SummaryFormer ESPN commentator Bill Simmons hosts a new weekly talk show with an emphasis on sports, but will also cover pop culture and technology for HBO.
SummaryFormer ESPN commentator Bill Simmons hosts a new weekly talk show with an emphasis on sports, but will also cover pop culture and technology for HBO.
Simmons pushed back on Barkley’s rankings, as only a true fan can. It’s this informed jousting, the back and forth between devotees of sports that could make Any Given Wednesday appointment viewing for sports fans. ... It’s classic Bill Simmons, a man with questions and answers, with a new forum where he can drop the mic and let others do the same.
Wednesday has no demonstrable difficulties with keeping the show flowing despite the lack of commercial breaks (which offer their own particular rhythm to late night).
Outside of Affleck’s strangely compelling Tom Brady tirade, Any Given Wednesday’s pilot was almost aggressively chill--a pleasantly meandering antidote to the usual hot-take cauldron of sports TV.
Mr. Simmons stayed in his comfort zone almost exclusively, and the result was largely a televised version of what you might hear on sports talk radio, only with cursing. The cursing was the best part, actually. Mr. Affleck did most of it.
While Barkley was tolerable and the segments choppy but intriguing, Simmons’ interview with Ben Affleck about the New England Patriots and the scandal termed “Deflategate” turned into one of the most fascinating character studies I’ve seen on a talk show.
Simmons, on the first episode of his new weekly talk show Any Given Wednesday, barely meets the camera’s gaze, and his delivery is stiff and halting; he seemed overmatched by the most basic aspects of TV talk.