Fansided

ESPN announces its next documentary

By Mike Sullivan

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FEBRUARY 05: A view of the logo during ESPN The Party on February 5, 2016 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for ESPN)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FEBRUARY 05: A view of the logo during ESPN The Party on February 5, 2016 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for ESPN) /
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ESPN looks to capitalize on the success of the O.J. Simpson documentary with a story of loyal Bears fans trudging through a miserable season.

ESPN has decided on the follow-up to its stellar O.J. Simpson documentary, though it’s not as polarizing as you would expect. Bears fans. During a bad season. That will be the focus of eight, 30 minute episodes that will begin airing on April 11. As reported by Todd Spangler at Variety, the project is titled “We the Fans” and focuses on the fans of section 250 throughout the Bears 3-13 season.

This is a sharp contrast to the Oscar winner “O.J.: Made in America” directed by Ezra Edelman. Many subjects pale in comparison to the tragedy of O.J but I would have expected ESPN to choose something a bit more… oh, I don’t know…interesting???.

O.J. had the intrigue and the social relevance to pull in an audience. This seems like another “sports transcends all backgrounds” feel good story. ESPN tries to make it especially relatable because everyone’s favorite team is bad for an extended stretch of time (with the Patriots/Browns being caveats on either end of the spectrum).

What I believe made the ESPN piece especially enjoyable was that it was an unbiased retelling of the events that occurred by the people who lived them. From friends of O.J., to journalists and jury members, it covered the full spectrum of the event from just about every perspective imaginable. I just don’t see section 250 as a layered story with enough angles to make it very interesting.

I commend the effort of sharing different angles of the project through different content mediums. This will give viewers insight into the production they may not be accustomed to but “We the Fans” just isn’t the right project. Unfortunately, I just don’t see this having nearly as much curb appeal as O.J.

Next: HBO releases trailer for The Leftovers final season

Overall, I really like ESPN’s circuit of documentaries and find most of their 30 for 30‘s very entertaining. If the format of stretched documentaries is here to stay I will always expect incredibly insightful and in-depth analysis. In the never-ending “original content” race with Amazon, HBO, and Netflix, ESPN isn’t the horse I’ll bet on this year come awards season.

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