WTF Are the Bengals Doing as the Focus of an HBO Show?
May 19, 2009 – 11:20 am by Will Brinson
The Bengals are going to be featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” and no one really knows why. After all, they’re the freaking Bengals: a disappointing pile of a franchise full of people who consistently get arrested or awkwardly change their names to incorrect Spanish numbers.
Okay, one person does know: Ross Greenberg, with HBO. And he got on the phone with WNBS in Columbus to explain why the Bengals got picked and what the process is for a team involved in “Hard Knocks.” It’s a really cool interview — Greenberg goes into lengthy, albeit listenable, detail of many facets surrounding the program, and I recommend listening to the whole thing.
On picking the Bengals for “Hard Knocks“:
“It’s an interesting process and not so easy. You’ve got to get the okay not only from the owner Mike Brown and the head coach Marvin Lewis but many others in the Brown family to make that decision. We’re lucky that … NFL Films basically at the owners meetings every year talk to many teams. And we had three or four that showed interest, but the Bengals were pretty much at the top of our list. I feel like, most of us today were talking about the fact that this is a team that’s had to show some adversity over the past couple of years and this is a team that represents America right now … We felt like they had a nice blend of superstars, a new infusion of top — Andre Smith and others. Laveranues Coles is now there, Cedric Benson is now there. The show lives and dies, honestly, with the cast of the head football coach. And Marvin Lewis … feels like a real solid head football coach … to give that show the leading actor that it needs.”
On what the Bengals get out of this experience:
“Interestingly, they become a national team. All of a sudden they get a prominence in every state amongst NFL fans and sports fans the country over and I think they take on a different kind of perspective as a football team.”
On financial gain for the Bengals:
“No, we only pay for production to shoot this five-part show. NFL Films will make a little money I would hope. Hopefully they won’t spend all of it … But at the end of the day, all 32 teams would split any money that was leftover from production.”
Listen to Ross Greenberg on 97.1 the Fan
Tags: Bengals, Hard Knocks, HBO
