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Eboni Kleifgen
The evolving NFL series is part business story (Netflix and NFL joining forces), with potential to also be a pop culture story. Now Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins has seen his status rise in part because millions got to know him in greater depth. Is this how NFL players can break free of Helmet Syndrome and reach the fame levels of NBA stars? Has football somehow found a new way to matter even more in the hearts and minds of Americans?
This offseason, Aiyuk has been a brooding public presence, and has suggested interest in a trade. He wants a lavish contract on, say, the level of new Netflix star Amon-Ra St. Brown, but the Niners are reluctant. As you can see in Receiver, the Lions specifically target Brown when their season is on the line. Aiyuk likely feels that he should be so lucky.
I have a different perspective on this as someone who worked in story producing and post production for several reality shows. Preparing these shows is an art to a varying degree and there is a skill/talent in storytelling.
Your criticisms may be that the story and post department are not necessarily the best and they are missing some story elements, that you, as a excellent story teller, find glaring. I find a lot of netflix shows are dull and I think a lot of it is that there is a lot of mediocrity behind the scenes in the production of these shows.
Netflix has released Receiver, sequel to the Quarterback series put on by Peyton Manning\u2019s Omaha Productions. The concept is the same as Quarterback, which followed a season in the life of Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota. Quarterback was a success, it appears (It didn\u2019t hurt that the season ended in a Super Bowl victory for Mahomes), though I\u2019m not sure it really delivered on the promise of its killer trailer.
With Receiver, we\u2019ve got an all access pass to Justin Jefferson, Davante Adams, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Deebo Samuel and his 49er tight end teammate George Kittle. Is it good? Well, the content certainly looks good. The gladiatorial spectacle of the NFL is amazing up close when elevated by high production value. I\u2019m glad the content exists, and as a 49er watcher, enjoyed seeing more footage of a memorable season. My bet is that likable Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown gets something similar to a Kirk Cousins boost on account of his rise to stardom getting chronicled. At the same time, the series is lacking, held back by a condition that\u2019s hindering sports cultural connection more generally. I call it the Players\u2019 Tribune problem, summarized like so:
Back in 2014, the Player\u2019s Tribune launched as part of this broader effort for athletes to own their own stories. The publication, founded by Derek Jeter, was pitched with not a small amount of resentment for the sports writers who\u2019d previously owned narrative production. The Player\u2019s Tribune had some hits here and there, but never really caught on. The reason for that, I believe, was that it was too sanitized and guarded, much like Jeter himself. The athletes disliked sports writers in part because such people exposed their secrets and weaknesses. That\u2019s an understandable gripe, but there is no closeness without vulnerability.
Like Quarterback, Receiver is OK, maybe even good, but not necessarily great. And that\u2019s unfortunate because, given the uncommon access afforded to a subject Americans are obsessed with, greatness is within theoretical reach. The problem isn\u2019t the production or even the characters. It\u2019s that, likely as a condition of access, the players are presented absent many if any flaws.
The Niners offer an example of what I\u2019m talking about, George Kittle specifically. Kittle is a famously telegenic presence. He\u2019s self aware, funny, and doesn\u2019t seem especially sensitive. That\u2019s why I was surprised by the series presentation of the Niners-Packers Divisional Playoff game. The documentary shows nearly every play from the dramatic 49ers\u2019 game winning drive, with one glaring exception. As those who watched might remember, Kittle dropped a wide open pass on second down. The Fox broadcast zoomed in on him and he looked absolutely miserable as his friend and fellow tight end Greg Olsen explained what happened to the TV audience: Kittle was so eager to turn up the field and make a big play that he overlooked securing the catch.
It\u2019s at this moment in the game, season on the line, rain falling to complicate matters, that Kittle has accidentally turned a sure first down into a high leverage 3rd down. If the 49ers go on to lose, this will likely become the play most 49ers fans remember, with Kittle having to wear the mistake for months if not years.
