Jones and Torre's new show employed a variety of camera angles, including a skycamTARA CHOZET
Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre's ESPN show "High Noon" debuted yesterday and it was "at its best" when the duo were "cracking jokes, giggling and generally having fun," according to Alex Putterman of AWFUL ANNOUNCING. Wisecracking was the "most refreshing aspect of a show that, content-wise at least, often felt more like the average sports-talk program than we were conditioned to expect." If the show "aspires to be more than 'Pardon The Interruption for a younger crowd,' it’s probably not there yet." Where the show "mostly differentiated itself ... was through its production." The show "employed a variety of camera angles, including a skycam, cutting quickly from close-ups to wide shots to split-screens." In that way and others, it "eschewed live-TV convention, cultivating a cinematic veneer." It was also shot in 24 frames per second and "used a widescreen aspect ratio." It "even played dramatic music in the background for most of the show." That production "made the show feel #important, in a way that might have been fitting for a long-awaited premiere, but one that also seemed to betray the hosts’ reputations for not taking sports too seriously." Jones and Torre are "smart, funny and well-rounded, and it’s clear they genuinely like each other." The show has a "chance to be extremely watchable" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 6/4).
BRING IN THE EXPERT: THE RINGER's Bryan Curtis wrote in "need of a hit," ESPN has turned to Exec Producer Erik Rydholm and "allowed him to develop 'High Noon' almost without interference." But despite the show’s "endless gestation period, there was little doubt the show would reach the air" after Rydholm’s "track record." ESPN is "once again relying on Rydholm’s approach to hit-making." Most sports shows "pit virtual strangers against each other in chyron-induced combat." Rydholm’s idea "is different." He "wants to take people who know each other off-screen and re-create their relationship as a TV show." To advertise "High Noon," Rydholm "didn’t want a raft of TV ads but wanted the hosts to tweet photos of themselves as young men." It "reminded Rydholm of the montages you see projected on a screen at a wedding." He decided to "shoot 'High Noon' in 24 frames per second, instead of the usual 30 or 60," and "hoped it would give the show the visual quality of a film" (THERINGER.com, 6/4).
