HBO's "The Scheme" Delves Into College Hoops Investigation

HBO at 9:00pm ET tonight will debut "The Scheme," a documentary about the corruption scandal in college basketball that "makes the NCAA look bad, and actually makes the FBI look worse." The HBO Sports project would have aired during the NCAA Tournament, but is now "playing at time when fans are understandably pining for such events" (CNN.com, 3/30). Only "small parts of the movie touch on potential NCAA issues," as it "actually spends more time detailing the FBI’s methods" (ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 3/31).

Filmmaker Pat Kondelis’ "meticulously crafted and sometimes farcically funny documentary" focuses largely on Christian Dawkins, who received the stiffest sentence in the case at 18 months (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/30). Kondelis: “This whole thing was a circus and that was full of dark humor. If the Coen brothers did a documentary, this is what I could see them making” (FASTCOMPANY.com, 3/31). AWFULANNOUNCING.com header: "The Scheme Gives Us Insight Into A Government Boondoggle, But Not Much Else"