| 30 for 30 | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sports documentary |
| Creator | Bill Simmons |
| Directed by | various |
| Produced by | Bill Simmons[1] |
| Language | English |
| Original channel | ESPN |
| Original run | October 6, 2009 – December 11, 2010 |
| No. of episodes | 30[2] |
| Official website | |
30 for 30 is the umbrella title for a series of documentaries airing on ESPN and its sister networks. The series, which premiered in October 2009 and concluded in December 2010, chronicles 30 stories from the "ESPN era," each of which detail the issues, trends, people, teams, or events that transformed the sports landscape since the sports network was founded in 1979.
The idea for the series began with ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons, who wanted feature filmmakers to recount the sports stories, people, and events from the past 3 decades which they (1) took a personal interest or involvement in, however great or small, and (2) felt hadn't been fully explored. Simmons and his team took special interest to "stories that resonated at the time but were eventually forgotten for whatever reason."[3] Simmons serves as 30 for 30's executive producer; Mike Tollin, who directed the series' 3rd entry, "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?," also serves as consulting producer to the series.
Directors had creative control over their 30 for 30 episodes. The directors appear in interstitial comments during the broadcast to discuss their film and its subject matter, usually appearing before the beginning of the film and before the last commercial break. A number of directors appeared as participants in their films, serving as narrators, analysts, or interviewing participants of the original story.
Contents |
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, each episode length is 60 minutes (including commercials).
| # | Title | Directed by | U.S. viewers (in millions) |
Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "King's Ransom" | Peter Berg | 0.645[4] | October 6, 2009 |
| The 1988 trade of Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings and the effect it had on Gretzky, the fans in Edmonton, and the popularity of hockey in Southern California. | ||||
| 2 | "The Band that Wouldn't Die" | Barry Levinson | October 13, 2009 | |
| A profile of Baltimore's love affair with football and the Colts, focusing on the Colts Marching Band. After the Colts decamped for Indianapolis in 1984, the band remained in Baltimore and helped promote the eventual return of the NFL to the city. | ||||
| 3 | "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?" | Mike Tollin | October 20, 2009 | |
| Fresh interviews and archival footage track the life and demise of the United States Football League in the mid 1980s. A highlight is Tollin's interview with Donald Trump, the former New Jersey Generals owner whose post-interview comments on the league give this documentary its title.[5] | ||||
| 4 | "Muhammad and Larry" | Albert Maysles | October 27, 2009 | |
| A look at the October 1980 Muhammad Ali-Larry Holmes fight and its impact on both fighters, featuring fresh interviews with participants and previously unseen lead-up footage from both fighters' camps. | ||||
| 5 | "Without Bias" | Kirk Fraser | November 3, 2009 | |
| The death of Len Bias from a cocaine-induced heart attack, two days after Boston selected him as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft, and its impact on casual drug use, especially by the sports community. | ||||
| 6 | "The Legend of Jimmy the Greek" | Fritz Mitchell | November 10, 2009 | |
| The life of Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder, from his career as a Las Vegas bookmaker to his tenure on The NFL Today, from which he was fired in 1988. | ||||
| 7 | "The U" | Billy Corben | 2.368[6][7] | December 12, 2009 |
| The racial and cultural evolution of Miami during the 1980s as represented within the University of Miami football team. (2 hours in length) | ||||
| 8 | "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks" | Dan Klores | March 14, 2010 | |
| The impact of Reggie Miller on the New York Knicks in the 1990s, specifically focusing on the 1994 NBA Playoffs, the 1995 NBA Playoffs, and Miller's interaction with Knicks fan Spike Lee. | ||||
| 9 | "Guru of Go" | Bill Couturié | April 3, 2010 | |
| Paul Westhead's coaching tenure at Loyola Marymount University (1985-1990) features his high-scoring run-and-gun offense and players such as Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers. | ||||
| 10 | "No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson" | Steve James | April 13, 2010 | |
| The 1993 trial of Hampton, Virginia high school athlete Allen Iverson, convicted for his role in a racially tinged melee, and its impact on both the community and on Iverson's life. (90 minutes in length) | ||||
| 11 | "Silly Little Game" | Adam Kurland and Lucas Jansen | April 20, 2010 | |
| Meeting at New York City's La Rotisserie Francaise restaurant in 1980, a group of writers and academics develop Rotisserie Fantasy baseball, only to see it take off in popularity and leave them behind. | ||||
