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ESPN Punts "Playmakers"
Game over for ESPN's controversial football drama Playmakers.
Bowing under pressure from the National Football League, the network decided to punt the salacious series, canceling it after just one season. Playmakers starred Omar Gooding and Christopher Wiehl.
ESPN VP of Programming Mark Shapiro told Newsday that the main reason the show was axed was the NFL's displeasure with the 11-week-long series about a fictional pro team called the Cougars.
At one point, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue called the show a "terrible distortion of NFL players, and [it] is not worthy of ESPN." The show also drew complaints from players and team owners for its depiction of a team beset by drugs, sex, racism and homophobia. The real pros said the TV pros were a gross misrepresentation of football reality.
The network and the NFL have two years left on an eight-year contract, and ESPN doles out about $600 million annually to the league for TV rights. Apparently, ESPN decided that relationship was worth more than continuing the scandalous Playmakers, which was a ratings success for the cable channel, averaging 2 million viewers and pulling in a larger female audience than the network normally garners.
"We have decided that Playmakers will not resume production," said Shapiro. "Many considerations went into this decision, not the least of which was the reaction from a longtime and valued partner."
Shapiro also told the Los Angeles Times that ESPN withheld its announcement until after the Super Bowl in an effort not to steal the thunder from the league.
There are apparently no hard feelings between the two sides. Shapiro said the NFL maintained its cool throughout the conflict. "They were totally professional, despite being opposed to the show," he said. "They understood our motives. They just didn't like the inevitable comparisons being drawn to their league."
The NFL released a statement reading, "It was an ESPN decision, and now we can all move on. We are looking forward to Sunday night's Pro Bowl and another great season with ESPN in 2004."
And while football is in the spotlight thanks to the Justin Timberlake-Janet Jackson Boobgate fiasco, Shapiro insists that the announcement has nothing to do with the heat the NFL is currently getting from the FCC.
As for future fictional ventures on ESPN, Shapiro says the network plans to continue airing dramas but promises to be more selective of its content.
"We proved our point that we could draw more viewers by broadening out," he told the Times. "We made our point, and moved on. There was no reason to rub it in the face of one of our most important partners."
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