11/05/24
March 07, 2002
ESPN is looking to expand their viewership with the networks' first original movie. The made for TV film "A Season on the Brink" stars Brian Dennehy as the legendary and incendiary Indiana Hoosiers basketball coach Bobby Knight. With (parent company) Disney's back up, I think this will be a move in the right direction for the network as long as they keep the film projects original and relevant.
I think I would have looked forward to watching this movie if ESPN hadn't over-promoted it. Now, I really have lost all of my interest in it. I say keep movies off of ESPN(2/NEWS/CLASSIC). ESPN can keep making movies for all I care, but please show it on one of the other Disney-owned channels.
posted by gyc at 02:27 AM on March 08, 2002
Blimey. I can't imagine Sky Sports ever doing something like that. Thank God. I remember when sports channels showed sport and music channels played music...
posted by salmacis at 03:19 AM on March 08, 2002
When all of the promotion started, I seriously began wondering how good this movie could actually be considering how much they overdid it pushing it in our faces. For crying out loud, they kept sticking the logo in the bottom left quarter of the screen last night while I attempted to watch the Big East Tournament! Do they have no shame?!?
posted by rosey8810 at 08:18 AM on March 08, 2002
I watched a bit of it. Low-budget tripe - especially the substitution of actual game footage for recreation. Grainy 80s-style basketball footage with 1980s-era spectators; cut to a completely different set with modern lighting and digital film, cut back to 80s footage.
posted by Prince Valium at 07:58 AM on March 11, 2002
I kinda liked the way they cut between real footage and made-up stuff, the live-action footage looked like it was filmed in my kitchen though. Big waste of time in general, they tried to take a pretty complex man and squeeze him into some blue-collar epigrams. I have no idea who the intended audience for this crap was.
posted by pastepotpete at 12:45 PM on March 11, 2002
Could they have spent any less money for their basketball court sets? At least buy a few more lights so not only the very middle of the court is illuminated.
posted by gyc at 02:18 PM on March 11, 2002
Exactly what I expected. A really uninteresting movie. Guess HBO can rest easy now.
posted by rosey8810 at 03:54 PM on March 11, 2002
Here in Bloomington, four Hoosier fans won the right to view an advance screening. All said that it sucks. I will most definitely take that with a grain of salt. The future of ESPN's movies seems somewhat promising. I'd love to see a movie of Vince Lombardi 's or Wilt Chamberlain's lives. Even if they suck in a dramatic sense, the stories will still be interesting. I don't mean to hijack your thread here RGarraud, but what sports figures would you like to see a made-for-TV movie about?