Fortunately for Kittle, Brock Purdy and Brandon Aiyuk connect on the next play for a diving catch in the tightest of windows. Netflix shows you that play, along with a relieved Kittle pumping his fist and saying, \u201CYes!\u201D Then you see another gainer later on, where Kittle interrupts his communication with a teammate to get open, actually catch the ball this time, and turn up field for a nice play. It\u2019s a cool moment and we see George Kittle\u2019s wife shout, \u201CGood job, G! Way to come back, let\u2019s go!\u201D
But the viewer wasn\u2019t even shown what Kittle was coming back from. I guess they\u2019re maybe supposed to interpret his wife\u2019s words as cheering the team\u2019s comeback? Personally, I think it\u2019s more dramatic that she just watched her specific husband\u2019s reputation come off the hook in real time, but Receiver isn\u2019t comfortable showing the arc of it. And that seems silly to me. Bad plays happen. It\u2019s impressive that an athlete could have the sort of (understandable) error that Kittle did without falling apart. He makes a mistake, but then bounces back, quickly, and helps his team win. What\u2019s wrong with showing that?
I could understand why Receiver didn\u2019t show Kittle joking around during the Super Bowl, oblivious to a loose fumble close by. That\u2019s embarrassing and there was no redemption to be rescued later on. At the same time, I wish it had been featured. That\u2019s real. It shouldn\u2019t define a great player, but it\u2019s something he has to process and deal with. Instead, Netflix neglected to show Kittle bantering while his blocking assignment landed on the ball. They did show George explaining what happened on the play, though, as he laments how unfortunate that fumble was:
I get why athletes are sensitive about highlighting their mistakes, on field and off. It\u2019s easy to become a meme. Admitting to a flaw is now the same as alerting a larger audience to it. If Kittle discussed this topic honestly, it would then be aggregated as a publicized reminder of his screw up. Even worse, he might not feel he\u2019d done anything wrong (Isn\u2019t he always talking?). If he excuses himself, then it angers even more fans than are already mad. What if he\u2019s legitimately pissed at those who dwell on this play? Would \u201Cfun guy\u201D Kittle ever dare show that side? Probably not.
At the same time, by depriving us of such an element, Receiver gives us an absence of Hero\u2019s Journey. There\u2019s nothing to overcome but luck itself. We know that George Kittle\u2019s season is over and that he is sad, but there\u2019s not much to reflect on here. If we saw the full picture of a great player, warts and all, I would hope more for his redemption. Instead, he\u2019s presented as without sin, and thus not in need of it.
This, in the end, is the issue with Players\u2019 Tribune-style entertainment. You get big names and great access, but never enough vulnerability to truly connect. In that vein, everyone in sports wants to make a Last Dance documentary, but the results have been spotty because 1) There\u2019s only one Michael Jordan and 2) Though Last Dance was an MJ infomercial, he\u2019s raw enough to fall apart for us just once.
Michael hated Sam Smith for writing the Jordan Rules, because it put a sports hero\u2019s flawed intensity on display for the masses. Jordan favored a guarded, anodyne public presentation. Smith showed the world what selfish killer this guy was. In doing so, Smith did Jordan\u2019s mystique a massive favor. It turned out that people were drawn to cruelty within greatness. The issue with Players\u2019 Tribune style entertainment is that the subjects can\u2019t possibly know what we\u2019ll end up loving. Often, it seems like they\u2019re trying to hide the very human elements that could resonate.
As for Receiver more broadly, it\u2019s another testament to how much documentary editing can shape perception of events. We see this with true crime dramas, where a doc can make an obviously guilty man appear innocent. The stakes are lower here, but I was amused by how much mileage Receiver gets out of Deebo Samuel\u2019s three great games from that season. I saw every game, and was aware of Deebo\u2019s up and down season, but felt myself slipping into a more pro Deebo stance by the end of the show. Semi related, the series seems, almost to a comical degree, designed to infuriate increasingly attention-seeking Brandon Aiyuk, the team\u2019s actual leading wide receiver.
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