The Bronx is Burning

[rockymtnhigh]

Watching the ESPN mini-series on the 1977 New York Yankees. Its pretty good; I like the casting, and it is an awful lot of fun to go back to the year that really made me a baseball fan as a kid. Growing up in upstate NY, you were either a Yankees fan or a Red Sox fan (they were the minority); nobody seemed to care about the Mets. I was a Yankees fan.

 

[Sean Mota]

Is it HD? I haven't liked any of the ESPN productions so I stayed away this time. I saw the preview between a baseball game and it did not sell to me to watch it. But I may change my mind if you think it is worth watching it.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Is it HD? I haven't liked any of the ESPN productions so I stayed away this time. I saw the preview between a baseball game and it did not sell to me to watch it. But I may change my mind if you think it is worth watching it.

Yes, it was in HD.

It aired a bit later than scheduled, due to the homerun derby, and while I missed the first five minutes or so, I thought it was well done, and kept me interested. I'd give it a chance. I suspect they will re-air the first episode before next Tuesday, when the second episode airs.

 

[riffjim4069]

I am indifferent toward the show. The concept sounds very interesting, but I saw more than 20 minutes of the preview and thought the acting was horrible, and the participants didn't remotely convince me that I was witnessing the behind-the-scenes dramatics of Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, etc. In fact, it felt more like I had just seen Billy Carter, Redd Foxx, and Dan Lauria.

 

[rkrenicki]

Parts of that show were recorded behind my house, sometime last year.

I have yet to watch any of it, however.. I suppose I should to see if I see my house.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Parts of that show were recorded behind my house, sometime last year.

I have yet to watch any of it, however.. I suppose I should to see if I see my house.

Cool.

I have enjoyed it so far.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I thought this week's episode about the Reggie - Billy fight in Detroit was pretty good. After the show they showed actual footage; the filming was done quite well.

The only thing I don't like is how they use real crowd footage from 1977, which looks so crappy, and then go to this crisp HD image on the field of the players. Kind of hokey if you ask me.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I did an Amazon search on the book that the mini-series is based on; and I ended up finding a 6-disc DVD set on the 1977 World Series. The reviews said that the video was not particularly good (not surprising, its from a 30 year-old television master), but I have to admit that I was tempted by it. 1977 and 1978 were the two years when baseball meant everything to me. It would be fun to relive those games.
But I know my wife would kill me if I bought it.


I am dating myself, but in 1978, during the Yankees-Bosox playoff game to determine the division championship, we ended up watching the game during school, instead of doing school work! (it was probably 5th grade).

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I know nobody else has had much good to say about it, but I have really enjoyed the Bronx is Burning mini-series. I think they did a great job bringing out the conflict between George, Billy, and Reggie, and were very creative merging new footage with historical footage from the world series.

Maybe because I sort of came of age with the 1977 New York Yankees (indeed, I have the 1977 World Series program), I think this has been a great series. Very enjoyable. Looking forward to the conclusion next week, and Reggie's three homers in game six. I'll even consider getting it in DVD someday.