The Last Dance led to an explosion of sports docs but almost all of them failed to spot what Ehan did that only MJ can make an informercial that is also great TV.
We had a brief golden period with the first 30 for 30 run and a few others before sports docs became another way for an athlete to be packaged rather than for a story to be told.
I'd trade subject access for realness and honesty in a heartbeat, but without subject access none of these docs get made - or at the very least I'm watching them on Youtube rather than Netflix or Prime, with C-grade interviews and much worse production values.
As a Niners hater, I skipped to the final episode to relive Kittle’s “hi George” F-up in the Super Bowl. I wanted to hear what he said about it… and got nothing.
That immediately confirmed the show was nothing more than PR. And granted, I know they can’t/won’t show the more salacious aspects of their lives.
But this was a big, famous moment from the biggest game of the year, and they cut it. That sucks — and made it easy for me to decide to not watch the other episodes.
I have a different perspective on this as someone who worked in story producing and post production for several reality shows. Preparing these shows is an art to a varying degree and there is a skill/talent in storytelling.
Your criticisms may be that the story and post department are not necessarily the best and they are missing some story elements, that you, as a excellent story teller, find glaring. I find a lot of netflix shows are dull and I think a lot of it is that there is a lot of mediocrity behind the scenes in the production of these shows.
i’m a huge “Mic’d up Fan” and before the super bowl i was talking to another friend about it who said something like “oh man isn’t Kittle great on those things?” and i actually responded that i don’t like kittle when he’s mic’d up because you can tell he’s playing to the mic/camera and has clearly rehearsed (at least in his head) some of the things he plans to say. i also said he needs to focus more on playing than trying to go viral and lo and behold he got cute in the super bowl and missed that fumble because he was too busy trying to be funny
It's not pro sports, but if you want to see a sports documentary series that doesn't try to make everyone likable, Last Chance U is phenomenal (and deals with things that go way beyond sports), especially the basketball seasons
Unchained (Tour de France Netflix show) is also mostly unafraid to expose some of the less savory aspects of certain riders and teams
Haven't watched Receiver yet and probably will when I'm stuck on a flight or something like that and need a Netflix show. The Last Dance and 30 for 30's (for the most part) were incredible, but the unwanted fallout is that people started to think everything needed a documentary.
Don't see it as much anymore that there was a point in time on Twitter where anytime anything happened in sports someone would tweet "the 30 for 30 on this is gonna be crazy." Sometimes ironically, but often not.
Ethan what do you think of Hard Knocks? That’s always been my favorite sports documentary in modern times. I’m sure they omit a ton as well, but I really liked the in season one with the dolphins last year
The F1 series suffers a bit from this too. If you watch a whole season and then watch the show, you know what was omitted or not dug through more.
As an aside, that sport is incredible at capturing athlete emotion. Every driver has to be interviewed post-race, and due to the nature of the sport, they wear every emotion, positive or negative on their face. Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen haven’t smiled in at least a couple months.
The Last Dance led to an explosion of sports docs but almost all of them failed to spot what Ehan did that only MJ can make an informercial that is also great TV.
We had a brief golden period with the first 30 for 30 run and a few others before sports docs became another way for an athlete to be packaged rather than for a story to be told.
Beckham is probably the worst recent example.
I'd trade subject access for realness and honesty in a heartbeat, but without subject access none of these docs get made - or at the very least I'm watching them on Youtube rather than Netflix or Prime, with C-grade interviews and much worse production values.
Kudos for pointing this out.
As a Niners hater, I skipped to the final episode to relive Kittle’s “hi George” F-up in the Super Bowl. I wanted to hear what he said about it… and got nothing.
That immediately confirmed the show was nothing more than PR. And granted, I know they can’t/won’t show the more salacious aspects of their lives.
But this was a big, famous moment from the biggest game of the year, and they cut it. That sucks — and made it easy for me to decide to not watch the other episodes.
I have a different perspective on this as someone who worked in story producing and post production for several reality shows. Preparing these shows is an art to a varying degree and there is a skill/talent in storytelling.
Your criticisms may be that the story and post department are not necessarily the best and they are missing some story elements, that you, as a excellent story teller, find glaring. I find a lot of netflix shows are dull and I think a lot of it is that there is a lot of mediocrity behind the scenes in the production of these shows.
Come on now we can't be doing anything on Holly wood on merit, we have quotas to hit!
i’m a huge “Mic’d up Fan” and before the super bowl i was talking to another friend about it who said something like “oh man isn’t Kittle great on those things?” and i actually responded that i don’t like kittle when he’s mic’d up because you can tell he’s playing to the mic/camera and has clearly rehearsed (at least in his head) some of the things he plans to say. i also said he needs to focus more on playing than trying to go viral and lo and behold he got cute in the super bowl and missed that fumble because he was too busy trying to be funny
It's not pro sports, but if you want to see a sports documentary series that doesn't try to make everyone likable, Last Chance U is phenomenal (and deals with things that go way beyond sports), especially the basketball seasons
Unchained (Tour de France Netflix show) is also mostly unafraid to expose some of the less savory aspects of certain riders and teams
Haven't watched Receiver yet and probably will when I'm stuck on a flight or something like that and need a Netflix show. The Last Dance and 30 for 30's (for the most part) were incredible, but the unwanted fallout is that people started to think everything needed a documentary.
Don't see it as much anymore that there was a point in time on Twitter where anytime anything happened in sports someone would tweet "the 30 for 30 on this is gonna be crazy." Sometimes ironically, but often not.
Hmmm. Was Mariota and his family grappling with him not being good enough a necessary component of QB?
Ethan what do you think of Hard Knocks? That’s always been my favorite sports documentary in modern times. I’m sure they omit a ton as well, but I really liked the in season one with the dolphins last year
The F1 series suffers a bit from this too. If you watch a whole season and then watch the show, you know what was omitted or not dug through more.
As an aside, that sport is incredible at capturing athlete emotion. Every driver has to be interviewed post-race, and due to the nature of the sport, they wear every emotion, positive or negative on their face. Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen haven’t smiled in at least a couple months.