The Problem With "Any Given Wednesday" was the Not Ready for Prime time Host

Once again, Simmons is better heard. Let it go

Bill Simmons, who I am a big, big fan of, I need to say that before I continue, has been speaking publicly lately about his show, "Any Given Wednesday" being canceled. He has been making many, many excuses for why this show just didn't work out. I wrote 2 separate pieces, one saying the show was okay, but the second talking about how it looked like it was going to be canceled. After about 3 episodes, I started to see what others were saying about the show. Simmons' takes were stale, he was not a good host, the interviews went on far too long, his schtick wasn't good for television, that we had seen him already not do great on TV when he did ESPN's pre-game basketball show, everything they said, and as I wrote earlier this week, I do not like critics, but this was one of the few times they were right. His show just did not work out, and that should have been fine. Yeah, they canceled his show, and to have that aired in public has to be a bit embarrassing, but he is a world renowned podcaster, a great sports writer and seems to know how to run a website.

But, his comments lately have left a sour taste in my mouth. He has blamed everyone but the one person who deserves the most blame, himself. He has called out the producers of the show for giving him a bad day of the week to put out a show. He claims that his takes were stale by Wednesday, and he was already behind the eight ball when compared to shows like "PTI", or stuff on Fox Sports 1. He has said he wished HBO made it a monthly instead of a weekly show. I think that is a terrible, terrible idea. Who wants to watch one show a month about sports. I love, love, love sports, but if he is complaining about having stale takes because his show is on a Wednesday, imagine how bad and old they would be on a monthly basis. All the takes he would have given had his show been monthly would have been talked about a million times over before he released the episodes. And who only does one show a month? That is just a dumb idea.

He has also blamed the viewers for not watching his show enough. Well, when the show is not that good, why would you expect viewers to continue to tune in? The only thing that he had on his show that was even close to being remotely viral was Ben Affleck's drunken take on deflategate, and that was incredibly uncomfortable to watch. Other than that, he had boring interviews with people like Aaron Rodgers, Seth Rogen, Ricky Williams, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, basically everyone that he had on the show was not that good, except for Vince Staples. I actually want Staples to get his own show, because I think that would work out very, very well. He was funny and comfortable on screen. But, juxtapose that to how uncomfortable Simmons looked and it made for bad television.

To blame the company that gave you a humongous contract after the whole ESPN thing, that is childish, and you seem to be poking the bear. Don't publicly call out HBO because they will bury you. It is not their fault that your television show did not work, it was your fault Bill Simmons. You can also still do other things for HBO, so I say again, stop complaining about them in public.

Simmons can do something like "30 For 30" for HBO, and make it even better. HBO has to have more money than ESPN, and I'm pretty sure that HBO has more viewers than ESPN. I watch HBO a whole hell of a lot more than I watch ESPN. I'd love to see you do sports documentaries for HBO. I think that would be awesome. You could make real documentaries too, that don't need commercials for funding, or anything like that. That is where you should put your focus instead of complaining about how everyone but you ruined your show.

All this brings me to my main point for today. You and you alone Bill Simmons were the reason that "Any Given Wednesday" did not work. You just do not seem to have what it takes to be a host of a TV show, and that is okay. But, this blaming of everyone else is childish and immature. Take the blame. You have so many other money making ventures, just bite the bullet on your show being canceled, and let it go. I love your podcast, but I'm getting annoyed that you have to bring up all the reasons that don't involve you being a bad host as to why your show was canceled. The most simple explanation is usually the right one, and the simplest reason is that you were bad on TV.

I almost feel like you are doing this just to have some kind of "hot take". That should embarrass someone of your caliber because you should be above the "hot take". "Hot takes" are for someone like me, a blogger for a small, but up and coming website.

"Any Given Wednesday" was a bad show and it was because of you Bill Simmons. It was nobody's fault but your own, and until you own up to that, people are going to continue to call you out, no matter how much you complain in public. I'll still listen and read your stuff because I like your podcast and your writing, but some people just aren't made for TV, and you are, unfortunately for you, one of those people.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Here is old sports takes on the X Millennial Man mini episodes. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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