General News

Will "Playmakers" come back for a second season?

After last night's riveting season finale of ?Playmakers,? the one major question on my mind is, will it come back for another season? As you might imagine, the NFL is not very happy with ESPN?s EOE division for creating a show which seems to focus on the negative aspect of the game. Basically, the NFL is pissed about ?Playmakers.? Sports columnist Mark Madden of the Pittsburg Post-Gazette wrote about the possibility of a second season of ?Playmakers,? in an article coming out just yesterday titled ''Playmakers' realism has NFL's brass squirming'. ?The NFL hates "Playmakers" because the series paints an all too realistic ... uh, sorry, I meant to say the NFL hates "Playmakers" because the series paints an unrealistic picture of pro football. But I think the real reason the NFL hates "Playmakers" is because it's more entertaining than the NFL. Parity hasn't made "Playmakers" boring.? Outside of the NFL?s perspective on the show, fans love it. Matthew A. Hennie of the New York Blade states in his article titled ?ESPN: back field in motion? published November 7th that, ?More than 2.2 million people watch it every week, well above the 1.34 million viewers who tune in for the network?s punchy and popular ?SportsCenter.?? So, if ESPN has produced a show which rates higher than their corner stone program, with their cornerstone audience of males age 18 to 34, why not a second season? One argument is the NFL, we know that, but most know the show is drama, not real life. Quoting Jason Matthew Smith in an ESPN.com Playmakers chat, ?What people need to understand is that it is a drama and it's a drama with a backdrop of football, like NYPD is a drama with a police backdrop. Most of our storylines come directly out of the sports page. None of the players like to see their dirty laundry airs but we put a lot of attention in the details so we don't draw attention to anyone in particular.? Another reason the show might not be back is the cost. This is about a million dollars per episode according to Hennie. But really I think most would agree with me here in saying that money is never an issue when talking about a top rated TV show, *cough* Friends. To put all this into perspective, I quote Tony Denison in a separate ESPN.com Playmakers chat when asked ?Is playmakers already looking for a second season?? ?Smart money says we will have a second season. They could tell us tonight but they have until January to let us know. They may hold off the announcement. I would venture to guess we are coming back but I don't have a crystal ball.? So no one can say if the show will on will not be back on next fall, but one thing we do know, the first season DVD will be out soon. That?s it, those are the facts. Now, if ask me, I wouldn?t be surprised ABC could pick up the show for next season?s primetime lineup, or if ?Playmakers? wins an Emmy (if nominated), or even if HBO buys the show from ESPN, but those are just my opinions. I?m out.

6 Comments

speak up

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site.

Subscribe to these comments.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

*Required Fields