Never did I ever think that I would have to feel I needed to finish something I was watching, by watching something else. Confused? Appie-polly-loggies. I am referring to a recent watch of the HBO documentary Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals, a chronicle of the rivalry between basketball stars Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the 1980s NBA. I felt the need to watch that after HBO (ironically) announced they were canceling the show Winning Time after two seasons.
The cancellation of that show isn't what irked me. I get it. It was a show that told events that were known (at least to people who follow sport). It doesn't contain the level of drama that another HBO show like, say, Succession might. That's understandable, in a manner of speaking.
What aggravates me, as someone who was into every episode, is how they were supposed to tell the story of the Los Angeles Lakers in the '80s and ended it in 1984. Not even halfway through the decade. To add insult to ultimate injury, the show ended with the Boston Celtics winning! Then summarizing the rest of the decade with a cheap montage of captions to show how they were this dynasty. Talk about an absolute half-ass finish. An insult to the art of visual storytelling. To the work of the creatives of this show and to the author of the source material, Jeff Pearlman, who wrote the book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.
"There's a lot of 'author begs viewers to watch show.' Fair. But I'm NOT begging for me. I'm begging because this saga is not complete, and needs to continue. For the actors, the crew, the storyline. Plus, no fucking way can a Lakers show end in 1984", Pearlman expressed in a post on Twitter (I refuse to acknowledge the big baby billionaire CEO's new name for the app).
It's a disservice to how creative that show was. It was visually flashy. Using filters that made it look like the '80s made this such a fun watch. The cast was a beautiful mix. John C. Reilly has never been better after playing Jerry Buss. Jason Clarke as Jerry West was my favorite character. Adrien Brody owned his role as Pat Riley. Then you had Brett Cullen, Rob Morgan, Sally Field, Tracy Letts, Jason Segel, Gaby Hoffman, Michael Chiklis, et al, as a great ensemble of veteran actors.
What I think was the lifeblood of the show was the crop of incredibly talented young actors. Quincy Isaiah beautifully embodied Magic Johnson. Hadley Robinson delivered a compelling Jeanie Buss. Sean Patrick Small was a rousing revelation as Larry Bird. Solomon Hughes was a rock as the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
In the end, what aches most about the canning of this show is all the storylines left on the table:
Rematches between the Lakers and the Celtics
Magic and Bird's budding friendship (which was never even hinted at)
The rise of the Detroit Pistons as rivals
The close friendship between Magic and Isiah Thomas
The continued growth of Jeanie Buss, and other storylines with the Buss family
But most of all, the glaring hole left by this show's premature end can literally be found in the opening scene of the pilot episode. It started in 1991, with an older Magic Johnson in a doctor's office. Without saying, it was the day he was told he tested positive for HIV. It's mind-boggling to think that the show ended SEVEN YEARS short of circling back to that moment. A travesty of the craft.
I'm not much of a TV show kind of guy, so I guess this is the first time this has happened to a show I'm interested in. Can another network/streamer pick it up? They could. It'd be great if one did. A "finish what they started" type deal would be fine. It's one thing to cancel shows. It happens all the time. But leaving something so incomplete? Horrid.
ALSO: Look at this amazing visual intro
Comentarios