''Arliss'' (rendered in its logo as ''Arli$$'') is an American cult-classic dark
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...
series, created by and starring
Robert Wuhl (who was also the series'
showrunner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...
), about the glitzy, big-money world of professional sports, with Wuhl playing the eternally optimistic and endlessly resourceful L.A.
sports agent Arliss Michaels, whose
Achilles' heel
An Achilles' heel (or Achilles heel) is a weakness in spite of overall strength, which can lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to ...
is his inability to say "no" to clients and employees. ''Arliss'' ran for seven seasons and 80 episodes on
HBO, from August 10, 1996, to September 8, 2002. After almost two decades of being off-air, the entire catalog of ''Arliss'' episodes returned to
HBO Max
HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netwo ...
in a streaming format in September 2018.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called the show "One of the freshest shows to come along in a while." It was well-known for taking on very controversial (at the time) topics, including
domestic abuse
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...
,
steroid use,
Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...
,
gay and
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
athletes,
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...
, and
unwanted athlete pregnancies.
The idea behind ''Arliss'' was to show the hype, greed, and hypocrisy of powerful sports agents like Arliss Michaels, and what really happens "behind the scenes" in professional sports. In a 2018 interview with the ''
Hollywood Reporter'', Wuhl said the idea for ''Arliss'' was based on the book ''
The Art of the Deal
''Trump: The Art of the Deal'' is a 1987 book credited to Donald J. Trump and journalist Tony Schwartz. Part memoir and part business-advice book, it was the first book credited to Trump, and helped to make him a household name. It reached n ...
'' by
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...
and journalist
Tony Schwartz:
I had read ''The Art of the Deal'' and I thought, "This is total, 100 percent bullshit. He's saying stuff that I don't believe a fuckin' word of it. He's telling you what happened, but I want to see what really happened." We can use this, as Arliss the sports agent, telling you what happens and then prove he's full of shit and show what really happened.
Over 400 celebrities had cameo appearances on ''Arliss'', including
Al Michaels,
John Elway
John Albert Elway Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is an American professional football executive and former quarterback who is the president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL).
Elway played college f ...
,
Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...
,
Dan Marino
Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. (born September 15, 1961) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. After a successful college career at Pittsburgh and b ...
,
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely ...
,
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program '' Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the great ...
,
Bob Costas,
Jimmy Johnson,
Picabo Street,
Katarina Witt, and
Barry Bonds.
Cast
*
Robert Wuhl as Arliss Michaels, the president of a sports agency, who tries to cater to his clients' every need as best he can
*
Sandra Oh as Rita Wu, Arliss's personal assistant
*
Jim Turner as Kirby Carlisle, a middle-aged ex-football star
*
Michael Boatman as Stanley Babson, a conservative financial advisor
Series overview
''Arliss'' on other programs
In July 1999, Robert Wuhl appeared, in character as Arliss, on
WCW ''
Monday Nitro'' as a guest announcer, alongside Scott Hudson and
Bobby Heenan.
He said that his HBO series has featured WCW wrestlers as guest stars, but the
Big Three networks were "scared" of doing the same. Arliss said he was scouting
Dennis Rodman
Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding ...
, who was doing his third stint with the company. Wuhl's appearance was a cross-promotion for HBO, as both it and WCW were owned by
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
. In the ''Arliss'' episode "To Thy Own Self Be True", WCW creative head
Eric Bischoff
Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1955) is an American television producer, professional wrestling booker, and performer. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later Senior Vice President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) an ...
guest-starred along with wrestlers
Lex Luger,
Randy Savage, and
Gorgeous George.
In ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
''
season 13 episode "
Half-Decent Proposal",
Marge is watching ''
Nookie in New York'' with
Patty and Selma
Patricia Maleficent "Patty" Bouvier and Selma Bouvier-Terwilliger-Hutz-McClure-Discotheque-Simpson-D'Amico () are fictional characters in the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. They are identical twins and are voiced by Julie Kavner who ...
, when an announcer states, "Coming up next on BHO
''sic">nowiki/>''sic''">sic.html" ;"title="nowiki/>''sic">nowiki/>''sic'' it's ''Arliss''!"; Patty and Selma scream and quickly reach for the remote control.
During the October 12, 2002, episode of ''Saturday Night Live'', guest host Sarah Michelle Gellar delivered the following monologue in a fake television commercial sketch:
In the ''30 Rock'' 30 Rock (season 7), seventh season premiere, "The Beginning of the End (30 Rock), The Beginning of the End",
Kenneth Parcell, Kenneth says, in response to
Tracy Jordan's marriage having lasted for over 20 years, "That's half as long as it felt ''Arliss'' was on TV!"
Former
UCB New York stage show ''
The George Lucas Talk Show'' organized a 7-week-long charity marathon of ''Arliss'' episodes during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
in 2020. The hosts watched all seven seasons of the show and interviewed many of the show's writers, producers, and cast, including Wuhl. The livestreams raised over $20,000 for the
New York City FoodBank.
Critical reception
''Arliss'' has a 72/100 rating on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, and 62% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
. The popular show, which ran for seven seasons, has been cited as a "blueprint" for future HBO shows such as ''
Ballers'' and ''
Entourage'', and as an example of how premium cable networks manage their programming. ''Arliss'' was cited by a number of HBO subscribers as the sole reason that they paid for the network, and as a result, its fan base was able to keep the show on the air for a lengthy run. The show frequently used obscure sports references, and ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...
'' repeatedly referred to it as one of the worst shows on television; sportswriter
Bill Simmons
William John Simmons III (born September 25, 1969) is an American sports analyst, author, podcaster, and former sports writer who is the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website '' The Ringer''. Simmons first gained attention wi ...
(who would eventually work for HBO itself under his digital banner ''
The Ringer'') used ''Arliss'' as an example of what he saw as a lack of quality fictional shows about sports.
References
External links
*
{{HBONetwork Shows
1996 American television series debuts
2002 American television series endings
1990s American sitcoms
2000s American sitcoms
American sports television series
English-language television shows
HBO original programming
Fictional talent agents