ESPN’s long awaited Michael Jordan documentary series The Last Dance makes its debut this weekend. Viewers will be able to chose how they experience the story of His Airness’s final run with the Chicago Bulls.
An uncensored version will air on ESPN. A version with expletives bleeped out will air on ESPN2. Both versions will air simultaneously starting at 9 pm.
Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing writes that the strategy makes sense for ESPN. It creates content for two networks during a time both are struggling to find programming that is relevant to the audience.
In reality, this is a fine way to pump the viewership for The Last Dance. It’s not as if ESPN2 has any other pressing content to air right now, so simulcasting The Last Dance on the network is a common sense move. And in case viewers will inevitably get upset about their (or their children’s) ears being dirtied with salty language, there’s a broadcast that will work out just fine for them.
Joe Lucia, Awful Announicng
This isn’t the first time ESPN has used this strategy. The first ever ESPN original film, A Season on the Brink was presented the same way when it premiered in 2002. The movie focused on notoriously foul-mouthed coach Bobby Knight and the 1985-86 Indiana Hoosiers’ basketball season.
The Last Dance will premier two episodes at a time. Starting on Sunday, April 26, the two episodes that debuted the previous week will air at 7pm Eastern with the new episodes premiering at 9 pm each week.
