TNT premieres "Football America" tomorrow at 8:00pm ET. The
new, two-hour, documentary focuses on the game of football at the
grassroots level and is produced by NFL Films and narrated by
actor James Coburn. NFL Properties and Turner Publishing also
joined to publish "Football America," a 256-page book with more
than 300 photos. It is written by Phil Barber and Ray Didinger
with a foreword by Don Shula (NFL). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's
Barbara Phillips calls TV's "Football America" a "magnificently
photographed documentary" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/17). In
Baltimore, Milton Kent calls the "wonderful documentary" proof
that "the purity of the sport survives despite our attempt to
hype it beyond recognition" (Baltimore SUN, 10/17). CABLE
WORLD's Alan Breznick writes, "When it's not preaching the NFL
Films gospel, 'Football America' is an interesting program. ... A
huge amount of work clearly went into this project. It's too bad
that NFL Films and TNT are so intent on inspiring us to love
football as much as they do. Without such blinders on, the
special might really be special" (CABLE WORLD, 10/14 issue).
