''Up Close'' is an American
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
interview
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...
show that has aired on
ESPN+ since 2021 and had aired on
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
from 1981–2001.
History
Early years
The program debuted in
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
on
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
and was created by the advertising agency
Foote, Cone and Belding to advertise one of its clients,
Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
cars. ''Mazda SportsLook'' moved to ESPN in
1982 and was subsequently rechristened ''Up Close''.
Time slots
Once it arrived at ESPN, ''SportsLook'' was slotted before ''
SportsCenter''. The show aired at 6 p.m.
Eastern time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
, followed by ''SportsCenter'' at 6:30. The show remained in that slot until September
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
, when ''SportsCenter'' was expanded to an hour and ''Up Close'', as it was then renamed, moved to 5:30 p.m.
Hosts
The original host of ''Up Close'' was
Roy Firestone
Roy Firestone (born December 8, 1953) is an American sports commentator and journalist. Firestone is a graduate of Miami Beach High School and the University of Miami.
Television career
Firestone began his career as a sports anchor and repor ...
, who served as host for 13 years. During this time, both Firestone and the show won many
CableACE Awards
The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Ame ...
, then the gold standard for cable television programming. When Firestone left in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
,
Chris Myers
Chris Myers (born ) is an American sportscaster. He has covered the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, the NCAA Final Four, The Masters, the U.S. Open, the Triple Crown, the Olympics, and the Daytona 500.
Early life and care ...
became the new host; he stayed there until
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
and enjoyed the highest ratings in the history of the program.
Gary Miller Gary Miller may refer to:
*Gary Miller (politician) (born 1948), American politician
* Michael Dunn (actor) (Gary Neil Miller, 1934–1973), American actor
* Gary L. Miller (1947–1969), American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient
* Gary Miller ...
was the show's host when ''Up Close'' signed off in
2001.
Sage Steele
Sage Marie Steele (born November 28, 1972) is an American television anchor who is the co-host of the 12pm (ET) SportsCenter on ESPN. She also hosts SportsCenter on the Road from various sporting events such as the Super Bowl and The Masters. St ...
became the host when the show was brought back in
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
.
Notable interviews
Roy Firestone was the subject of extensive criticism regarding what has been characterized as a "softball" and "chummy" 1992 ESPN interview with
O. J. Simpson (or, as he called Simpson in the interview, "Juice") during which he asserted that Simpson's January 1989 arrest and subsequent conviction for beating his wife, Nicole, unfairly distorted Simpson's reputation to the point that Simpson was portrayed by the press as "the bad guy" merely for having "a little bit too much to drink." He further expressed his annoyance with the press' reports of Simpson's arrest and conviction for beating Nicole because the press, in reporting the facts, had the temerity to portray Simpson as "a wife beater" (the offense for which he was convicted). He then gave Simpson a free pass to downplay the criminal beating of Nicole and characterize it as an argument that got a "little loud," asserting that he and Nicole were "both guilty." These assertions, which were contrary to the public record, were not only unchallenged by Firestone, but were actively encouraged and endorsed by him. This criticism was renewed upon the release of the documentary ''
OJ: Made In America'' which included an excerpt from the interview in which Firestone expresses these sentiments and where the "chumminess" is apparent. Firestone has recently expressed remorse for how he handled the interview, stating, "The Simpson interview is one of the most tragic examples of how the media (including me) and the public trusted and accommodated their heroes, believing their mythology and perpetuating their deification."
Chris Myers would later also interview O. J. Simpson live in November
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
; this was Simpson's first full-length interview since he was acquitted in the "
trial of the century
__NOTOC__
Trial of the century is an idiomatic phrase used to describe certain well-known court cases, especially of the 19th, 20th and 21st century. It is often used popularly as a rhetorical device to attach importance to a trial and as such i ...
" a month earlier.
Some interviews, notably those with
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
coaches
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
Jim Valvano
James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster.
Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Caroli ...
and
Bob Knight, are still occasionally shown on
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%).
The channel was originally la ...
under the name ''Up Close Classics''.
Broadcast locations
In
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
, ''Up Close'' broadcasts were moved from studios in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
to the
ESPN Zone
ESPN Zone was a theme restaurant and entertainment center chain in the United States that included arcades, TV studios, and radio studios, operated by the Disney Regional Entertainment subsidiary of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts using the Disne ...
in
Anaheim, on
Disneyland
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
property.
Cancellation
Eventually, declining
ratings and the rise of a confrontational style of talk led to the show's demise, which took place on Friday, October 19, 2001. Three days later, ''Up Close'' was replaced with ''Unscripted with Chris Connelly'', which updated the ''Up Close'' format to be more contemporary. The new program lasted less than a year.
2021 revival
On May 27, 2021, ''SportsCenter'' anchor
Sage Steele
Sage Marie Steele (born November 28, 1972) is an American television anchor who is the co-host of the 12pm (ET) SportsCenter on ESPN. She also hosts SportsCenter on the Road from various sporting events such as the Super Bowl and The Masters. St ...
revealed during the show's noon ET episode that she would host a reboot of ''Up Close'', exclusively on the digital subscription service
ESPN+. The first episode of the reimagined show was made available for streaming to ESPN+ subscribers on June 30, 2021.
References
External links
*
ESPN.com - TVLISTINGS - Up Close*
*
*
{{ESPN original programming
1980s American television talk shows
1990s American television talk shows
2000s American television talk shows
2020s American television talk shows
ESPN original programming
USA Network original programming
American sports television series
1981 American television series debuts
2001 American television series endings
USA Network Sports