| 12 | "Run Ricky Run" | Sean Pamphilon and Royce Toni | 0.972[8] | April 27, 2010 |
| A profile of Ricky Williams focuses on his brief 2004 departure from the NFL, when he sought self-redemption amidst media criticism and fresh rumors of marijuana use. | ||||
| 13 | "The 16th Man" | Clifford Bestall, Lori McCreary, and Morgan Freeman | 0.463[9] | May 4, 2010 |
| How hosting (and winning) the 1995 Rugby World Cup and Nelson Mandela's support of the Springboks national team affected post-apartheid South Africa. | ||||
| 14 | "Straight Outta L.A." | Ice Cube | May 11, 2010 | |
| The relationship between the Raiders and the minority fan base in Los Angeles during the team's 13 seasons in L.A. (1982-1994). | ||||
| 15 | "June 17, 1994" | Brett Morgen | June 16, 2010 | |
| Quick-cut archival footage captures the various sporting events on the day in question and the emotions they generated, with O. J. Simpson's run from the police overshadowing an NBA Finals game between the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets, the opening of the U.S.-hosted 1994 FIFA World Cup, the last-ever U.S. Open golf tournament round for Arnold Palmer, Ken Griffey, Jr. hitting a home run to add to his record-setting pace, and a parade in New York after the New York Rangers finally won their first Stanley Cup in decades. | ||||
| 16 | "The Two Escobars" | Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist | June 22, 2010 | |
| The lives of soccer player Andrés Escobar and drug lord Pablo Escobar; the intertwining of crime and soccer in their native Colombia; and the connections between the murders of both men. (2 hours in length) | ||||
| 17 | "The Birth of Big Air" | Jeff Tremaine, Johnny Knoxville, and Spike Jonze | July 29, 2010 | |
| The life of Mat Hoffman and his 25 year career of advancing BMX riding, both creatively and promotionally. | ||||
| 18 | "Jordan Rides the Bus" | Ron Shelton | August 24, 2010 | |
| Motivated by the dream his late father had for him, Michael Jordan retires from basketball and has a brief career in minor league baseball. | ||||
| 19 | "Little Big Men" | Al Szymanski | August 31, 2010 | |
| The Kirkland National Little League team's success at the 1982 Little League World Series, examining why their title win is considered one of the biggest upsets in the event's history. | ||||
| 20 | "One Night in Vegas" | Reggie Rock Bythewood | September 7, 2010 | |
| The friendship of boxer Mike Tyson and rapper Tupac Shakur and the night of September 7, 1996, when Shakur was murdered after attending the Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight in Las Vegas. | ||||
| 21 | "Unmatched" | Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern, with Hannah Storm | September 14, 2010 | |
| A look at the rivalry and friendship between tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. | ||||
| 22 | "The House of Steinbrenner" | Barbara Kopple | September 21, 2010 | |
| The legacy of George Steinbrenner's ownership of the New York Yankees. | ||||
| 23 | "Into the Wind" | Steve Nash and Ezra Holland | 0.894[10] | September 28, 20101 |
| Terry Fox's attempt to run across Canada in support of fundraising for cancer research captures the attention of his fellow Canadians and the world. (This film first aired on Canada's TSN2 on September 19, 2010.). | ||||
| 24 | "Four Days In October" | Major League Baseball Productions | 1.45 [11] | October 5, 2010 |
| The remarkable comeback of the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. | ||||
| 25 | "Once Brothers" | NBA Entertainment | October 12, 2010 | |
| The story of Croatian Dražen Petrović and Serbian Vlade Divac, NBA players and Yugoslavian national teammates, and how upheaval in their homeland adversely and irretrievably affected their friendship. (90 minutes in length) | ||||
| 26 | "Tim Richmond: To the Limit" | NASCAR Media Group and Rory Karpf | October 19, 2010 | |
| The career of NASCAR driver Tim Richmond, his flamboyant lifestyle, and his 1989 death from AIDS. | ||||
| 27 | "Fernando Nation" | Cruz Angeles | October 26, 2010 | |
| The euphoria created by Fernando Valenzuela's 1981 arrival with the Los Angeles Dodgers. | ||||
| 28 | "Marion Jones: Press Pause" | John Singleton | November 2, 2010 | |
| The successful track and field career of Marion Jones, her 2007 admission of performance-enhancing drug use, and subsequent prison sentence. | ||||
| 29 | "The Best That Never Was" | Jonathan Hock | November 9, 2010 | |
| The 1981 recruiting of high school football player Marcus Dupree by multiple big-time college programs, his resulting injury-prone college and professional career, and how his college and later USFL recruitment changed the recruiting process. (2 hours in length) | ||||
| 30 | "Pony Excess" | Thaddeus D. Matula | 2.517[7] | December 11, 2010 |
| The rise, fall, and rebirth of the SMU Mustangs football program, which received a 2-year "death penalty" for major infractions after Sean Stopperich blew the whistle on the long-suspected program. (2 hours in length) | ||||
