Have you noticed all the TV shows and movies that have basketball as a main theme these days?
There's Swagger on Apple TV Plus, and The Crossover on Disney Plus, and Winning Time on HBO, and the movie Air on Prime Video, and several others.
I did a story on all the hoops shows for Broadcasting + Cable Mag.
Reggie Rock Bythewood, creator, director and executive producer of Swagger, said that when he was approached about taking Kevin Durant's story to TV four or five years ago, a few other basketball-show pitches hit him as well.
“I don’t know what was in the air,” he told me.
The trend began with the Michael Jordan docuseries The Last Dance, which arrived on ESPN and ABC as Covid forced people inside. It continues today.
Why does basketball work in the scripted world? It's just five players, per team, on the court at one time, so fans get to know them better. They don't wear facemasks. The premise of the game -- get the ball in the hoop — is simple, but the skills needed to execute the premise are unique.
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