HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty scores a second season
It's time to queue up Kurtis Blow's slam dunk hit "Basketball"
Aux News Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty will have another season to elaborate on the winning power of the Los Angeles Lakers in the ‘80s. Well ahead of the first season’s finale in May, the Adam McKay and Max Borenstein series has been renewed for a second season.
Winning Time chronicles the lives of the Lakers team on and off the court as they seek to revitalize the sport of basketball. It boast a killer cast lineup that features John C. Reilly, Quincy Isaiah, Jason Clarke, Adrien Brody, Gaby Hoffmann, Tracy Letts, Jason Segel, Julianne Nicholson, Hadley Robinson, DeVaughn Nixon, Solomon Hughes, Tamera Tomakili, Brett Cullen, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Spencer Garrett, Sarah Ramos, and Sally Field. The series has built its momentum over the first-half of the season, with a 37 percent increase in viewership between the first and the fifth episode.
In our look at the first season, Noel Murray calls the series “wildly entertaining,” writing:
“Winning Time isn’t heavy or preachy. It mostly shifts between affectionate, wonky, and playfully ironic. This is a portrait of an NBA on the precipice of a major transformation, thanks to new stars and new corporate partners (including Nike, whose failed shoe pitch to Magic is a plot line in one episode). It’s a show about how creating something great and lasting is hard work, and how not everyone involved emerges unbruised. Winning Time is about one of sport’s golden ages, yes; but it’s also about the nebulousness of that very concept. By including a lot of different perspectives, the Winning Time team makes clear that in hindsight, everyone has a different idea about what a golden age was really like—and about when and why it ended.”
“It’s been a thrill to bring Winning Time to life with Adam McKay, Max Borenstein, our phenomenal producing team, and this incredible cast,” says Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President of HBO Programming. “This series not only tells the riveting story of the Lakers’ rise, but is also a look back at a transformative era in basketball, celebrity, and the city of Los Angeles. We can’t wait to see how this team will tell the next chapter of this dynasty.”
Episodes of Winning Time air weekly on Sundays on HBO and HBO Max. There are five episodes left in the first season, with the finale airing on May 8.
18 Comments
The juxtaposition of this show and the current Lakers’ futility couldn’t be more fun. I hate superteams.
In a related story, Will Ferrell’s head just exploded.
Maybe they’ll bring him on to play Donald Sterling.
FX wants to make a competing show about the Clippers, it’ll be interesting to see if he pops up on their show about a LA basketball team.
I really can’t see anyone other than John C. Reilly playing him at this stage.
John C. Reilly in a show about pro basketball in Los Angeles…could work.
I thought this was intended to be a limited series, but I’m okay with more even if I hate the Lakers with a searing passion.
I hated the Lakers then and now, but this show sounds interesting & entertaining, I particularly am intrigued by how they portray Kareem, who it now seems clear is far more interesting & admirable than he seemed at least to me at the time.
The guy playing him is great. The whole cast is really…. Magic It is as it sounds interesting and entertaining. Don’t worry if your not a Lakers fan, from the way they are portrayed I’m not sure the makers are either.
The most recent episode which focused on Kareem was amazing. Such an interesting guy.
I think of it as a Hannibal style show that makes you sympathetic to the villain of an 80s/90s franchise..
I was wondering if this was going to go the way of Vinyl and crumble under its own weight. I’m still watching and I think it’s getting slightly better as it goes but I’ve found it underwhelming thus far. I’m familiar with the actual people/events and hadn’t been this excited for a new show in a minute so I may have come in a bit too amped. The casting and performances are definitely the highlights but I could do with less of the overly stylized filming/editing and gratuitous raunch (and I like most McKay and raunch otherwise).
I think the raunch is necessary, to show how hedonistic the times were before HIV and how someone like Magic could succumb to it the way he did.
I get it but I think a little goes a long way. We all got that Buss is like Hef in very real ways by the end of the first episode but the fingering in the restaurant in episode five was a bit much. I’m also going to go out on a limb and say we’re going to see a lot of gratuitous boobs and vulva in a show centered around athletes and hours of locker room footage without a dong. So far, at least, it definitely feels a bit dated and out of touch in this respect. Maybe I’ll feel differently by the end. I’m also not really here for a story line where the tempting women of the hedonistic times were just too much for innocent Magic to resist. Maybe it will deal with it more critically. We’ll see.
When in this series has Magic been portrayed as innocent?
He hasn’t thus far. I was reacting to the phrasing of someone like Magic succumbing to something.
I don’t want to see the dongs of seven foot black guys. I already feel inadequate enough.
I’ve heard others around here express lukewarm sentiments on this show but I’m really enjoying it. I think the performances are phenomenal, particularly the guy playing Magic, so charismatic. One thing that I also like about it: from the pre-air coverage and the trailer, I really thought it was going to be yet another story about how a lone individual genius rich guy changed everything, like American capitalism’s favorite story. But I feel like this show really goes to great lengths to show every single person’s contribution to what the Lakers became, part of Dr. Buss’ “genius” is just asking experienced people what they need and saying yes. It makes sense, Adam McKay is very into following all the moving parts of complex systems, but it’s still refreshing to see a story that feels so grounded in reality. I’m enjoying watching everyone’s efforts, mistakes, baggage and ultimately, contributions to greatness. It’s fun!