The 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants have officially committed to starring in their own reality show, which will air on Showtime in collaboration with MLB Productions. The show is rumored to be previewed during the opening week of the season, and will begin scheduled episodes during the second half of the 2011 season.
Showtime’s President of Entertainment, David Nevins, announced the news on Jan. 14, before the team’s upper management had even finalized the deal.
“We’ve already begun filming at home with some of the key characters in the off season and we’ll continue to embed with the team over the course of the next 10 months in an attempt to capture the entire organism of the club,” Nevins said in an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune.
The SF Giants are under immense pressure to remain at the top of the MLB and defend their well-deserved World Series title. Now they have to deal with the stress of multiple cameras monitoring their conversations, performances, jokes and inevitable arguments.
Not only will the players be filmed, but Showtime has also indicated they will include the players’ wives, girlfriends and parents. All of this sounds like a potential boiling pot for controversy and inner-team turmoil, which is most likely needed for the show’s success.
After all, if the show was nothing more than an hour-long series of the players leisurely practicing and cracking jokes, it would be more of a documentary than a reality show.
Yes, of course it will be nice to watch Brian Wilson celebrating and smiling in the locker room after a win over the L.A. Dodgers, but what about the episodes after a string of losses or after a dramatic 11th-inning defeat? What if the team we love soon regrets the signing of this contract, will that frustration translate onto the field? The possibility that this show could negatively affect the players’ ability to perform is not only bad for the franchise, but also neglectful of its fans. Nearly every person I’ve asked has told me that they think this is a terrible idea, and I strongly agree.
The main reason I’m opposed to this idea is akin to Aubrey Huff’s reasoning for wearing his “rally thong.” The only reason he didn’t take it off was because whatever they were doing was working. He didn’t want anything to throw off the team’s stride. Well, last season everything was working great, so why do anything to jeopardize that?