Sports Night (1998)

This is one of my top 10 TV shows of all-time. I hate that it only lasted two season. If streaming TV were around back then and the restraints of network TV were lifted I believe it would have been HUGE. But alas I am happy to have what I have.

TV Guide had a cover that said "The Best Show on TV That No One is Watching". IMO it was just to "smart" for network TV. The dialog was quick and it was stuck in-between being a comedy and a drama (dramady).

It also suffered from being considered a "sports show". It was basically a behind the scenes look at what Sports Center on ESPN might look like, but because of the relationship drama and the witty dialog you didn't have to be a sports geek to like this show.

The rumor was that Aaron Sorkin (creator) didn't fight ABC to keep the show on life support because he was too busy with West Wing. Some of the cast members ended up on West Wing as well.

Speaking of the cast, if you haven't seen Sports Night you will probably know most of the top notch cast because of previous work or what they have done since Sports Night. You will see that they all were either already accomplished actors, or landed on their feet and had some pretty big series after Sports Night was canceled.

Peter Krause (Six Feet Under, Dirty Sexy Money, Parenthood, 9-1-1), Josh Charles (Dead Poets Society, Wet Hot American Summer, The Good Wife), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives, Transamerica, American Crime), Robert Guillaume (Soap, Benson, The Lion King) NOTE- Robert had a stroke in real life during the series and the writers did a great job of integrating that into the show, it was inspiring IMO , Joshua Malina (The West Wing, Scandal, Big Bang Theory), and Sebrina Lloyd (Sliders, Ed, Numb3rs) were the main characters.

The weekly supporting cast were excellent as well but there are five other characters I have to mention because their 3 to 8 episode runs on the show helped make the show what it was: Ted McGinley (Revenge of the Nerds, Happy Days, Dynasty, Married With Children, Hope and Faith), Teri Polo (West Wing, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, The Fosters), Brenda Strong (Desperate Housewives, Dallas, Blood Relatives, Supergirl)...

...a special nod to Paula Marshall (Spin City, Out of Practice, Californication, Gary Unmarried) who I have had a huge crush on for years and her three episodes as a porn star in Sports Night didn't do anything to hurt that...

...and of course Felicity Huffman's husband, William H Macy (Fargo, ER, Shameless, too numerous to list). The six episode run he had on Sports Night as a hired gun ratings specialist live up to his reputation as a great character actor. Too bad both he and Huffman have been in the news lately for the college cheating scandal...idiots!

Anyways, probably more then you wanted to know about a two season series. I hope you get a chance to check it out. I started a discussion if you would like to tell me what you think.

Thanks for reading.