The Inside Story (miniseries) (2021)

Starring: Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal
Grade: D+

I like that a show like Inside the NBA is getting recognition, but a miniseries was not the way to go.

Summary

Inside the NBA is an NBA highlights/game coverage/analysis/entertainment show on TNT. It started out as any regular analysis show, but it ended up becoming a staple of basketball culture and fandom. The Inside Story is the miniseries about the show and how it evolved over the years because of the personalities of host Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal.

For reference, there are four episodes in The Inside Story, with each episode’s subject matter being based on one of the four stars. They are in order as follows:

1. Ernie Johnson: The Traffic Cop. Aptly named because of the fact that he has to play this role throughout the show, directing the traffic of conversation for his opinionated co-stars.
2. Kenny Smith: The Role Player. He was a role player in the NBA and a role player on the show.
3. Charles Barkley: The Entertainer. Everything revolves around Chuck whether people realize it or not. The show would be awful without him. He doesn’t force his comedy either and that’s what makes him the “Entertainer” over Shaq.
4. Shaquille O’Neal: The Little Brother. He joined the show last and is the youngest out of all of them.

My Thoughts:

I’m a huge fan of NBA Basketball and because of this, I’m also a huge fan of Inside the NBA. No one is as naturally funny explaining (or arguing about) basketball as this fearsome four. I will say that despite all of this, I didn’t think it was necessary to make a four-part miniseries on the show. Is Inside the NBA entertaining as hell? Yes. Is it worthy of being inducted in the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame? Honestly, yes, I think so. Even then, a four-part mini-series still seems a bit gratuitous to me. It seemed like the only reason four episodes were made was so each episode could be named after one of our four stars. Why do I think this? Well, honestly, there wasn’t enough content of each guy to fill their episode length (over an hour). They would generally talk about one of the four guys but would then get wildly off topic in each episode, getting super in-depth on guys like Craig Sager, Kobe Bryant, and George Floyd. It’s not that these things aren’t worthy of in-depth conversation, but for an entire special dedicated to the antics of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal, these topics didn’t really fit the point of the show.

Even in episodes dedicated to one guy, they still didn’t focus on them as much as they should’ve. For instance, Ernie Johnson was the focus of episode one, but it took forever to even talk about Ernie because they had to establish the history of Inside and then throw in random stories in-between. When they finally get to Ernie very soon after, they jump to the importance of Kenny and Chuck. Why don’t they save everything involving them for their name-centric episodes? Why take away Ernie’s time to shine?

In general, there just didn’t seem to be enough content to generate four episodes focused solely on the guys and Inside the NBA. Because of that, we got a documentary that is all over the place and boring in some parts. The Inside Story would’ve benefitted greatly from just being a chronological two-hour documentary rather than a four-episode mini-series that jumps back and forth. That way, they could’ve trimmed the fat extensively and make something that is actually reminiscent to the fun, loose energy of Inside.

I just had way too many issues with this. Ernie always looked like he was about to cry when talking to the camera, the inconsistent narrative was stretched to its bare bones and lost its impact along the way, and a lot of the people in the confessionals really overstated the impact of the show to make us feel like it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Look, I love Inside, but to have all these people state things like “Everyone was talking about this stupid thing that Shaq did the next day” and that “No one even watched the game”, and even “People watch Inside and don’t even watch basketball” just seemed like flat-out lies made to hype up the documentary. If they are dead serious, then their ego is through the roof. The “impact” of Inside the NBA has been greatly exaggerated for a long time, but the egregiousness of some things said in The Inside Story has finally given me enough confidence to go public with this information. They constantly lie and say things like “Everyone watches us and what we do” when it’s just not true. A lot of people don’t watch the show, and a lot of basketball fans just watch the games. Don’t base all of your popularity on Twitter traffic because stupid shit is trending every day on there. That doesn’t mean “everyone” is watching.

This whole documentary is an ego-filled generalization at best.

Barkley and Shaq had two of the best episodes (as you would expect), and Ernie probably had the worst one. I did enjoy the confessionals with the crew, as they talk about the everyday routine and thought processes of the team to make the show as entertaining as possible. It was very insightful, especially the importance of producer Tim “TK” Kiely who rebranded the show to make it feel more personable and real. He comes off as the unsung hero because of how crucial he was to the restructuring of everything. When you combine his idea with the personalities of the charismatic stars attached to it, the success of Inside the NBA makes a lot of sense in the grand scheme of things. It was a case of the right people at the right time, and it helped make Inside the only analysis show worth watching.

Again, I do love Inside the NBA. Don’t get it twisted based off of my review, but I have to say it: The Inside Story might be one of the most unnecessary documentaries I’ve seen in a long time. To stretch it to four episodes was just unbearable. How many times can you say the same thing over and over again? Considering most of the jokes/moments the documentary highlighted are repeated or brought up weekly during the regular season anyway by one of the four stars, what’s the point of me watching this all over again and hearing how funny they thought it was?

Inside the NBA will always be the best NBA analysis show, but The Inside Story is a total afterthought.