It has been a tough few years for the sports TV newsmagazine, but Jemele Hill thinks the format is ripe for a reinvention.
The journalist and ESPN veteran is leading a new program for TNT Sports called Above The Fold, which will “delve into important stories and topics centered on the connection between sports and culture.”
Hill says that the program is a “love letter to the profession that changed my life,” with its title a reference to the most important stories to be featured in a daily newspaper.
“As somebody who has now been in this business for almost three decades as a professional, it’s certainly hard not to notice that a lot of the shows, such as Outside The Lines, and E60, those hard hitting, deep dive, long-form type shows almost went extinct,” Hill tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “What I love about being a part of this project is feeling that sense of a weekly commitment to that kind of storytelling, that kind of journalism, and covering things happening inside the lines and also on the margins that are related to sports and and culture.”
Hill adds that she also wants to remind people “that even though I know the argumentative part of sports will always be very alluring for people, there’s another side of sports too, where we actually get to understand how sports work, and for that matter, the people in sports that make them matter.”
Last year ESPN canceled its journalism-driven newsmagazine Outside the Lines after 33 years (it lives on as a segment on SportsCenter and on digital platforms); and HBO ended Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, which had been a staple of its lineup since the mid-1990s.
Above The Fold will try to fill the void left by those programs, while also helping to launch an ambitious new programming play by TNT Sports: Its newly-launched sports block on TruTV.
Above The Fold will debut on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 5 p.m. on TruTV. Future episodes will debut Thursdays at 7 p.m. on TruTV, part of that cable channel’s new sports programming block, which launched earlier this month. Above The Fold will be the flagship storytelling-driven program in the block, which will also include live sports, simulcasts, and other sports studio programming. The program is produced by Uninterrupted, which is a part of LeBron James’ SpringHill.
“I think even if you’re starting something new, what matters the most are the people committed to it, and everyone here is committed to really making this a unique sports product that is also compelling and engaging for fans, and even for people who consider themselves to be just kind of casual observers who check in and out of sports,” Hill says.
“As we develop the TNT Sports on truTV programming lineup, we’re excited to partner with Uninterrupted and Jemele, to create a show that will be entertaining, insightful, and thought provoking,” states Craig Barry, chief content officer for TNT Sports. “Jemele is an influential voice within the sports community and has a unique lens. We are looking forward to building a platform to share meaningful and compelling perspectives with our fans.
The program will feature Hill and other correspondents digging into interesting stories that touch on sports and culture, both the serious and the fun. Hill says she hopes to introduce a new generation of journalists to the medium, with both veteran correspondents and first-time TV reporters set to contribute.
“When they hear that this is going to be about long-form storytelling, they immediately think about very serious things,” Hill says. “And we certainly will have room in the show for serious topics, serious discussions, but a lot of it, too, is covering the fun and culture of sports.”
That will include profiles of the people behind the mascots, and interviews with fascinating people with a connection to sports.
It’s a format that should be familiar to fans of Real Sports or its ilk, though it is increasingly out of style in a TV landscape where opinion and hot takes dominate lineups.
“It’s not easy journalism to do, and certainly when you have so many metrics telling you that people enjoy seeing debates and discussions and arguments, that can sometimes be very intimidating for people who want to return to this kind of sports storytelling,” Hill says. “But certainly the opportunity to partner with TNT and Turner and SpringHill, just their commitment to making this project a part of our sports universe, it was impossible to say no to that.”
“Uninterrupted is a big fan of Jemele Hill, and given our previous work with her, we know audiences are in for a treat as she shares her unique perspective on sports and culture,” adds Jamal Henderson, chief content officer, The SpringHill Company. “As a brand founded on providing a platform for diverse voices of athletes and their interests, we’re excited to partner with TNT Sports on truTV to bring this series to audiences every week.”
Jemele Hill will serve as executive producer of the program. Executive producers for Uninterrupted are LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson and Philip Byron. Joe Braswell and Steve Barry are executive producing on behalf of Kelchris who have an overall deal with The SpringHill Company.
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