''Dream Job'' is an American reality television

show Show or The Show may refer to: Competition, event, or artistic production * Agricultural show, associated with agriculture and animal husbandry * Animal show, a judged event in the hobby of animal fancy ** Cat show ** Dog show ** Horse show ** Sp ...

made by ESPN, which began on February 22, 2004. It was the network's second reality show, with two editions of ''

Beg, Borrow & Deal ''Beg, Borrow & Deal'' is a reality television show that aired on ESPN with a first season hosted by Rich Eisen in 2002 and a second season hosted by Summer Sanders in 2003. Premise The show, which was originally called "Beg, Borrow and B.S.", ...

'' having previously aired. However, this was the first reality show from a network to offer its winner an on-air place on one of its shows. The show was hosted by Stuart Scott.

Summary

The premise of ''Dream Job'' was to find a new anchor for ESPN's popular sports news program, ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...

''. The winner of ''Dream Job'' would get a one-year contract with the network, and would play a trivia quiz on ''SportsCenter'' to determine her or his annual salary. The winner would also receive a new Mazda 3. Every week, either one or two contestants would be cut from the show as the American viewing public and the show's judging panel were allowed the power of whom they wanted to be cut from the show.

Season 1

Contestants

In September 2003, the show's producers went on a nationwide talent search to find those who wanted a chance to be an ESPN anchor. Over 10,000 people attended the talent search across the United States. The field was narrowed down to 10 contestants who would compete in the televised finals, which started in the Winter of 2004. Originally, the show wanted 11 contestants, 10 from the nationwide search, and another from a contest that was being sponsored by the popular fast food chain Wendy's. A 12th contestant would be selected as an alternate. The last 12 contestants still in the running on the premiere episode ranged in ages from 21 to 40. They were: * Maggie Haskins, the youngest contestant, a Chicago native who was a full-time student at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in Providence, Rhode Island. Haskins was originally the alternate, but producers later changed their minds and she competed from the show's first episode. * Michael Quigley, the oldest contestant, an auto parts salesman from Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. Quigley quickly became known for his over-the-top anchoring style, similar to a play-by-play announcer. * Aaron Levine, 21, a senior at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

* Mike Hall, 22, a senior at the University of Missouri *

Casey Stern Casey Stern (born October 17, 1978, in Massapequa, New York) is an American television personality and radio host who currently works for Turner Sports and Sirius XM Radio. Career Stern departed MLB.com's BaseballChannel.tv, formerly MLB Rad ...

, 25, an executive recruiter from

Bellmore, New York Bellmore is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population according to the 2010 census was 16,218. Bellmore is located on the south shore of Long Island 5 miles from Jones Beach State Par ...

Zachariah Selwyn Zachariah "Zach" Selwyn (born April 23, 1975), also known as simply Zachariah, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, host and writer best known for hosting the series ''America's Secret Slang'', ''Guinness World Records Gone Wild!'', ''Atta ...

, 28, an actor and a musician from Los Angeles * Nick Stevens, 29, a Brooklyn-based comedian * Chris Williams, 31, an

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

from Boston *

Chet Anekwe Chet Anekwe is an actor and filmmaker who was born in Nigeria and raised in New York City. His work spans Hollywood, Nollywood and the New York Theater. Filmography Awards and nominations Other awards *1997 AUDELCO award nomine ...

, 38, a Nigerian-born

computer programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

from

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Montgomery, Alabama (Williams won the contest sponsored by Wendy's to become a contestant on the show) * Kelly Milligan, 38, a Dallas attorney * Lori Rubinson, 39, from New York City, now a host at WFAN

Judges

The judging panel consisted of: * Tony Kornheiser, '' The Washington Post'' columnist and author, and co-host of ESPN's talk show, '' Pardon the Interruption''. * Kit Hoover, a former Fox News correspondent, cast member on the inaugural season of MTV's ''Road Rules'', and co-host of the ESPN2 morning show, '' Cold Pizza''. *

LaVar Arrington LaVar RaShad Arrington (born June 30, 1978) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at Penn State and was drafted second overall by the Washington Re ...

