LEVINSON/FONTANA COMPANY, an entertainment production
company headed by BARRY LEVINSON and TOM FONTANA, is
developing a TV basketball drama for Showtime which will
"take a hard-edged ... behind-the-court look at the life of
professional basketball players," according to Bill Carter
of the N.Y. TIMES. The show, which will be called "Hoop
Life," will feature a league called the UBA, rather than the
NBA, in order to "avoid any legal entanglements." But
Carter writes that the "connection is not likely to be
missed by viewers," as NBA players are expected to appear
"regularly" for cameos. Fontana's "friend" Joe Cacaci says
the show will "get into the lives of the players in a
serious way, though there will also be a heavy dose of dark
comedy." Carter notes the series "sounds like HBO's
breakthrough drama, 'The Sopranos," and Cacaci said the
series "will not flinch from examining ... the 'over the top
behavior' of some basketball stars." Main characters
include one who is a "married player who is an uncontrolled
womanizer" and another who "loses himself in the big easy
money he begins to make." The series is expected to debut
on July 4 and will run on Sunday nights (N.Y. TIMES, 4/28).
HOOP IT UP: Bucs WR DARNELL MCDONALD "may land a role"
in a new film directed by SPIKE LEE, as staffers from Lee's
production company are "casting for an unnamed" basketball
film (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 4/26).
