7/7/2023 0 Comments Hbo hard knocks narrator![]() “What made it so special was you got an authentic look at how everybody did their job-how the schedule came about, how guys got cut,” Sharpe says. And because their subject was a team that featured the late defensive lineman Tony Siragusa, tight end Shannon Sharpe, linebacker Ray Lewis, and a formidable coaching staff of big personalities, there were plenty of comical, tense, and unpredictable moments to parse through. Without a set agenda or script, they expedited footage to their production studios, where a dozen editors crafted a six-episode narrative at a previously unthinkable weekly pace. Unlike the previous decades of sports documentaries, which mostly featured archived footage and Ken Burns–like narration, Angelo and his team of videographers dedicated themselves to filming every corner of the Westminster, Maryland, practice facility-inside the huddle, the cafeteria, the cold tub, the meeting room and head coach’s office-that established football scribes had long wanted access to. With league and team approval and an NFL Films partnership, HBO made good on its premium cable designation. “If any other season was the first season, I can’t imagine that the show would still be on the air.” -Ken Rodgers, NFL Films senior coordinating producer “The goal was to take them right inside and lift the veil.” ![]() “There’s this mythic, wondrous quality to NFL football, and people were accustomed to just seeing it on a Sunday or Monday and never getting a behind-the-walls peek at what the game was all about,” says former HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg. Originally conceived by longtime television director Marty Callner, the series-which debuted on August 1, 2001-aimed to capitalize on the nascent era of reality TV by following players through the rigors of making a roster and providing an all-access, cinema verité approach to sports never seen before. In line with its original mission, for the next several weeks Hard Knocks remained steadfast in capturing the unvarnished reality of the NFL. “‘The league doesn’t seem to care, the Ravens don’t give a crap, let’s move on.’” “Steve said, ‘OK, I’m done being concerned about this,’” says Angelo. When the screening finished, Billick approached the director and put it plainly: “Another great show, Bob, but we need a few more gratuitous fucks in there, don’t you think?’” That was all Sabol needed to hear. “My family was mortified by it, but it is who I am, and it’s the raw nature of camp,” Billick says. Still, he understood this new series was in search of authenticity, and didn’t want to hide behind a cleaner version of himself. Despite his eloquence in interviews and erudite approach to coaching, he’d developed an unfiltered vocabulary on the field and in the locker room, prompting his family to institute a swear jar at home. Angelo had been worried about the amount of excessive profanity in the pilot, and then-NFL Films president, the late Steve Sabol, was convinced the league office would also take issue with it, so for the second installment, the editorial team “had made a concerted effort to get rid of as much profanity as possible,” Angelo says.īillick noticed right away. ![]() Each Wednesday before practice, Billick-alongside owner Art Modell, team president David Modell, and vice president of player personnel Ozzie Newsome-would meet with NFL Films director Bob Angelo to screen a rough cut of that week’s show, making sure it was safe to air. On the morning before HBO premiered the second episode of Hard Knocks, a new docu-series chronicling NFL training camp, Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick had an unlikely request. To celebrate the network’s 50th birthday, The Ringer hereby dubs today “ HBO Day. ![]() On November 8, 1972, the Home Box Office was born, and television was changed forever. ![]()
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