LHBO’s new drama series, “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty“, which opens next Sunday, offers an explosive mix of the ins and outs of the NBA and the lesser-known side of Los Angeles Lakers from the 80s, with Magic Johnson y Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as protagonists.
The production gives one lime and one sand to the North American basketball league and questions the image of that legendary Lakers teama squad that marked an era for its fans, laid the foundation for the industry and turned players into pop culture superstars.
It is an eight-episode production directed and co-produced by Adam Mckaywho accumulates recent successes thanks to the series “Succession“ya to the movies”Vice” O “Don’t Look Up“.
It is a fictionalized adaptation of the book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s” by sportswriter Jeff Pearlman.
“It is a story that speaks of two worlds that were mixed, basketball and businessto change the sports industry and how we see it now,” explained Quincy Isaiah, who plays Magic Johnson in the series, during an interview with Efe.
Quincy Isaiah and his partner Solomon Hughes (Kareem Abudl-Jabbar) are two actors with little experience, two ‘rookies’ in basketball jargon, but they already know the pressure behind the expectation that the series is generating.
Own Lebron Jamesstar of the current Lakers, showed on his social networks how eager he is to be able to see the premiere, while the most enthusiastic audience fantasizes about another basketball blockbuster two years after the success of “The Last Dance” (Netflix), la docuserie sobre Michael Jordan.
THE MAGNIFYING GLASS ON A TEAM THAT MARKED AN ERA
However, “Winning Time” does not generate sympathy among the vast majority of the members of those 80’s lakerswho refused to contribute their vision for the production documentation process.
As a consequence of this refusal, according to its creators, they had to do “own investigations” to complement the story.
Throughout the series, the magnifying glass is put on the sporting part of a spectacular batch of players, but also on the more egotistical facet of some protagonists eaten away by a dazzling success.
Some like the former team owner, Jerry Buss; Coach Pat Riley; and players like Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar or jerry west they do not always come off well in the narrative.
The actors Solomon Hughes and Quincy Isaiah prefer to focus only on “the positive part” of the series and declare themselves “admirers” of the characters they bring to life.
However, they are aware that it can cause blisters.
“Of course things happened 34 years ago, when they were 20 and almost children; but we must not forget that this is a television series and that we respect them,” said Isaiah.
“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” premieres this Sunday starting an avalanche of new television projects with basketball as the main theme.
Hulu is developing a documentary series on the history of the Lakers, and others like Magic Johnson will have their own production on Apple TV Plus in April.