Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys dominate Browns, 35-10
November 6, 2016Ohio State ranked No. 6 in AP poll, jump to No. 5 in Coaches poll
November 7, 2016After what will amount to just 17 episodes, “Any Given Wednesday” will be no more. While “Hee Haw Honeys” got a whopping 24 episodes, HBO has decided that their multi-year deal with Bill Simmons will no longer feature the flagship show which it was to use as a launching point. As the internet is wont to do, there was plenty of schadenfreude being heaped upon the former ESPN columnist as it was not long ago that Simmons was tweeting about not needing a “mothership” to be successful. The catch, of course, is that while Simmons’ show will no longer be, gauging “success” may not be that easy.
In a recent podcast about this very topic, Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch (along with former FOX web guy Jimmy Traina and SBJ’s Jon Ourand) discussed Simmons’ move from being an incredibly successful writer and podcast host to a guy attempting to make his evolving, creative style work on television. As Deitsch was quick to mention, despite the increasing competition and decreasing quality, television is where anyone in the money makes money. This is nothing new and is why former columnists like Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser barely know their Macbook passwords, swapping their writing time for air time. It’s also a notion which is easily confirmed by the $8 million-per-year deal Simmons struck, considerably more than he was making to spearhead Grantland. But as the HBO press release intimated, both the network and Simmons overestimated how seamless a transition it would be for an audience that is largely web and on-demand to transition over to a subscription-based television service.
Simmons is a hard-working, entertaining writer who stopped writing, and a terrific podcast host who stopped having on new guests.
— Scott @ WFNY (@WFNYScott) November 4, 2016
When Howard Stern made the leap from terrestrial radio to Sirius (now SiriusXM) over a decade ago, this was move that was widely criticized, but one that quickly slammed the door on doubters. While the King of All Media was going to be in fewer homes from a listener standpoint, the move to Sirius was one that took a man (and staff) who was on the air for several hours, live, each morning, to one that included two channels of Stern, a new wrap-up show that would follow each live episode, and a substantially increased web presence that allowed fans to interact with the show on a 24-hour basis. Ultimately, while the host would reduce the days of his live program and the content would admittedly soften up compared to the days of Stripper Olympics, fans were given more Stern.
With Simmons, the one-man brand, fans were given less. With a television show to create, his columns were fewer and further between. His podcasts, which continue to get listenership in the six digits per episode, are perfect from a timing standpoint as listeners know exactly when a fresh batch of audio will be ready for download, but the guests have decreased in diversity. Gone are the frequent, several-thousand-word columns. Gone are the days of surprise guests, as Mike Lombardi and Joe House are on nearly every week. With the HBO deal in place, The Ringer—which is “founded” by Simmons, not “edited” or “run” by Simmons—and the ‘cast (the two mediums that got him to this point) have seemingly fallen by the wayside. While brands are sticky and there are millions who follow his every move, Simmons’ lack of frequency outside of a few tweets about the Red Sox or Celtics, has appeared to have worked against him.
In the Deitsch column linked above, we get the following thoughts from agents and executives:
“Internet personality doesn’t equal television personality, and the so-called internet faithful never came to television.”
“He has a big, loyal digital audience but that doesn’t translate to linear TV.”
All is not lost, however. The Ringer, though not necessarily having a target audience, is a fantastic website. The content ranges from informative to entertaining to a mix of both, all done at a high-quality level. And all of the schadenfreude above? Simmons is still the one cashing substantially large checks. His podcast is pulling in more revenue than the Catholic church. He’s one of the only single-founders who is willing to put the resources into producing high-quality written and short-form video content. Sure, he rubs a lot of people the wrong way—former coworkers, executives, Roger Goodell—but those who dislike Simmons because he’s a “Boston homer” who “bashes my favorite team” could benefit from stepping back and Googling “irony.”
The trick, of course, is making all of this work. HBO isn’t firing Simmons as much as they are cancelling his show. He’s still employed, still under contract. He’s going to be doing ton of consulting on the HBO Now side, a podcast-like video app that allows for on-demand access to shows that are accessible to any subscribers. What Simmons has been able to do for podcasts like “Keepin’ it 1600” and “The Watch” should also not be ignored. You want guests? Jon Favreau, Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald continue to litter their podcasts full of guests. The Watch episode with “The League’s” Jason Mantzoukas was terrific. The potential is there, but it’s all a product of focus. Manifesting this into the HBO Now framework could be substantial for both parties. Stern’s model works because he’s the bellcow of Sirius’ entertainment arm. Simmons is joining a well-established media enterprise and is looking to make a dent.
Given Simmons’ competitive level, he has to be highly disappointed regarding the AGW news. But just as it was silly to count him out after he left ESPN before he landed at HBO and created The Ringer, it would be equally silly to assume he won’t land on his feet and create the next big thing—whatever that may be. The guy took offers from FOX, Turner, Hulu, Netflix, Google, Yahoo, Twitter, and Snapchat before landing at HBO. There is still plenty demand for what Simmons has to offer. Getting it to work in today’s ever-changing landscape, however, will be the challenge.
