Lakers News: Why The Forced End Of "Winning Time" Frustrates Critic
It seems like just like that we went from watching first couple of trailers for a new show coming out titled 'Winning Time' that would be based on the rise of the Showtime Lakers in the 1980's to the series getting cancelled after just its second season.
A number of factors were pointed out that went into the decision by Max and most revolved around the drop in viewership from season one to season two, lack of funding to help marketing and production and the NBA's newest deal with the company that allows them to live-stream matches.
Nonetheless, season two did an excellent job of showing the lengths that Larry Bird and the rest of Boston went in order to ensure that they would not lose their first Finals matchup against LA. The depiction of Magic's battle of trying to keep his selfless style of play going while also worrying about his rivalry with Bird was excellent.
Jerry Buss' habits of trying to live two different lives also came crashing down on him while Pat Riley went from laid-back assistant to respected, fiery head coach. However, due to Winning Time getting cancelled, it means that the series concludes with not only Boston winning the 1984 championship but also keeps viewers from seeing the rest of the Showtime era.
The Athletic's Jason Jones does an excellent job of breaking this down in his recent column.
"There are seven more years of the Lakers’ Showtime era, which ended in 1991 when Magic Johnson retired for the first time after testing positive for HIV. Before then, we saw the Lakers win three of the next four NBA titles in 1985, ’87 and ’88 — beating Boston twice, in ’85 and ’87 — and then witnessed the emergence of the “Bad Boy” era with the Detroit Pistons."
(Via The Athletic)
Hopefully another network picks up the show and the production and creative team can continue working together!
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