As the NBA playoffs roll on to the finals two things have kept the viewers more than entertained over the past week. The entertaining Charles Barkley and the play of LeBron James.
The always entertaining Charles Barkley is part of TNT’s basketball pregame, halftime and postgame show which, simply put, is the most entertaining program of its kind in all of sports television.
Joining Barkley is the award-winning and under-appreciated host Ernie Johnson Jr., and NBA-stars-turned-analysts Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller. No show on TV comes close to the entertainment and insider information level that the TNT show does.
Here are some of the Barkley one-liners from a recent show:
on the criticism of LeBron: “I find this whole thing hilarious. All everyone is saying is that he should have shot the ball in Game #1. We live in this age where we’re full of it, ESPN is full of it. We can criticize him. He’s not ‘above the law’; he’s not Steven Seagal. I think, in this day and age, we hype these kids up so much. Hey, he should do what Dwyane Wade did last year.”
on the importance of the Pistons winning the series quickly: “(If you’re Detroit), you don’t want to prolong this series, you don’t want Cleveland to get a chance to get going and you don’t want the Spurs to get a lot of rest.”
on his daughter graduating from high school: “I don’t know why (my daughter, Christiana) is going to go to college. She’s going to go for four years, waste her time and then ask me to hire her.”
Superstar Needed
Make no mistake about it ESPN/ABC is hoping for a Cleveland-San Antonio final. LeBron is a ratings-maker and a true superstar — the NBA can use a big name for the Finals.
While Tim Duncan (a future Hall of Famer and arguably the best power forward of all-time) and the Spurs (probably one title away from being considered a dynasty) aregreat, they don’t have the ratings pull of the Lakers, Suns or Mavs when it comes to teams from the West. Also James provides the league with that marquee name that the Pistons lack. If ESPN/ABC get a Spurs-Pistons finals look for lower than normal ratings.
Stanley Cup Finals
You have to love the Ducks-Senators Stanley Cup Finals. These guys are battling their hearts out on Versus with a the best coverage hockey has had in years and no one is watching. It is a real shame, the sport deserves better.
Weekend tennis and golf
The French Open can be seen live on ESPN2, the Tennis Channel and NBC as the first week winds down from Paris.
On the golf side of things it is the Memorial on the Golf Channel and CBS with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson ready to lead an all-star field.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on www.examiner.com.
