HBO's 'Real Sports' air their last episode after 29 years
Bryant Gumbel, HBO's “Real Sports” called quits in its 29th year. The final episode, which is expected to be 90-minute long will premiere on Tuesday at 10 pm ET.
For the last few years, Real Sports taped its episodes on the same Manhattan block where CBS' “60 Minutes” was recorded.
Sports was a lens through which the magazine looked at all manner of issues, winning awards for pieces on corruption at the International Olympic Committee, labor abuses as Qatar prepared for the World Cup, concussions in sports and children forced to be jockeys for camel races in the Middle East.
“Real Sports” told some inspirational stories, like Mary Carillo's profile of the Hoyts, a father who ran marathons pushing the wheelchair of his cerebral palsy-afflicted son, and flashed humor.
Who won or lost? There were other guys for that.
“I'm OK,” Gumbel said before taping the last episode. “I'm sad, but everything has to end at some point and this is the right time for this to end.”
After shooting the last episode, a cart filled with champagne was wheeled down a hallway. Every individual involved in making this show a success bid farewell to each other. Gumbel's wife, Hilary, and his grandchildren settled into seats in the control room to watch the final taping.
Gumbel, 75, whose contract was nearing the end, and HBO, who is now controlled by Warner Bros. Discovery, is on cost saving mode. While the show's exit makes sense, the fear is that a form of sports journalism is leaving for good, too.
“It has been the gold standard in sports journalism on TV for the last three decades and it really is quite a loss,” said Mark Hyman, director of the Shirley Povich Center for