Other films were previously announced for the 30 for 30 series but were not included in the series. These films, which began airing in 2011, are a continuation of 30 for 30, dealing with more sports stories that 30 for 30 did not cover. According to 30 for 30 producer Bill Simmons: "We're spinning off the "30 for 30" series next year into something that will probably be called "30 for 30 Presents" or something like that... we're going to be putting out 4-5 sports docs per year on the level of the best "30 for 30" docs and getting the best filmmakers to do them. Same creative team is involved. We have some terrific ideas in the hopper. So even though the SMU doc will be the 30th one (right after the Heisman ceremony) don't think the spirit of the series is going away."[12] The episodes include:
| # | Title | Directed by | U.S. viewers (in millions) |
Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | "The Fab Five" | Jason Hehir | 2.74[13] | March 13, 2011 |
| The story of the 1991 Michigan men's basketball recruiting class, called the Fab Five. | ||||
| 32 | "Catching Hell" | Alex Gibney | 1.379[14] | September 27, 2011 |
| The relationship between Chicago Cubs fans and Steve Bartman following Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series | ||||
| 33 | "Renée" | Eric Drath | 0.508[15] | October 4, 2011 |
| The life of transsexual athlete Renée Richards, who shocked the world with her entry into the 1977 U.S. Open. | ||||
| 34 | "The Dotted Line" | Morgan Spurlock | 0.939[16] | October 11, 2011 |
| Sports agents Peter Greenberg and Eugene Lee are profiled with their clients Johan Santana, Jacquian Williams and Robert Hughes. | ||||
| 35 | "Charismatic" | Steven Michaels, Joel Surnow, and Jonathan Koch | 0.672[17] | October 18, 2011 |
| The run of Charismatic and its jockey, Chris Antley, at the 1999 Triple Crown. | ||||
| 36 | "The Real Rocky" | Jeff Feuerzeig | 1.386[18] | October 25, 2011 |
| A profile of Chuck Wepner, the original inspiration for Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa. Wepner was left out of the “Rocky” glory, and his career took turn after strange turn as he worked to stay in the spotlight: he went on to fight Andre the Giant as “The Assassin” and twice boxed a 900 pound bear. | ||||
| 37 | "Unguarded" | Johnathan Hock | 1.377[19] | November 1, 2011 |
| The story of Chris Herren, a high school basketball star who played in the NBA, struggled with drug abuse his entire career and ultimately, found redemption and personal fulfillment through the game. | ||||
| 38 | "Roll Tide/War Eagle" | Martin Khodabakhshian | 1.698[20] | November 8, 2011 |
| The continuing rivalry between Auburn University and the University of Alabama. This is the story of the history between the two programs, the bad blood between its fans and how this intense rivalry came to a pinnacle, just when they ended up needing each other most. | ||||
| 39 | "The Marinovich Project" | Andrew Stephan and John Dorsey | December 10, 2011 | |
| The rise and fall of former USC and NFL quarterback Todd Marinovich is chronicled. The film focuses primarily on the complex nature between Marinovich and his father. | ||||
The series had a slow beginning. The first film, Peter Berg's Kings Ransom," a chronicle of Wayne Gretzky's trade from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings, premiered on October 6, 2009 to poor ratings.[21][4] "Kings Ransom" drew a 0.5 national rating and a total viewership of 645,000.[21][4] The premiere of King's Ransom aired at the same time as the 2009 American League Central tie-breaker game between the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers on TBS, which went into extra innings and drew a 4.5 rating..
As awareness and critical acclaim grew, the viewing audience also grew. By the seventh episode, "The U," the audience had grown to a 1.8 rating and well over 2 million viewers.[6] The A.V. Club review for the eighth entry, "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks," called it "the most hotly anticipated [of the first eight]" and stated that "it more than lived up to the hype."[22]
The A.V. Club has given positive and negative reviews for different episodes in the series, with notable critical reviews of the three episodes that had involvement by the media production arms of Major League Baseball ("Four Days in October"), the NBA ("Once Brothers") and NASCAR ("Tim Richmond: To the Limit").[23][24][25]
Cadillac and Levi’s are the presenting sponsors of the series. The Cadillac name appears on the 30 for 30 logo, while the Levi’s "go forth" slogan appears on the bottom corner of the screen during the directors interstitial comments, which appear for 45 seconds at the beginning of each film and 30 seconds at the end. Commercials for both companies were shown during every intermission during the original air dates, with Levi’s guaranteed a 60 second commercial slot at the beginning of the third act. Cadillac replaced Honda as a primary sponsor; during its time as a contributor, Honda aired parts of its "Dream the Impossible" documentary series in the first commercial break.