This looks like it could be a REALLY good series, and I'm kind of surprised it hasn't been done before on a HBO or Showtime.

The first show on Tuesday is commercial free...what do you all think about it? Will you tune in?

I dont think so, I saw Any Given Sunday so I dont need a series where they take everything that is wrong with pro football and stuff it all into one show. Id much rather see the HBO training camp show that they have. Why couldnt ESPN do something like that where they follow a team around all preseason and show that. To me that seems to be more what ESPN is about and not their "Original Programming"

Yeah, well I like both shows. HBO Hardknocks is great. I thought Any Given Sunday was pretty bad and forgetable...

I think this can be interesting though. The only thing I'm worried about is them going overboard on the negative image of athletes.

Mentioning ESPN Original Entertainment along with HBO Original Series is like comparing an outline of my hand entitled "Turkey" to the collected works of Picasso. With the exception of PTI, they've really dropped the ball, and it seems they're more interested in non-stop promotion and attempts to appear "edgy" than a focus on quality or accuracy.

Still, this could very well be the exception, and I'll certainly tune in to find out. The way they've promoted the thing, it just looks like a shameless attempt to exploit the darker side of professional sports. However, taking a deeper look, I notice there's some real talent behind the pilot. Scott Brazil has proven he knows what he's doing on The Shield, and John Eisendrath's done some great work on Alias. In fact both of them secured a spot on my Top 50 for last year. That's enough to give me some hope that there may be some depth on this show. We'll find out soon enough.

das

HBO had something like this back in the 80's. Think it was called "First and Ten"

edit: billed as a sitcom, it ran from 84-91.

I'm just watching for the hookups with the hot chicks.

1st and Ten was hilarious.



We'll see how much the NFL likes this show when the next television contract comes up. My feeling is that we may be watching NFL Sunday Night Football on the new NFL channel down the road.

While what we really need is another drama series about cops or doctors, this looks interesting. I'll watch the first episode and take it from there.

ESPN = ABC = Disney. i highly doubt it.

i'm looking forward to the show, but i think it'll have a hard time without swearing or nudity...

The NFL is not creating this channel just to show NFL Films highlights for the next century. They certainly must be making plans to cut out the middle man and sell commercial time themselves at least in one of the broadcast windows.

Well I was looking forward to it but if I see any more commercials for it than probably not

I'll be checking out the first couple episodes to see if it's worth it.

I just hope they go beyond the cliche storylines I've been reading about in articles about the series.

Because it's ESPN I will check it out, but I'm not expecting much. If this show was done on Showtime of HBO I might be more interested, but without adult content I just don't think it will be believable. Guess we'll see.

Got a good review in the Wash Post today.

espn.com's "The Sports Guy" just gave it a not-so-glowing review. Apparently, the characters do do some cursing.

One of the head honchos from ESPN was just on the 'FAN promoting this. Francesa was tearing him a new one regarding: the network, the show, the ESPYs, you name it......

I'm looking forward to not having to sit through 90 seconds of "Playmakers" promo before my daily fix of "The Budweiser Hot Seat."

The promos have turned me off, but I likely wouldn't have watched it anyway since anything that follows an "eoe" graphic makes me want to puke.

but that's just my opinion

The only time you didn't havr to see commercials for this show is during the show... Go figure




Shadow

so... what did you guys think?

i think it has some potential... i'll be watching again next week.. glad to see there's some swearing in there though... no f-bombs, but the gave you a d*** and an a-hole in the first minute!

gotta say though, that game time countdown clock is a total rip-off of 24... same font and everything.. and was it me, or did the closing song sound like a complete rip-off of the sopranos theme??

whoops... didn't see the other thread...

Well, what font do you expect for a clock? Choices are pretty limited.

well yeah, but... flashing it up on the screen for 5 seconds every so often... just very 24....