HBO's "Hard Knocks" premieres its new season tonight at 10:00pm ET and is "attempting something new," chronicling two teams -- the Rams and Chargers -- for the first time in the show's 15 seasons, according to Emmanuel Morgan of the L.A. TIMES. The show "was supposed to detail how two franchises attempting to rebound from disappointing seasons approached a year of excitement as they moved into a sparkling new multibillion-dollar stadium." But NFL Films VP & Senior Coordinating Producer Ken Rodgers said that because of the coronavirus, his group "must stretch and tell a broader story." Rodgers: "It's not about a particular team or particular teams anymore. It's about the NFL as a whole and what the NFL is trying to accomplish." He said that the Rams and the Chargers "expressed 'strong interest' in being the subject of this season's show," and instead of choosing one, it "made sense to document both." More than 150 people at NFL Films are working on "Hard Knocks," with 30 embedded at the Rams facilities in Thousand Oaks, and 30 with the Chargers in Costa Mesa (L.A. TIMES, 8/11).
ALWAYS WATCHING: Rams coach Sean McVay said that HBO "has used robo-cameras as an alternative for access." McVay: "I got a couple robo-cameras following me right now. Every move I make in my office, so I have zero privacy. So, time that I would probably allocate at my home office otherwise, to try and get some of that privacy. I can't say anything without feeling like I am going to get in trouble" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 8/11).
