ESPN’s award-winning news magazine E:60 makes its Spring 2013 premiere tonight with an NFL Draft Special (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET), 48 hours before the event begins — also on ESPN — in New York City. This is the first of a four-episode E:60 Spring flight with shows also airing April 30, May 7 and 14.
The four features premiering tonight include an E:60 exclusive report on the Auburn football program; a profile of Alabama running back and prime draft prospect Eddie Lacy; an exclusive television presentation of the 30 for 30 short film The Irrelevant Giant; and a compilation of NFL stars’ draft day memories. continue reading…
ESPN’s Craig Bengtson, vice president, SportsCenter, accepted awards won by the show and the Features Unit at the 2013 New York Festivals International Film and TV Awards. (Credit: Copywright Marc Bryan-Brown).
For the sixth consecutive year, ESPN was named Broadcaster of the Year at the New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
ESPN’s 40 medals led the competition, which attracts entrants from all corners of the globe. The network’s stellar night was largely a result of the outstanding work done in the areas of enterprise journalism and storytelling. continue reading…
Sometimes, they’re producing them: College football analyst Ed Cunningham won at the 2012 Oscars for underwriting the Best Documentary, Undefeated.
Sometimes, they’re watching and then critiquing them: On Friday, SportsCenter anchor and movie maven Adnan Virkshared his 2013 Academy Award picks with Front Row.
Sometimes, they’re appearing in them: ESPN NFL analyst and ESPN Radio co-host Mark Schlereth (Red Dawn) and SportsCenter anchor Stan Verrett (Playing For Keeps) made 2012 cameos in major films.
Tonight, even the sports world turns to Hollywood for winners and losers, watching the 85th Oscars on ABC (7 p.m. ET). To celebrate the annual night of gowns and tuxedos, Front Row strolled the halls of ESPN and asked employees to share their Oscar insights. . . and sample their acceptance speeches.
The results are rivetting performances from SportsCenter co-anchors Hannah Storm and Kevin Negandhi, among others. Cameos include ESPN makeup artist Tiffany Hall-Scarmana (on the cosmetic magic of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey); E:60 feature producer John Minton III (on storytelling in Zero Dark 30); and E:60′sAndy Tennant (on Argo).
Schlereth, an actor of some repute, portrayed a high school football coach in Red Dawn, a remake of the 1984 cult classic.
Somehow, neither Verrett nor Schlereth were among the Best Supporting Actor nominees and Schlereth calmly shared his views on the obvious “snub” below.
Top video produced by Ariel Bond Bottom video produced by Dave Williams
Our Front Row Field Trip camera took a trip to Manhattan on Monday to discover what goes into the taping of E:60′s pre-story roundtables that air as intros to most of their features.
Check out the video above for insight from the show’s executive producer, Andy Tennant and two reporters, Rachel Nichols and Jeremy Schaap.
This week’s two episodes of E:60 on ESPN (Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET and Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET) include 10 total pieces.
They feature New York Jet Santonio Holmes, professional wrestler Scott Hall, San Francisco 49er Patrick Willis and former New York Met Dwight Gooden, among others, as well as an emotional account of a near-death experience affecting the lives of newlywed bicyclists.
It is the Scott Hall piece (running Wednesday) that has generated considerable buzz with more than 130,000 views of this preview clip.
On Sunday, Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch Tweeted, in part: “I recommend tuning into E:60 on Wednesday night at 8 p.m ET. The show profiled Hall, and it makes for compelling (and sad) television. . . This is very good work by E:60 and recommended.”
Below is a second preview clip of the Hall piece, featuring fellow wrestler Sean Waltman (pictured below).
(Above video is highlights from the first four seasons of E:60; For a discussion of the upcoming season with ESPN executive producer Andy Tennant and clips from Ickey Woods and Nnamdi Asomugha features visit MediaZone.)
When someone says this about a show, you should probably pay attention: “I’m more excited than I have been in any of our prior seasons.”
When that someone is the Senior Coordinating Producer of E:60, Andy Tennant, you better pay attention.
Those words mean something for a show that is consistently recognized as the best in its category.
With Wednesday’s season-premiere (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), the award-winning series returns for its fifth year and comes out of the gate with an absolutely loaded debut that includes stories of a current star of the NFL (Nnamdi Asomugha), a former NFL standout (Ickey Woods) and perhaps the most recognizable female boxer of all time (Christy Martin).
The season-opener also showcases a behind-the-scenes video from the making of the ESPN The Magazine “Body Issue.”
For more on E:60 (including air-dates and scheduled stories) and an additional compilation of video visit ESPN’s MediaZone.
