ESPN probes sports talk
The latest “30 for 30” documentary “Mike and the Mad Dog” (8 p.m., ESPN) profiles Mike Francesa and Chris Russo and the rambunctious and opinionated sports talk-radio show they hosted from the New York studios of WFAN 660 for nearly 20 years. The film argues that these two men basically created the template for hundreds of sports talk shows that later popped up around the country, with many hosts all but imitating their pugnacious, opinionated and informed banter.
“Mike” is very much an affectionate portrait the show and its rabid fan base. And as such, it falls short of the best “30 for 30” films, which tend to put their subjects in some social or historical perspective.
It makes much of the two hosts’ personal rivalries and interviews attendees at a fan convention as well as a peanut gallery of longtime listeners and frequent callers. The film fails to discuss sports talk as a part of the explosion of opinionated talk radio (and later cable news) that emerged after the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987.
Their subject may have been sports, but Russo and Francesa shared with political talkers like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly a propensity for volume, a fondness for personal insult and rage marketed as “passion.”
While the film contends that “Mike and the Mad Dog” appealed to ultimate New Yorkers, the fans seen here are almost entirely white and exclusively male. One fan declares that the breakup of Mike and the Mad Dog in 2008 was more traumatic than his split with his longtime girlfriend.
Francesa and Russo demonstrated that for a sizable (and profitable) niche audience, the sound of two grown men screaming at each other for five hours a day was “entertainment.” But at what cost? How many others were repelled by their particular style — turning off the radio and tuning out sports in the process?
ROM-COM ADVENTURES
The CW takes a summer flier with the U.K. import and romantic-comedy adventure “Hooten & the Lady” (9 p.m., TV-14). The eight-part series follows a brash bearded adventurer and treasure hunter, Hooten (Michael Landes), accompanied by a posh aristocrat, museum curator and historical expert, Lady Alexandra (Ophelia Lovibond).
This series was not made available for review. At least it gets the CW out of the comic-book store for a few months.