Both HBO Sports and NFL Films announced that due to the NFL lockout, there won’t be a Hard Knocks series for this season, but to help fans get their reality training camp fix, both companies have said that there will be a 10th anniversary show that will air in August. The show has featured the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys (twice), Cincinnati Bengals and New York Jets over its previous incarnations. To be honest, several teams had turned down having cameras in their locker rooms this season and I think the season would have had to had been canceled anyway, but the lockout is a nice excuse. We have this joint press release from HBO Sports and NFL Films.
HARD KNOCKS UPDATE: 10th Anniversary Special Set for August 31
HBO Sports® and NFL FILMS have announced that the five-episode Hard Knocks reality series will not be presented this summer. The uncertainty of the NFL’s summer schedule and the incredibly expedited timetable this month made it impractical for a team to commit. The series is scheduled to return for 2012 training camp.
However, a special 90-minute edition of Hard Knocks, celebrating the past ten years of the seven-time Emmy®-Award-winning series will premiere Wednesday, Aug. 31 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, exclusively on HBO.
“We know football fans are hungry for compelling NFL programming and we think they’ll love the 10th anniversary special,” said Rick Bernstein, executive producer, HBO Sports.
Said Steve Sabol, President of NFL FILMS, “The first 10 years of Hard Knocks has been the ultimate fly-on-the-wall NFL training camp experience. We look forward to taking a look back at those shows and reintroducing the fans to those characters who made the decade of Hard Knocks so memorable.”
The special will combine flashbacks to memorable moments from the Hard Knocks seasons that featured the Baltimore Ravens (2001), Dallas Cowboys (2002 & 2008), Kansas City Chiefs (2007), Cincinnati Bengals (2009) and the New York Jets (2010); a “Where Are They Now?” element; and never-before-seen out-takes and new interviews.
Additional details and the show’s title will be announced in August.
That’s it for this post. One more press release is coming your way.
