilling ice cream on yourself, and throwing up boring criticisms at an easy target, as opposed to going out and, say, doing something worthlwhile yourself?
But judging by your writing talent (or lack thereof), maybe it's best you stick to the whole blog thing.
Fanprophet - Thank you
Anon - No, I do nothing worthwhile and spend my life in my underwear (obviously in my parents basement).
But I do not spill ice cream on myself. I do make a mess with Doritos, however. That's an important distinction that needs to be made.
People should just read the book instead. I think Bronx is Burning (the movie version) is going to suck since it has to cater to a sports audience, while the book is great because the story of the Yankees is only one of many stories going on simultaneously.
You also could have mentioned ESPN's half-assed attempt to capitalize on the poker craze, "Tilt." That show blew.
Too bad the movie doesn't concentrate on the other 75% of the book dealing with Soho, Studio 54, Son of Sam, Koch Vs Cuomo, Murdoch and the NY Post etc, because those were the only parts of the book I liked. Thank God that was about 75% of the book. But it looks to be about 5% of the next 8 hours. Woooooo.
Yeah, N.Y. was crazy at that time. There's been a number of films about that. I just can't imagine how there is going to be enough Yankees material to fill up an 8 part miniseries....
cool article.
val.
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