18 Comments
I’m sure some network will pick him up and stick him into the new format-du jour…two loudmouths yelling at each other.
His contract locks him into HBO. Question is how/where he will be used. Well, I guess the other question is if anyone will care as they obviously didn’t enough for his last show.
Speaking of Schadenfreude…best moment of the college football weekend:
TCU DESTROYING Baylor, after watching all the Baylor fans snapping up all the #CAB shirts, and the team purposely wearing all black unis in support of Briles.
As long as we’re going off topic, I’ve got a little bad news for you, RGB. You know that St. Ignatius beat Mass. Jackson in football Friday night, but do you know that Iggy’s soccer team beat Mass. Jackson again in the regional finals Saturday night? Double Wildcat strike.
I say this not as schadenfreude but because it’s an odd coincidence.
Hopefully Medina will avenge us.
My niece goes to Medina.
Can’t believe Simmons won’t bounce back after figuring out the disconnect between his many talents and his latest forum. Almost seems like this venture suffered from him being more background wizard and less of a writer and less of a brave smarty-pants host. Recent podcasts too much feel like 8th grade friends giggling over inside naughty jokes. He’s plenty bright and entertaining, but needs to challenge himself again.
My guess is there will now be a push from the Sports Doc side of things, to create the HBO version of 30 for 30.
More power to Simmons, but I didnt see how a weekly TV show was ever going to work. I find it amusing though, that a lot of people are talking about the poor ratings (and they were really bad) but not counting in the “on demand” views. I thought we were past that level of ignorance by now. Still, certainly not what HBO or Simmons wanted to see, Im sure
I always liked Simmons’ writing. I never once tuned into the NBA show on ESPN “because Simmons was on” (or PTI for that matter. And thinking that his fans without HBO would shell out for HBO just to see his show was foolish.
Also, Im not a big fan of much on the Ringer. It is about 68% as good as Grantland was. Shea Serrano is hilarious and entertaining, and every now and again I find something worthwhile. For the most part though, the articles are short and never go into any real depth, and many are neither interesting nor entertaining. Lots of them can be found in similar iterations other places on the Web. Also, not sure why but i HATE the fact that at the top of every article it tells you “X minute read”. Are people really that busy? I may have to start whacking people with my cane if they need to know how long something is before they read it. Angry man shakes fist at cloud, film at 11.
At the end of the day, I listen to the Sal and House podcasts every week. The one nice thing is I havent heard an uncomfortably flirtatious podcast with Katie Nolan lately. I wonder if Mrs. SportsGuy put an end to that. (semi unrelated- if katie Nolan were uglier than a mud fence, would she be 20% as popular? I think not)
He’s terrible on camera. Was terrible on camera covering the NBA.
He’s going to be used to bolster HBO sports documentaries, which is what they should do.
I just think Simmons is bad mainstream sports TV. His audience (while passionate and large) is niche.
She’d still be popular, because she’s pretty funny and likes to drink…but yeah, being cute definitely helps her out.
Players decidedly said before the game that the black jerseys were picked before the #CAB shirts came out as a thing and that wearing them was not in support of Briles. Unsure if they were just covering their behinds, but it is what was reported.
You still enjoyed it. 😉
Of course I enjoyed it – no longer have to even entertain the thought that a university that refused to hold their coaching staff accountable for their actions will be rewarded with a CFP berth.
All of the analysis talks about how Simmons doesn’t say much anymore, like here which talks about his writing less and having the same conversations with the same guests on his podcasts, but it’s missing the bigger thing – he doesn’t have much to say anymore.
Simmons has always been one to repeat the same bit over and over again, but he now has become even more a parody of his former self. And it’s funny, because 20-years-ago Simmons would be ripping today’s Simmons to absolute shreds. It’s clear he doesn’t really follow any sport besides the NBA. It’s also clear he doesn’t really want to. He’s still the same 80s-movies and inside-jokes guy he was long ago, and has made little attempt to evolve. There’s only so many X sports team as Y 80s movie columns that one can write before even Simmons says that this is getting stupid.
I’m not really sure where Simmons goes from here. He’s shown his primary skill is finding actual talent and giving them room to grow. But he throws a ton of money at these people, and enough that even The Mouse was like “eh, we can’t afford this”. For how good those writers and podcasts were at Grantland and less-good-but-still-good at the Ringer, they haven’t drawn in the revenue to believe they are going to be good bets for the top level company. It seems the only way Bill Simmons can make money for an ESPN or HBO is to go back to writing and podcasting full time, on a writer/podcaster salary. But it’s also pretty clear that exactly what he doesn’t want to do. He’ll live out this contract at HBO, he’ll get them to throw some serious money at people who can make good sports docs which will be fun as hell, he’ll give opportunities to some up and coming writers/podcasters who we’ll be glad to meet, but when that runs out? Who would ever throw money at this guy again for big outlandish projects?
This just in: the St. Ignatius Stamp Club hammered Mass. Jackson in the Philately Bowl this morning. 🙂
Baylor v State Penn bowl game, maybe?
Yes, please
Considering the weekly articles about terrible ratings, I must have been the only one watching this every week.