If you happen to confuse Wednesday’s Canadian debut of the Onion SportsDome with real sports highlights, then the creators of the new comedy show have done their job.
It’s the latest project from the satirical news outlet The Onion and aims to entertain, satirize and confuse.
“What we’re trying to accomplish is what The Onion is always trying to accomplish, which is to misinform people as much as possible, deceive them and trick them into thinking they’re watching real news,” says Jack Kukoda, co-executive producer and head writer of the show that’s scheduled to run 10 episodes on the Comedy Network (Wednesdays, 10 p.m.).
The show is a bang-on takeoff on ESPN’s SportsCenter and will strike a chord with Canadians because TSN’s SportsCentre and its counterparts on The Score and Rogers Sportsnet look so much like the American version.
The overheated, overly serious delivery peppered with catchphrases are only slightly exaggerated versions of what sports fans see every night on honest-to-goodness sports shows. The stories? Not so much.
On the other hand, a report on NHL commissioner Gary Bettman staging a fake kidnapping to bring much-needed publicity to “his strange ice sport” looks quite real, as does another detailing NBA rule changes inspired by LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade (“dribbling will be optional if you’re planning to do a really sweet dunk.”)
It’s hilarious at times, tasteless at others. And a rapid-fire segment entitled “Who Would You Kill?” couldn’t have come at a worse time considering the events of the past week.
Kukoda says that although it isn’t always in good taste, the beauty of the show is that it has no limits.
“It’s less like The Daily Show, which is reacting to real events, but more The Onion style where we’re not bound by reality,” he says.
We asked five Canadian sportscasters to give their impressions of the show.
• Jim Van Horne, College of Sports Media television co-ordinator and former sports anchor:
“I really loved the banter between the hosts. It’s a real shot at your typical sportscaster.
“ Every guy who’s been on the air has done what you see there, me included. If anybody denies that they haven’t done that at some point, they’re lying.
“We all want to use the jargon, the clichés and come across as the macho man.
“I’m curious to see how long it is before somebody takes one of these stories seriously. Somebody will because it’s so authentic-looking. It looks just like ESPN or TSN.”
• Renee Paquette, The Score:
“I absolutely loved it. The way they executed it was bang on.
“Somebody totally will take this seriously, because so many of the announcers’ opinions are the same ones the common sports fan would have.
“I don’t think I saw myself there because I don’t think I have the typical sportscaster delivery.
“There were a few things that made me think they shouldn’t have done that, but it’s on the Comedy Network so they might as well go for it. . . . I felt guilty about laughing at some of the stuff, but it was funny.”
• James Duthie, TSN host and former anchor:
“I laughed a few times. The National Crystal Meth Hallucination League was pretty funny.
“The challenge this show will have is that many of us realize how silly some of the things we do are, and so we already parody ourselves.
“We do that on The Quiz. Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole do it on SportsCentre every morning. It’s much easier to make fun of something when it takes it self too seriously, like The Daily Show does with U.S. politics and news.
“We try not to take ourselves too seriously. At least most of the time.”
• Sean McCormick, former Sportsnet anchor:
“I thought it was comedy genius.
“It does a pretty good job of taking every stereotype about sports announcers and making fun of it.
“I loved the interplay between the hosts, but the one guy looked a bit too much like Stephen Colbert. They’re trying to piggyback on that, but the stereotypes were bang on, from the BlackBerry on the desk and the line about the announcer being glad he doesn’t have a family. You know who those guys are.
“I’m setting my PVR now. That’s destination viewing for me.”
• Tas Melas, The Score:
“There are some great writers on that team, but I kind of question how they can sustain those storylines for 10 episodes. Sportswriting/comedy writing is a pretty hard road to travel.
“I’m not sure it’s possible. Some of the storylines, like the Miami Heat story, happened seven months ago. That’s a bit stale.
“I loved the whole story about St. Louis trying to keep Albert Pujols by giving him the keys to every building in the city and letting him sleep in your basement.”
2 comments:
This idea of a "Daily Show" Sportscenter is epic.
With sport being so prominent in the world today, and professional sport leagues being a huge money making industry I think it's about time someone spoofs it.
I enjoy Duthie's remarks though, suggesting some of the things himself, Onrait, and O'Toole do on air are essentially spoof the sport media world in itself. But a full on, Spoof show is priceless.
I really enjoy the fact that the Canadian Sportscasters interviewed in the post enjoyed what The Onion has done. I never knew about this until I seen this post. I'll have to look it up.
I truly feel this show is hilarious! After reading this article I watched a couple pieces from an episode on youtube and we couldn't stop laughing. I feel many sport fans are going to feel the same. The stuff they come up with in this show is so creative, and just priceless.
I have to agree with Jon, its about time someone spoofed the sports media world. I cant believe their hasn't been a show similar to this aired before! This show is going to gain popularity fast I feel.
I personally enjoyed watching Onions more compared to original highlight sport shows (TSN, ESPN). People in our society eat up this type of stuff and all sport fans are going to die watching.
I hope the ONION keeps us the good work! Its great humor for all the sport fans out there!
priceless humor.
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