Any Given Wednesday cancelled by HBO

Neil Best just reported that AGW has been cancelled, effective after the Nov. 9 show. Wow, that was fast. Not Joe Buck fast, but man. Going up against Game 7 of the WS was the nail in the coffin, I guess.

HBO certainly didn't get its $20 million worth. Now what?

 

I have HBO and rarely ever noticed it on while flipping through (though I don't surf channels a lot after the start of prep sports). I've never watched any of it other than the Ben Affleck video someone posted here in the summer.

 

CBS dumped millions into Jim Rome. Disaster.

Fox is paying ESPN castoffs seven digits to get five-digit viewership.

HBO gave Simmons millions. The TV end of it was a disaster. Best case scenario, maybe this leads to more focus on establishing The Ringer. Sports media needs more places for people to earn actual paychecks, which I desperately wish was the lesson learned here.

Maybe stop giving outrageous deals to one or two ESPN-built names, and instead invest that same money into building teams?

 

Sports talk shows need the immediacy of a quick turnaround. I used to love watching The Sports Reporters when Dick Schapp hosted bc they'd be talking on Sunday morning about stuff that had happened the night before. A weekly sports talk show is always going to be struggling for relevance in the conversation. I remember when Simmons was writing the back page column for ESPN the Magazine and he finally stopped because he didn't like the lag time. Lesson not learned. Still, can't fault him for taking HBO's money. How his value gets estimated at $20 million would be an interesting examination.

 

I look forward to him bitching about HBO when he lands with Bleacher Report.

 

I'm not sure the week lag was that much of a contributing factor. To use a news-side example, Last Week Tonight has the same lag and it has been doing fine. I think you're right, sports shows do benefit from next-day reaction. But I think good content is good content, and sports fans will eat it up if it is intriguing and entertaining. John Oliver can do that with news. Bill Simmons couldn't do it with sports. But I think that says more about Bill than it does the weekly format.

Then again, I know fuck all about TV programming. So you may be right.

 

I had high hopes for the show, but tuned out after the first half-dozen episodes. I thought that promise was shown over the first two episodes. Then the show got lazy and boring, the latter of which was the biggest crime. It didn't help that two of his last few shows went up a presidential debate and Game 7, but there also wasn't much of a reason to tune in. Bill Simmons interviews famous people? Cool, I can get that on the podcast. I needed more sketches and segments that showcased the creativity that I am sure existed in that writer's room.

 

I know he got huge money when he left ESPN, and I expected it, but I have not read or heard one word from him since then.

 

John Oliver does a shit-ton of research for his main stories every week. Simmons isn't in the same time zone as Oliver when it comes to content.

 

He's only written like two or three columns for The Ringer. I get that a guy wants to branch out and do different stuff, but it seems after all this he'll realize that being on camera is a nonstarter for him. He has a great podcast and can still write popular columns about whatever topics he wants. That's not failing.

 

Also, John Oliver has a much longer history in front of the camera, meaning he knows how to present that content in a much more entertaining way. Which kinda goes back to the point that this was mostly a Bill problem. He couldn't just sit down and wing it with a TV show like he did his columns while he was at ESPN.

 

Agreed. He made millions and millions of dollars to try this. He's wholly dislikable on every level, but he's succeeded (and failed, in that he tried something and it didn't work out) on his terms and made armfuls of cash. That said this conversation did remind me of this: