Television Pick: 30 For 30
Even as someone who watches a lot of ESPN, I’m more than willing to admit that the network has a ton of issues. Off the top of my head, there’s overloaded coverage of certain “marketable” athletes (I’m looking your way Tim Tebow) and over-the-top personalities that take the spotlight away from the stories that actually matter. However, there’s one piece of programming that has managed to avoid those problems – ESPN’s 30 For 30 series.
Sprung from the mind of columnist and Grantland founder Bill Simmons, the 30 For 30 series started as a celebration of the first 30 years of the network. Simmons enlisted filmmakers in order to tell 30 different stories from the world of sports, whether big or small. Originally, these episodes were only going to cover the years running from 1979-2009, since those are the ESPN years. However, due to the popularity of the series, more episodes were commissioned, and directors were given full reign to cover the entire history of sports.
What makes the 30 For 30 series so enjoyable to me, is that not only has it enriched my knowledge of stories that I thought I knew a fair deal of, but it also introduced me to new events that I either didn’t know about, or didn’t think I would care about. For instance, I never knew about the story of Andres and Pablo Escobar, or Terry Fox, but they provided two of the more memorable episodes.
As with a series such as this though, not every episode can be a winner. This can usually stem from either a director botching an interesting story, such as “John Singleton” and “Marion Jones: Press Pause,” or segments being produced by the sport itself, like Major League Baseball Productions and “Four Days In October.” For the most part, however, each of the films is worth watching at least once, if only to open your eyes to a story that may be more interesting than wrongfully assumed.
I know I’m kind of cutting it close to what constitutes a television series with this recommendation, but I had to work in a 30 For 30 recommendation regardless. The stories are interesting and finely directed, and between the original series and the numerous spin-off series’ (Soccer Stories, Nine For IX, ESPN Films Presents), there is a ton of worthwhile content.
If you’re still on the fence, perhaps check out either “The U” or “Winning Time,” which are “fun” entries, and “The Two Escobars” or “The Marinovich Project,” which are more serious entries.
