The NFL Cardinals' Amazon-only series "All or Nothing" debuts on Friday, and it is a "tour de force of reality television and newly broached ground" that takes HBO's "Hard Knocks" to the "next level," according to Will Brinson of CBSSPORTS.com. NFL Films "collected over 1,000 hours of footage for the project" beginning with the start of the '15 season and wrapping up with the NFC Championship Game loss to the Panthers. NFL Films "spared no expense," hiring actor Jon Hamm to "narrate the full series, creating an entirely new musical score dedicated just for the show and striking a deal with Amazon for new-age distribution." No pro sports team "has ever granted this kind of access to the comings and goings and ups and downs for the entire season." The series "began as a passion project" for Cardinals President Michael Bidwill and now "might help to change the way NFL television culture operates." The show could help with a "new generation of consumers shying away from traditional consumption." Bidwill said, "Consumer behaviors have changed. ... We've got to do a great job with listening to our fans." Brinson noted the entire series is littered with moments of GM Steve Keim and Bidwill "talking in practice, a delightful juxtaposition of front office discussion going on" while coach Bruce Arians is on the field. Brinson: "Just like Netflix lobbing out a new season of 'House of Cards' or Amazon releasing a season of 'Transparent' all at once, the entirety of the series is there for the watching" (CBSSPORTS.com, 6/30). BROADCASTING & CABLE's Michael Malone noted Amazon will "make three versions available to viewers: one family friendly, one for adults, and, in the coming weeks, a Spanish-language version." NFL Senior VP & Chief Content Officer and series Exec Producer Jordan Levin does "not see a saturation point approaching any time soon for NFL content -- be it games or entertainment series" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 6/30).
STAR OF THE SHOW: The AP's Bob Baum noted Arians, "one of the NFL's best coaches and certainly among its most colorful, is at the center of everything Cardinal and he didn't alter his style for the cameras and microphones." That "means an avalanche of 'f-bombs,'" as Arians "dropped 13 in the first episode alone." Cardinals fans "will love it" and football fans "should be entertained." NFL Films producers "promised they would not be an intrusion." Arians said that "they weren't." NFL Films also said that it "turned 1,000 hours of footage into the eight one-hour episodes." Amazon for a limited time "is offering the series for free" (AP, 6/30). NFL.com's Dan Hanzus wrote Arians is the "star in the eight episodes." He is "a force of nature" (NFL.com, 6/30).
STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING: In Phoenix, Bill Goodykoontz wrote "if you're a Cardinals fan, it's drop-what-you're-doing, stream-all-eight-now good." If "you're a football junkie, it probably will be, too." Goodykoontz: "And if you're neither? You still might like it, in part because the series gives some idea of how the business of football -- and it is a big business -- works, but also because Arians is magnetic." Arians' "tell-it-like-it-is honesty is bracing (and hilarious), and helps balance the series" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 6/30).
