In a recent Guardian article, Adrian Horton bemoaned the fact that there are too many TV shows these days of varying quality based on true stories.
While it is true that the sheer volume of dramas about fraudsters, murderers and celebrities has been overwhelming, Horton noted many of these dramas tended to get released in the Spring because they are Emmy Awards bait.
While that is certainly true, the journalist's argument that these shows have become dramatised Wikipedia entries seems a bit overblown.
He ignores the fact that the television landscape is now so vast, it is inevitable that traditional TV channels and streamers will plunder stories ripped from the headlines in the quest for content.
With Amazon Prime, Netflix, AppleTV, Hulu, Disney+, Roku, Paramount, AMC, HBO Max, Britbox and many more pumping out shows along with traditional channels, is it any wonder they are turning to dramas about real life murders, fraudulent startups and celebrity sex tapes?
HBO's 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' has hit our screens, though, with quite a splash.
With producer Adam McKay of 'The Big Short,' 'Vice' and 'Don't Look Up' fame on board, it is a typically irreverent take on an American success story - in this case, the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.
However as Horton rightly observes in his article, the production has been marred by a controversy that perfectly illustrates the dangers of dramatising real life tales.
Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have denounced the series as inaccurate and have insisted it could never recreate the magic of their time at the Lakers.
Former Lakers coach Jerry West has gone one step further.
He has become so incensed by his depiction as a foul mouthed, volatile individual, he has initiated defamation proceedings against HBO and the producers.
Against this backdrop, how does 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' fare as a ten episode miniseries inspired by real events?
Anchoring the show is John C Reilly's Lakers owner Dr Jerry Buss who is portrayed as a loveable, silver tongued rogue.
A splashy, womanising, big ideas man, Buss dreams of the Lakers supplanting the Boston Celtics as the dominant force in basketball and he throws a lot of money at the project - money he doesn't really have.
A chemist by training, Buss has made his fortune taking risks in real estate and is portrayed as an anti-Establishment figure in the sport.
Seducing the banks into giving him the finance he needs, he enlists the help of his daughter Hadley Robinson's Jeanie Buss, mother Sally Field's Jessie and fellow entrepreneur, Stephen Adly Guirgis' Frank Mariani in his efforts to transform the franchise, along with Gabby Hoffman's general manager Claire Rothman.
Not only does Buss capture the most exciting rookie talent in the sport in the shape of Quincy Isaiah's Magic Johnson but he enlists the Lakers' disillusioned, outgoing coach Jason Clarke's Jerry West to search for a successor.
They settle on Tracy Letts' visionary coach Jack McKinney who, along with Jason Segel's Shakespeare quoting assistant Paul Westhead, seeks to breathe new life into a very stale team.
Magic Johnson's affable persona isn't an easy fit in a dressing room and he gets a frosty reception from Solomon Hughes' serious captain Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and DeVaughn Nixon's Norm Nixon who is threatened by the talented rookie's arrival.
Nixon, in particular, is determined to take him down a peg or two.
Like Jerry Buss, Magic also has an eye for the ladies which complicates his relationship with his on-off girlfriend, Tamera Tomakili's Earletha "Cookie" Kelly.
On top of that, he is balancing the aspirations of his proud father, Rob Morgan's Earvin Johnson Sr for his career and the devout Christian values of his no nonsense mother, LisaGay Hamilton's Christine.
While West hangs around the fringes of the Lakers set up as a remindeevof past failures, Adrien Brody's former player Pat Riley is also lurking there.
Riley has been struggling to find a new purpose in life following the end of his playing career.
He initially zones in on becoming a basketball pundit alongside Spencer Garrett's sportscaster Chick Hearn.
While Jeanie Buss seeks to impress her father and Claire Rothman with big marketing ideas, the owner of the franchise keeps the bankers at bay by offering a different kind of Lakers experience, with raunchy dancers and an exclusive nightclub in the arena.
Over the course of a rollercoaster season, the Lakers experience a series of huge highs and lows with an early defeat, a series of stirring wins, a potentially disruptive bicycle accident, a season defining performance against the Celtics, career threatening injuries to key players and one star succumbing to drug addiction.
In his quest for glory, Buss tries to get under the skin of Boston Celtics legend Mike Chiklis's Red Auberbach, while Johnson does the same to their star player, Sean Patrick Small's sullen Larry Bird.
Do they succeed?
Well, the clue's in the title but Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht's eight part miniseries isn't really about the outcome.
It's about the path the Lakers took to get there.
And 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' tells that journey with vigour and much mischief.
Many of the traits of McKay's movies are in abundance in the show.
Most of the main characters break the fourth wall - often in mid-conversation - as the audience is bombarded with facts, freeze frames and captions.
The starry cast also deliver hugely entertaining, tongue in cheek performances, with Reilly, in particular, savouring his moment in the spotlight.
The character actor turns in a very appealing performance in a rare lead role, as does Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson.
Brody, Clarke, Letts, Segal, Hughes, Nixon, Chiklis, Garrett, Guirgis, Small, also grab their moments to shine.
Tomakili, Field, Morgan and Hamilton impress, along with Julianne Nicholson as Coach McKinney's wife Cranny, Gillian Jacobs as Pat Riley's wife Chris, Rachel Hilson as Magic Johnson's girlfriend Cindy Day and Steve Harris as her father Thomas.
James Lisure catches the eye as the wily Philadelphia 76ers legend Julius Erving, alongside Brett Cullen as Lakers backroom staff member Bill Sharman, Rory Cochrane as the unorthodox Las Vegas high school coach Jerry Tarkanian and Wood Harris as the Lakers player Spencer Haywood.
However the other two outstanding performances in the show are from Hoffman and Robinson as women making their way in a very sexist workplace - the former operating in a culture that goes against her natural instincts, the latter trying to prove she is more than the boss's daughter.
The series boasts amusing cameos as well by Mariano Diallo as the model Iman, Mike Epps as the comedian Richard Pryor, Max E Williams as Jack Nicholson, Ta'Nika Wilson as the choreographer and actress Debbie Allen and Carina Conti as the first Lakers Girl and future pop star, Paula Abdul.
Each episode is vibrantly directed by McKay, Jonah Hill, Damian Marcano, Tanya Hamilton, Payman Benz and Salli Richardson-Whitfield from lively scripts penned by Borenstein, Hecht, Rodney Barnes and Rebecca Bertuch.
However the most eye catching thing about 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' is its visuals, thanks to cinematographers Todd Banhazo and Mihai Malamaire's use of 35mm Ektachrome which gives the series a grainy, 1980s look.
Combined with astute film editing by Kelley Dixon, Skip MacDonald, Chris McCaleb and Curtis Thurber, it creates a visual aesthetic that imbues the show with a suitably sleazy, retro feel as it revels in the antics of its many dodgy characters.
It's all very 'Boogie Nights'.
'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' will undoubtedly upset the most devout Lakers fans but to the neutral it is an entertaining romp about a basketball franchise.
It's easy to see how Borenstein and Hecht's miniseries could spawn a sequel.
Whether the legal pitfalls of dramatising the Lakers' allow them to do so is another question.
The series future may be decided not by ratings, critical acclaim or awards.
It could ultimately be determined in the courts.
And that could be the most surprising twist of all, with implications for other shows dramatising real events.
Stay tuned. It's going to be an interesting battle.
('Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' was broadcast on Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland from March 28-May 30, 2022)
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