Magic Johnson Isn’t Looking Forward to HBO Series Winning Time

The upcoming HBO miniseries chronicling the Los Angeles Lakers’ unstoppable dominance in the 1980s, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, has had its fair share of press coverage, albeit not necessarily for the series itself. We can add Magic Johnson to the list of folks who won’t be tuning in to catch the all-star cast capture the Showtime Era of the NBA team.

Johnson, when asked by TMZ if he was excited about the new HBO series, he responded that he was “not looking forward to it.” Magic explained, “No, we got different shows coming out. I got one, then you got Jeanie Buss got one on Showtime coming out. Those are the ones I’m looking forward to.” Jeanie Buss, controlling owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers, daughter of Jerry Buss, the man at the helm who would steer the team winning ten league championships in the 1980s, has two Laker’s series in the works. She is an executive producer to the Netflix TV series and an upcoming docu-series.

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One Laker who is pumped is LeBron James.

There seems to be an embarrassment of riches, when it comes to Lakercentric programming, headed our way. Adam MCays’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty appears to be a funny, entertaining, informative romp that celebrates the epic team of the time. With John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss breaking the fourth wall in the opening of the trailer, the tone is immediately set. Magic Johnson’s and Jeanie Buss’ projects appear to be something akin to ESPN Films’ docu-series The Last Dance which relvolves around the career of Michael Jordan with particular focus on his last season with the Chicago Bulls. There seems to be room on the field (court) for the distincly different projects.

The official synopsis reads: “It’s gonna be exciting. From Adam McKay, director of The Big Short and Vice comes a story about the rise of basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) and the lengths one man (John C. Reilly) will go in pursuit of securing a basketball dynasty. A fast-break series chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties — a team that defined an era, both on and off the court.” The miniseries stars John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss, Dr. Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jason Clarke as Jerry West, DeVaughn Nixon as his father Norm Nixon, Sally Field as Jessie Buss, Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss, Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman, Adrien Brody as Pat Riley, Jason Segel as Paul Westhead, Tamera Tomakili as Earlitha “Cookie” Kelly, and Rob Morgan as Earvin Johnson Sr.

Another bit of fall out from the series was to see Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, not only end their business endeavors, but as McKay tells it, it crushed their friendship as well. The falling out began with the casting change of John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss from Ferrell. McKay explained to Vanity Fair in November, “The truth is, the way the show was always going to be done, it’s hyperrealistic,” he explained. “And Ferrell just doesn’t look like Jerry Buss, and he’s not that vibe of a Jerry Buss. And there were some people involved who were like, ‘We love Ferrell, he’s a genius, but we can’t see him doing it.’ It was a bit of a hard discussion.”

After Reilly called to tell Ferrell the news, McKay admits he should have called, too. He didn’t, and he admits it was the wrong decision. “Maybe there was a little shadow in there where I wasn’t able to confront a harsher, darker side of myself, that would ultimately err on the side of making the right casting choice over a lifelong friendship,” McKay ends with, “What are you going to do?” They haven’t spoken since.

Award-winning author Jeff Pearlman’s ‘Showtime’ will be be brought to life on HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty beginning in March.

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Brandy Lynn Sebren
(529 Articles Published)

I’m the one that speaks in random movie dialogue. I almost always miss contact on high-fives. For years, I have been writing, speaking at length, and thanking the gods that my shocking encyclopedic knowledge of music, film and TV has proven valuable. Most commonly asked question? “Why do you know that?”

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