Inside the NBA is moving to ESPN.
Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley can keep joking about “whatever network” their show, which has been most associated with TNT Sports, will be on moving forward. But it will be licensed to the Worldwide Leader. And while perhaps it could be a watered-down version of everyone’s favorite studio show, ESPN doesn’t maintain editorial control, much like The Pat McAfee Show.
So, even with that in mind, there’s a growing school of thought that it’s a mistake for Inside the NBA to be kept alive on ESPN’s airwaves. Granted, not much is changing except the network it’ll appear on and how often we’ll see Shaq, Chuck, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson, but that hasn’t deterred those like Rob Parker from lamenting the eventual move as a “mistake.”
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“I know a lot of people rejoiced and were happy. It was a mistake,” Parker said on his The Odd Couple radio show. “Inside the NBA coming back on ESPN, next year, is a mistake. A colossal mistake. It ain’t gonna work. It ain’t gonna feel the same. It ain’t gonna be the same. TNT was a unique situation. They didn’t have all those other sports properties, and Charles ripping on this and that. And there were no other shows or personalities that they had to worry about.
“Ask Pat McAfee, who was on YouTube doing his thing. ‘Alright, come over to ESPN.’ He’s on the air, calling out bosses by name. ‘He’s a rat.’ ‘This and that.’ ‘Oh no, Pat McAfee’s his own entity, he doesn’t…’ Really? Nobody’s their own entity when they’re on a network. Nobody. I don’t care. Somebody upstairs is going to be like, ‘I don’t want to hear that. Stop that.’ They’ll tell you have autonomy, right? It don’t work like that. Inside the NBA, going to ESPN is like American Idol leaving Fox and going to ABC. Have you watched since? It don’t feel the same.”
Perhaps American Idol doesn’t feel the same because the original cast — Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, and Randy Jackson — are long gone. Ryan Seacrest is still hanging around, sure, but the soul of the show left years ago. You could say the same thing would happen to Inside the NBA if Ernie Johnson stayed on and ESPN threw three new ex-players on the set.
For what it’s worth, Idol stopped being Idol well before it ever moved to ABC. That ship sailed before 2010.
As for McAfee, ESPN has repeatedly insisted that it doesn’t have editorial control over his show. Sure, they weren’t thrilled when Aaron Rodgers threw around pedophile accusations about Jimmy Kimmel on their airwaves, but beyond a bit of pushback, Rodgers hasn’t been toned down. And neither has McAfee’s show.
“I don’t believe it’s going to be the same, feel the same, and it’s unfortunate,” Parker adds, “because it’s a great show. They could’ve gone out with a blaze of glory as the all-time great show. What a great run. Almost 30 years… It’s OK to have a closing curtain. You don’t have to have to work all the way through and just keep doing all these things and moving on to just hang on. Sometimes, it’s great to go out on top. It is.”
“It would’ve been great for them to put on it and say, ‘We were on TNT. We did something very special here. And ain’t gonna just transfer over with somewhere else.’ I think they made a mistake,” Parker adds.
Parker also noted how Charles Barkley has openly dissed ESPN’s other shows time and time again.
“Charles has said, ‘The idiots over there on ESPN on those shows,’ those are the things that ESPN… But it’s different now once you’re on the air, and I have a guy bashing my other shows,” Parker continued. “Like, seriously. That sounds cool. Charles was doing it. TNT was separate. They didn’t have any other shows. They don’t have anybody else to answer to. It was 20-year-old movies, Inside the NBA, or basketball. That’s all they had, TNT. He wasn’t going there saying, ‘Don’t watch the morning show on TNT, because those guys are idiots.’ I’m serious. I can’t believe that ESPN will sit there and be cool with that, for them to attack (those) shows.”
Whether ESPN can capture the magic that made Inside the NBA a cultural staple, or if this move signals the beginning of the end for the beloved show, will ultimately be up to the beholder. But if you ask Parker, it’s doomed from the get-go.
