Review: HBO’s ‘Any Given Wednesday’ (2016)

TV — I’ve barely been following Bill Simmons long enough to really talk too thoroughly about his new HBO show, Any Given Wednesday. His old ESPN-owned pop-culture / sport site was pretty decent, and The Ringer, which adds tech to the mix, feels nice too.

But Any Given Wednesday, which is a result of a reported US$20 million contract with HBO, still felt a bit off in its first episode. The show, which has a similar feel to Last Week Tonight, will apparently take an irreverent look at US sport, while mixing in some big-name interviews and pop-culture for good measure. We all know people love culture nowadays.

The first episode wasn’t really anything notable though. There was a lot of auto-cue reading, with Simmons not getting close to looking into the barrel of the camera as he drilled through the scripted opener:

And a pre-taped interview with Ben Affleck honestly looked like it should’ve been scrapped. Maybe in his rage Affleck forgot how to enunciate, but I’d put money on alcohol also having a role in The Batman’s slurring performance. He sounded munted af.

Still, for a first episode, at least the Affleck talk will likely generate some buzz for the show.