That's a wrap: Bryant Gumbel and HBO's 'Real Sports' air their last episode after 29 years
Bryant Gumbel's “Real Sports” airs its final episode on HBO after 29 years this week, and an era in sports journalism ends with it
NEW YORK — For the last few years of its life, HBO's “Real Sports” taped its episodes on the same Manhattan block where CBS' “60 Minutes” resides. They shared a sensibility along with a neighborhood.
But while “60 Minutes” rolls along in its sixth decade, the monthly sports magazine helmed by Bryant Gumbel is calling it quits in its 29th year. The final, 90-minute episode premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern.
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 son with cerebral palsy 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.”
Backstage, a cart filled with champagne was wheeled down a hallway. Correspondents, producers and their families wandered through offices, saying farewells. Gumbel's wife, Hilary, and his grandchildren settled into seats in the control room to watch the final taping.
Gumbel is 75, at the end of a contract, and HBO is now controlled by a company, Warner Bros. Discovery, on the hunt for cost savings. While the show's exit makes sense, the fear is that a form of sports journalism is leaving for good, too.
“It has
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