Things That Suck: TNT’s Basketball Producers

So I am taking a page out of Pat Patterson’s blog to write about TNT’s "Inside the NBA" show I saw last week. The show kicked off the NBA season for the network. The host of the show was Ernie Johnson along with Magic, Barkley and Kenny Smith.

Some of you may know that Ernie Johnson has cancer and over the summer had some chemo treatment. For this reason, he is now completely bald, but is still able to work out the show. I might add, he has done a great job keeping the show moving for the last few years.

Now what I saw on opening night, and I need to watch it again soon, was so unacceptable. At the beginning of the show, TNT did a small tribute to Ernie to wish him well with NBA players offering their best wishes. They showed one up close show of Ernie. That was the last up close shot you saw of him during the show. Yeah..read that sentence again.

First they would show Magic offering commentary and then the camera shot would move to Barkley. When it was Ernie’s time to speak they would pull the camera away for a wide-angle shot and not lose up. I watched the whole show in disbelief and shock. What if a cancer patient is watching the show and has lost all their hair. It must not help their self-esteem if they continue to see the camera pulled away from Ernie Johnson.

TNT needs to handle this situation better in the future. I plan to watch the show in the next couple of nights to see how they are handling it.