The high-flying, fast breaking Los Angeles Lakers from the 1980s will be getting their own series, “Showtime”, after HBO ordered a pilot to be directed by Academy Award-winner Adam McKay (“Vice”, “The Big Short”, “Anchorman”).
According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Showtime” will be based on the book by Jeff Pearlman titled “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.” Max Borenstein penned the script for the pilot and McKay is slated as both executive producer and director.
“Jeff Pearlman’s book and Max Borenstein’s script of the story of the Showtime Lakers really knocked me over,” said Adam McKay. “Sexism, racism, tragedy, redemption, no-look passes and a giant cultural shift in America… I can’t wait to start filming.”
No word as of yet on which actors will play the principal roles such as Magic Johnson, Pat Riley and Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss.
Showtime Comes to HBO
HBO is in the hunt for the next big series after “Game of Thrones” entered its final season. It’s foolish not to greenlight an entire series based on the trials and tribulations of 1980s Lakers.
The Showtime Lakers helped build the NBA into a global brand that we see today. The NBA was riddle with poor attendance and cocaine scandals in the late 1970s. The NBA had a new TV contract with CBS and the Showtime Lakers came around at the ideal time. The young and gregarious Magic Johnson was the polar opposite of the cool and methodical, it not mercurial Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Toss in two fierce defenders and quick winger with James Worthy and Byron Scott, and the Lakers were a tough team to beat.
The unstoppable Lakers were the best team from the Western Conference. They routinely battling the hated Boston Celtics for supremacy in the NBA. The Showtime Lakers were the best pro sports team in Tinsel Town during one of the most-decadent decades in the 20th Century. Magic and the Lakers went full blown Hollywood. Jack Nicholson ssat courtside next to a parade of stars and starlets. Throw in sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and you have a bonda fide hit on your hands.
At the same time, we all know how the Showtime Lakers ended. The team eventually meet their demise in at the start of the 1990s. Magic Johnson discovered the shocking news that he had the HIV Virus. The Showtime Era came to an abrupt close.
LeBron’s Reality Show
HBO is focusing on bringing the 1980s Lakers to the big screen. Meanwhile, the real Los Angeles Lakers are trying picking up the pieces after a disastrous first season for LeBron James in SoCal. At the lowest point in the season, the Lakers quit on LeBron.
Magic Johnson abruptly quit as the face of the Lakers in the wake of the Anthony Davis trade demand fiasco. The Lakers fired head coach Luke Walton the day after the season ended. Since then, Walton found a new job with the Sacramento Kings but also found himself at the center of sexual assault scandal.
The Lakers are without a head coach. However, they are actively pursuing Monty Williams. The former star from Notre Dame and assistant coach with the Sixers has a previous relationship with Anthony Davis. At the same time, the Lakers are also interested in LeBron’s puppet coach, Ty Lue, who finally helped win a title for the Cleveland Cavs.