, a former NFL linebacker, who at the time played for the Washington Redskins. *

Al Jaffe Al Jaffe was ESPN's vice-president of talent (official title: Vice-president of Talent Negotiation and Production Recruitment), from 1996 until his retirement in January 2015. He joined ESPN in 1987. He was also one of the judges on all three se ...

, the Vice President of Talent at ESPN. The judging panel's job consisted of giving criticism to the contestants after performing a task on the show and cutting contestants.

Episodes

There was one segment that recurred each week on the show called "My SportsCenter." Each contestant was to read a highlight, or, as they did in week 4, introduce packages done by the person they were co-anchoring their segment with. Each show also consisted of a different sporting event. These ranged from an analysis of the NCAA men's basketball tournament to the "Al Jaffe Sports Quiz", which is given to every on-air personality who applies for a job at ESPN. The first two weeks of the show saw the contestants split into groups of 6, and each doing the "My SportsCenter" segment solo. To break a tie between Chris Williams and Michael Quigley at the end of the first show, Scott called a network executive who made the final decision to cut Chris Williams. Alvin Williams was cut the following week. In week 3, on March 7, 2004, the "My SportsCenter" segment became co-anchored, and Quigley and Rubenson were voted off. For the "My SportsCenter" segment in week 4, on March 14, 2004, all the eight remaining contestants were sent to Florida to do reports on Major League Baseball teams in

Spring Training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

. Stevens and

were cut. A special episode chronicling the nationwide search was shown the night after. In week 5, on March 21, 2004, "My SportsCenter" again became a solo segment, with each contestant reading two highlight packages, both on the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The Al Jaffe Sports Quiz took place that night as well. Each of the six remaining contestants were asked five questions. Selwyn scored highest, answering three questions correctly. After the segment, though, host Scott called out Haskins and Hall. Two days earlier, on March 19, 2004, the entertainment section of the '' New York Post'' ran a brief paragraph that stated that Hall and Haskins had been dating for some time. When asked, they confirmed the article's truth, but not directly. Amidst all the romance talk, Stern and Milligan were cut that night.

Finale

The two-hour finale, airing on March 28, 2004, would determine who the new ''SportsCenter'' anchor would be. In the first hour, only the judges would determine who got cut. Haskins and Selwyn, arguably the most popular contestants on the show, were cut, leaving Levine and Hall in the championship round. Haskins was tabbed by Jaffe as the show's most improved contestant. She was praised for having the best writing during her time on the show. When making the decision to cut Selwyn, Kornheiser said, "I probably just made a mistake." In hour two, the American viewing public would cut one more contestant. At the end of the night, Levine was cut by garnering 60% of the viewers' votes. Mike Hall was the first ever ''Dream Job'' winner. Later that night on ''SportsCenter'', Hall took his sports quiz and correctly answered 5 questions. Each correct answer was worth $5,000, increasing his first-year salary from $70,000 to $95,000. He graduated from the University of Missouri on May 15, 2004. He started his tenure as a regular ''SportsCenter'' anchor on July 19, 2004. He had done some on-air work for ESPNEWS before officially joining ''SportsCenter''. As for Selwyn, he became a color commentator on the

Game Show Network Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along with new, first-run original and revive ...

series, '' Extreme Dodgeball'', which began on June 15, 2004. He also hosted three episodes of '' Around the Horn'', which some believe may have been a trial of sorts to determine if he was worthy to replace

Tony Reali Tony Reali (born July 4, 1978) is an American sports personality and television host of ''Around the Horn'' on ESPN. He served as the statistician on ''Pardon the Interruption'' from the show's debut in 2001 until late 2014. In April 2014, it wa ...

