[HBO] Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Season 2

Happy the thread got bumped.
Also happy that the biggest playa in the bizz , Jeanie, in a plot twist, is loving the show now.


The only thing I'm not liking about this season is that other characters are having hallucinations. It was better when it was just a Jerry West thing. West is still the best.

 

yip on the norm nixon role.

but their portrayal of the Jerrys, could not be more wrong.

based soley on the movie script,

Jerry Buss comes across as a bubbling idiot.​

he earned a Ph D in chemistry from the Univ of Southern Calif
he turned an original $1,000 investment in an apartment into a real estate empire, leveraging it to buy the Lakers
​

Jerry West comes across as a

volitile, ill-tempered, out-of-control maniac


‘Winning Time’ gets some things about Showtime era right — but not Jerry West
It reduced the legacy of an 83-year-old legend and role model to that of a vulgar and unprofessional bully — the polar opposite of the real man.”

​

 

I didn't get Jerry Buss as a bubbling idiot type. More like he gets distracted by hotties. It never implies that he's an idiot.

Jerry West on Harrison Barnes back in '15 :
"Jerry West once put it more bluntly to me, after watching a practice in 2015: “Feet are all fu**ed up, moves are slow"

.

 

This show references exactly these things numerous times.

 

Same here. I don't think Buss is portrayed as an idiot at all. More like a very capable, but flawed dude.

 

How close did they get Jerry West? Did he really drop F-bombs every other word? Seems way over the top and kind of annoying. Unless of course that's really how he was/is.

 

Holy cow episode 3 is awesome, Bird was a bad MFer.

DD

 

This show is my guilty pleasure. I like how they are now condensing the entire Showtime run of the early 80’s into season 2 with the way they started in the 84 Finals and then go backwards to the end of season 1 after they win the first title under Buss.

and of course seeing our Rockets upset them in ‘81 was best cameo of all! I hope they extend the show to season 3 to get to both of the ‘86 series vs LA and Boston.

they could do a whole season with the 84 draft class and really milk the Lakers/Celtics rivalry which is where this show is headed.

I can see season 3 starting with the 84 Draft, through the 84/85 Finals, and then ending with another Rockets upset for the 86 season. And each of those 81 and 86 Finals v Houston is a way to continue to tie in the Larry Bird storyline…

 

The end, if they get to make it and don't get cancelled, has to be Magic getting HIV, right?

 

No need to feel guilty, it's a great show.

Episode 3 may have been the best yet. I love the buildup to Pat Riley eventually taking over.

Jason Segel is killing it as Paul Westhead. I didn't know he had it in him, frankly.

And Sean Patrick Small....he's so good that I forget he's an actor and not actually Larry Bird.

Season 2 is so much better than Season 1.

 

Friends and family close to West say it's doing him a disservice. Other people who were around him say it's not all that far off.

He was, by all accounts, one of the most driven, competitive people who ever existed in the sporting world. And yeah, he liked his profanity.

 

I almost forgot about that opening scene and just rewatched it. Just a one minute ominous scene with almost no dialogue. So yeah that’s definitely where this is headed if they can continue to extend the series. I heard the creator is begging people to watch and stream the show due to poor timing around the writers and actors strike.
Edit: and by “I heard…” I meant I read it on page 1 of this thread, lol

I also think it’s hilarious that Jeannie Buss is actually watching and praising the show where I’m sure Magic Johnson and Jerry West are cringing at their portrayals. How’s that battle all the way to the Supreme Court going, JW?

Jeannie is painted to be the ambitious and hard working Father’s Favorite, while her brothers are the buffoons. Pretty much accurate.

 

Did people smoke so much here in the US in the 80s?

 

Yes. Smoking peaked in 1982.

 

1998

 

I'm no expert or shrink but West comes across in real life as a guy with big time anxiety because he said he hated coaching because he didn't like not having control of what was happening on the court. I know you guys remember when he was still Lakers GM how he would watch games from the tunnel and get frustrated and disappear for stretches of the games.

 

these are exaggerated versions of west and buss, but based on what is known about those two there is definitely some truth to it. and its pretty entertaining watching west freak out all the time. west is the hothead, but he is usually right and he clearly cares about the organization. buss always struck me as a dude who was very smart, made a lot of money and made a conscious decision to become a playboy and enjoy life. ive always thought john c. reilly was a great actor, but he is killing it in this series.

one anecdote i remember hearing about jerry buss that always stuck with me was from after he died and they were interviewing one of the showtime lakers...he said after they won one of the titles they were celebrating in the locker room and he looked out and saw buss sitting there taking it all in with a big smile on his face. he was watching the team celebrate and getting so much joy from that. he said something to the effect of how most owners try to insert themselves into the celebration like they were on the team, but buss enjoyed watching others celebrate. i always thought that was pretty cool.

 

Consumption peaked in the USA in 1982, but production actually peaked in 1997—at 770 billion cigarettes. That is because an increasing proportion of the cigarettes made in the Americas are shipped overseas. ​

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/...capita adult cigarette,were smoked in the USA.