Summary HBO canceled “Winning Time” after 2 seasons due to controversies surrounding its inaccurate portrayal of real-life events, leading to criticism from former Lakers players and coaches.
The ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes did impact the show’s promotion and marketing potential, but HBO did not use them as an excuse for cancellation.
“Winning Time” could potentially return for a season 3 with a new NBA dynasty, such as the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, but historical accuracy should be taken more seriously to avoid previous problems.
HBO has canceled its sports drama Winning Time after just two seasons and the network had a couple of different reasons for bringing the series to an abrupt end. Bearing the full title Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, the series chronicles the Showtime era of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, starting in 1979 and carrying through the 1980s. The ensemble cast includes such famous faces as John C. Reilly, Adrien Brody, Gaby Hoffmann, and Jason Segel. Winning Time was co-created by Godzilla writer Max Borenstein, and episodes were directed by such acclaimed filmmakers as The Big Short’s Adam McKay and Waves’ Trey Edward Shults.
The recent cancelation of other shows like A League of Their Own and How I Met Your Father were blamed on the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and their impact on the TV industry, but HBO had different reasoning for the cancelation of Winning Time. Even before the network officially confirmed that it had canceled the show, the chances of Winning Time getting a third season seemed pretty slim. There’s more than one reason for HBO’s decision to end Winning Time’s run after just two seasons on the air, and they’re not all viewership-based.
RELATED: Winning Time Season 2 Ending Explained: Breaking Down The Impact Of 1984 NBA Finals
Winning Time Season 2’s Viewership Ratings Were Worse Than Season 1
Jeff Pearlman, the author of Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, the non-fiction book upon which Winning Time is based, had already expressed concerns that season 3 wouldn’t happen a month ago. On August 16, Pearlman posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the future of Winning Time was “[hanging] in the balance,” and that he was “worried” the show wouldn’t get a third season. In the same post, he implored fans to watch season 2, tell their friends about it, and show HBO that Winning Time has a dedicated fan base.
While HBO hasn’t used the strikes as an excuse to cancel Winning Time, Pearlman did note that the strikes were a factor, because they were preventing the show’s star-studded cast from promoting season 2. The strikes are necessary to secure fair wages and protections for low-level writers and actors who live paycheck to paycheck, but they’re taking a toll on the year’s film and TV releases, because the marketing potential is seriously limited. But the strikes aren’t entirely to blame for the series’ diminishing viewership; a few other factors contributed to that – even before the strikes.
Winning Time Was Hurt By Controversies With Former Lakers Players & Staff
HBO has been careful to market Winning Time as a dramatization that embellishes and tweaks some of the facts for dramatic effect. But that hasn’t prevented the series from garnering plenty of controversy for its often inaccurate portrayal of real-life events. Plenty of basketball historians – not to mention the real former Lakers players and coaches depicted in the series – have notably criticized Winning Time and its portrayal of their stories. This hasn’t helped the show’s reputation with sports fans and TV viewers, and has turned off a lot of potential audiences who see no point in getting invested in a false account of true events.
The two most famous basketball players depicted in Winning Time, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, have both condemned the series for its inaccuracies. Johnson said (via Variety) that it was pointless to attempt to tell the Lakers’ story without any involvement from the Lakers themselves. He was baffled by HBO’s decision not to seek any participation from Johnson or his teammates, and refuses to watch the show. Abdul-Jabbar described the show’s characterization of its key figures as “crude stick-figure representations” of the real people (via The Hollywood Reporter). Any basketball fan will generally value the opinion of two all-time NBA greats over the TV producers telling their story without consultation.
RELATED: 10 Things Winning Time Gets Totally Wrong
Winning Time Season 3 Can Still Happen (But Without The Lakers)
HBO’s abrupt cancelation of Winning Time after season 2 has left the series with an awkward, incomplete ending for the Lakers’ story. But it’s possible for this basketball drama to continue as a sort of anthology series with a new story in its next incarnation. Winning Time could still potentially come back with a season 3 following a different NBA dynasty, such as Michael Jordan’s groundbreaking tenure with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s. To avoid the problems that plagued the first two seasons, the writers should probably take historical accuracy a bit more seriously in a potential Winning Time season 3.
Source: Jeff Pearlman, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter
Why HBO Canceled Winning Time After Season 2
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