I was browsing my feeds tonight when I ran across this story: After 31 years, ‘Inside the NFL’ ceases production on HBO. All I can say is “damn”, and at this point there goes my only reason to subscribe to HBO. If you haven’t seen Inside the NFL, and you’re a football fan, you’re really missing out. Inside is simply fantastic at giving highlights of the game. At their best, they make the games so theatrical and dramatic, it’s hard to believe they only had 2-3 days to get the footage put together and edited the way it is. I loved watching the footage of the Broncos home games, as I see the theatrics unfold before me and remind myself “I was there”. It’s definitely highlights as you haven’t seen them before.
As the ESPN story says:
The decision does not mean the end for the program itself. It’s owned by NFL Films, which is looking to continue the show in conjunction with another network in the fall.
I realize that the show may go on, but there’s no way it’ll continue in it’s current form. Part of what made it awesome was that it was a solid hour of football – no commercials. I dread thinking about how commercial breaks are going to interrupt the flow of the program. Not only that, the chemistry of Marino, Collinsworth, Costas and Carter gelled pretty well, and I can’t imagine that their network contracts will allow them to appear on ESPN (maybe the NFL Network).
If they are able to bring this show back and not screw it up too back transitioning it to a regular cable format, the NFL Network may be the most logical place for it. At least the NFL Network would have something quality to re-air besides the 1000th repeat of “Americas Game”. It was a great series, but they’ve run that to the bone.
I guess it’s time to cancel HBO.