. He currently can be seen on ''

Attack of the Show ''Attack of the Show!'' (''AOTS'') is an American live television program and that aired on G4 (American TV network), G4. AOTS features segments on pop culture, video games, and movies. After an initial run from 2005 to 2013 (which originally a ...

'' on G4.

Season 2

David Holmes won season 2 of ''Dream Job''.

Season 3

Judges

All five judges from Season 2 returned: '' The Denver Post'' columnist, '' Cold Pizza'' contributor, and '' Around the Horn'' panelist

Woody Page Woodrow Wilson Paige, Jr. (born June 27, 1946) is a sports columnist for ''The Gazette (Colorado Springs), The Gazette'', author, and a regular panelist on the ESPN sports-talk show, talk program ''Around the Horn''. He was a columnist for the ' ...

; former '' Cold Pizza'' co-host Kit Hoover (who actually made her final appearance on ''Cold Pizza'' during this ''Dream Job'' season); '' The Philadelphia Inquirer'' writer and ESPN NBA analyst who was judging possible colleagues,

Stephen A. Smith Stephen Anthony Smith (born ) is an American sports television personality, sports radio host, and sports journalist. He is a commentator on ESPN's ''First Take'', where he appears with Molly Qerim. He also makes frequent appearances as an N ...

; and ESPN executive vice-president of talent,

. Voting stayed the same. Each judge and the American viewing public was given one vote each to cut a contestant with. In the event of a tie between contestants, America's vote would be the tie-breaker.

Contestants

The show's contestants were six former NBA stars vying to become ESPN's next NBA analyst: * Dennis Scott, who spent most of his career with the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

* Dee Brown, who is most famous for winning the

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slam dunk contest with a no-look dunk while playing for the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

(he also played for the Toronto Raptors and the Magic before retiring) *

Matt Bullard Matthew Gordon Bullard (born June 5, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player in the NBA and former color analyst for the Houston Rockets on AT&T SportsNet Southwest. Bullard played 12 years professionally and 11 years in the NBA ...

, who won an NBA championship with the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

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* Darryl Dawkins, who, in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, became the first high school player ever to be drafted directly into the league *

J.R. Reid Herman "J. R." Reid Jr. (born March 31, 1968) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is an assistant coach for the Monmouth Hawks men's basketball team. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the ...

, who averaged double figures in scoring during his first three years in the NBA * Gerald Wilkins, one of the most popular

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

ever

Dana Barros Dana Bruce Barros (born April 13, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player from the National Basketball Association (NBA). In college, he played at Boston College, finishing as one of the school's all-time leading scorers. He was ...

was originally slated to be one of the six contestants, but was missing from the show during its first episode, apparently dropping out at the last minute. He was replaced by the

's first-ever draft pick, Nick Anderson, but Anderson soon exited, and was replaced by Dennis Scott.

Summary

Due to Barros' absence, there were only five contestants for the season premiere. This meant that at the end of the episode, no one would be cut; ESPN thus touted the first episode as a "special preview" episode. Promotional ads for the show leading up to episode two said Nick Anderson would be Barros' replacement, but those ads quickly disappeared, as Anderson was then replaced by Dennis Scott. On episode two, Wilkins was the first contestant to go. The following week, Dawkins was gone, the victim of America's vote being used as a tiebreaker when he got his second cut vote of the night, though Scott also had two cut votes. Week four saw Reid saying goodbye, with Scott finally getting the boot in week five. That left Bullard and Brown in the last showdown for the ''Dream Job'' of ESPN NBA analyst. Bullard's mistakes got the best of him, and Dee Brown was the winner of the third season of the show, as Bullard got three votes to be cut.

External links

* *
espn.com writer Dan Shanoff's thoughts on first week of the third season

Shanoff reviews week two

Shanoff reviews week three

{{ESPN original programming ESPN game shows 2000s American game shows 2000s American reality television series 2004 American television series debuts 2006 American television series endings