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9:15 AM Fri, May 15, 2009 | Permalink
Barry Horn E-mail News tips
The Spike TV reality show that stars Michael Irvin overseeing 12 wannabe Cowboys is the anti-Hard Knocks. In the first episode that debuts Monday at 9 p.m., there is no hi-jinx, no coaches bonding with players, no attempts to get inside the souls of any of the participants. Rather it is training camp taken to a "survivors' boot camp" extreme. All drills are in pads and helmets and they are run to excess. Their brutality is like nothing seen in a NFL training camp. Maybe that's the way it has to be to prepare the longest of long shots for the chance to be the 80th and final player on the Cowboys roster this summer.
Or as Irvin tells the long shots, Jerry Jones has "entrusted" the show with "one sacred" spot on his roster and he isn't messing around.
Needless to say the Spike TV folks and the producers, who have crafted NBC's "The Biggest Loser," know how to put a 60-minute "reality" show together. The opener is fast-paced with an emphasis on hard work and pain. Irvin is the no-nonsense, dressed in black, overseer who watches much of the action from up high in the Cotton Bowl stands while coaches Joe Avezzano and Bill Bates are the tough taskmasters down on the field. Jimmy Johnson would be proud. Nate Newton is "the turk," the angel of death who informs those deemed the least worthy that there time may be up.
Avezzano was born to play to the cameras and Bates shows the hard-nosed, gritty side that allowed him to make the Cowboys as an un-drafted rookie way back in the days of Tom Landry. They don't play "good cop, bad cop" just "bad and badder" cop. Don't expect any of the rich Irvin belly laughs you may have heard over the years. He too is strictly business.
As for the wannabe Cowboys, the first episode offers only a glimpse through their facemasks. Maybe we will get to know more of the survivors' back stories as they are pared down in the nine remaining episodes.
Spike, which is in 98 million homes, same as ESPN and TNT, has placed the show in a prime spot. It follows the network's most-watched show, UFC Unleashed, a mixed martial arts offering. The network is hoping UFC's viewers linger and a legion of Cowboys fans are introduced to Spike.
When one of the wannabes is sent packing at the end of the show, Irvin proclaims, "This is the end of the line. The Cowboys cannot use you. Maybe you can play for somebody but it won't be for Dallas. You're cut."
Just guessing that if you tune in Monday, you won't cut yourself. You'll come back for more. With the Cowboys, most people usually do.
Barry Horn E-mail News tips
The Spike TV reality show that stars Michael Irvin overseeing 12 wannabe Cowboys is the anti-Hard Knocks. In the first episode that debuts Monday at 9 p.m., there is no hi-jinx, no coaches bonding with players, no attempts to get inside the souls of any of the participants. Rather it is training camp taken to a "survivors' boot camp" extreme. All drills are in pads and helmets and they are run to excess. Their brutality is like nothing seen in a NFL training camp. Maybe that's the way it has to be to prepare the longest of long shots for the chance to be the 80th and final player on the Cowboys roster this summer.
Or as Irvin tells the long shots, Jerry Jones has "entrusted" the show with "one sacred" spot on his roster and he isn't messing around.
Needless to say the Spike TV folks and the producers, who have crafted NBC's "The Biggest Loser," know how to put a 60-minute "reality" show together. The opener is fast-paced with an emphasis on hard work and pain. Irvin is the no-nonsense, dressed in black, overseer who watches much of the action from up high in the Cotton Bowl stands while coaches Joe Avezzano and Bill Bates are the tough taskmasters down on the field. Jimmy Johnson would be proud. Nate Newton is "the turk," the angel of death who informs those deemed the least worthy that there time may be up.
Avezzano was born to play to the cameras and Bates shows the hard-nosed, gritty side that allowed him to make the Cowboys as an un-drafted rookie way back in the days of Tom Landry. They don't play "good cop, bad cop" just "bad and badder" cop. Don't expect any of the rich Irvin belly laughs you may have heard over the years. He too is strictly business.
As for the wannabe Cowboys, the first episode offers only a glimpse through their facemasks. Maybe we will get to know more of the survivors' back stories as they are pared down in the nine remaining episodes.
Spike, which is in 98 million homes, same as ESPN and TNT, has placed the show in a prime spot. It follows the network's most-watched show, UFC Unleashed, a mixed martial arts offering. The network is hoping UFC's viewers linger and a legion of Cowboys fans are introduced to Spike.
When one of the wannabes is sent packing at the end of the show, Irvin proclaims, "This is the end of the line. The Cowboys cannot use you. Maybe you can play for somebody but it won't be for Dallas. You're cut."
Just guessing that if you tune in Monday, you won't cut yourself. You'll come back for more. With the Cowboys, most people usually do.
