ESPN is at it again.
The tides seemed to be changing when ESPN announced the return of Hank Williams Jr. for Monday Night Football in attempt to reel their conservative viewers back in.
But ESPN just dabbled in a fictional comedy show, Jalen Vs. Everybody, and it certainly proved their liberal bias once again.
The Hollywood Reporter noted:
“Jalen Rose’s comedy pilot isn’t completely dead, after all. Though a future for the project (passed over at ABC) is still unlikely, its one produced episode will air on ESPN.
The Jalen vs. Everybody pilot will Tuesday evening, at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT after an abbreviated episode of First Take. Rose announced the news on a Monday episode of First Take.
It’s a rare move for ESPN, or any network, to air a passed-over pilot — especially so soon after the broadcast networks announced their orders for the new fall season.
It hasn’t even been a month since ABC opted not to order the 20th Century Fox TV and ABC Studios co-production for the 2016-17 season.”
The shows’ genre, tone, and single camera format is an amalgamation of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Modern Family, and The Larry Sanders Show.
You have the behind-the-scenes of ESPN, which is similar to The Larry Sanders Show, the attempt of completing the cycle of a story like Curb Your Enthusiasm, and the liberal family problems of Modern Family.
And his daughter perpetuates the lame overdone cliché that she’s always on her phone, while he notes she’s also talented at Instagram.
But the show also noted how powerful women are who “are ballin’ in a male-dominated industry” – signaling to ESPN’s female analysts like Sage Steele, Jemele Hill and Rachel Nichols.
Rose was attempting to instill in his daughter to,“Watch them. Learn from them. Do what they do,” because he feels she needs a good female role model in her life.
When his confused daughter asks Rose’s lesbian assistant what is going on, she replies, “I don’t know hun. All I know is that he texted me ‘Michelle Obama’ with 19 exclamation points.”
But most importantly, it was just an incredibly bizarre show that was unfunny due to non-comedic actors trying to carry a terrible script.
It was weird and this person also noticed it.
What is ESPN doing with this “Jalen vs. Everybody” thing..? This is weird af
— Damon Kecman (@DownWithDamon) June 6, 2017
But, to be fair, there was one part with Kobe Bryant that was truly funny.
That Kobe clip was the only funny thing about Jalen vs. Everybody
— Otto Rocket (@StevanCrawford) June 7, 2017
Kobe Bryant once scored 81 points on Jalen Rose and his Toronto Raptors and it was truly hilarious.
This is gonna be so fun: Jalen vs Everybody airing tonight on ESPN, 7:30p ET.
So many great cameos (incl. me ?) Oh & also this Kobe guy… pic.twitter.com/FCsfqa70gG— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 6, 2017
The show is flat with a confusing tone and it’s obvious why ABC didn’t pick it up. But it’s not clear whether ESPN will decide to move forward with the show at this time.