Lakers: Hora de Vencer

I wasn't even going to watch it. From the trailers, I thought it would be campy and irritating, but it's not.

The comedy bits are actually well developed through excellent dialog, not just pratfalls and such. There is serious subject matter touched on as well. It is really well cast. The actors cast may be caricatures of the basketball players they represent, but they are enjoyable caricatures, highlighting their most endearing or confounding traits.

I see many people do not like the portrayals of their all-time favorite basketball stars because they are not exact. I had no aspersions this was going to be a fact-based drama, I thought it was going to be more of an "Airplane" shtick-filled, goof fest.

I don't know how accurate it all is, because clearly some of the scenes are entirely fabricated (Clearly!). Some of the setups are for the comedic or dramatic effect and that's totally fine.

Overall, well directed, great cast, great writing. I recommend this to anyone, not just basketball lovers.

I've now watched all ten episodes of what will now be the first season and was wonderfully entertained by this audacious, fast-paced show. I love the scenes where Jerry Buss addresses the audience and was sorry that there were fewer of them after the amazing opener. The cast is wonderful. John C. Reilly is perfect as the ever-smiling but often troubled Dr. Jerry Buss, (I doubt Will Ferrell would have been as good). Sally Field is wonderful as his mother and Hadley Robinson as his under- appreciated daughter, Jeannie, (who now owns the team), and Gabby Hoffman as Buss' chief assistant are also excellent. Quincy Isaiah and Solomon Hughes both look and act like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The coaches, Tracy Letts as Jack McKinney, Jason Segal as Paul Westhead and Adrien Brody as Pat Reilly, all do a good job and the many other roles seem well-cast.

I'd give the show a '10' except for the portrayal of Jerry West, which has bene heavily criticized by everyone who knew Jerry and by Jerry himself, who appears to be ready to sue the producers. I've only seen Jerry West on TV but he always seemed like a polite southern gentleman. That he would have to be more than that to be the competitor he was is not surprising. I've read that he had a lot of inner turmoil but not that he was the temperamental, profane, self-involved jerk we see here. It made me wonder how much of what we see in this series is true and how much of it is not. There's such a thing as literary license and that may be necessary to turn the cacophony of life into a story but that doesn't excuse character assassination.

I also question the characterization of Paul Westhead as a weakling who doesn't realize that he's going to have to argue with the referees. Westhead had been the head coach at LaSalle for 9 years before this and had successful teams there. That's not the NBA but Westhead shouldn't have been that far over his head coaching the Lakers. He'd never been an assistant to Jack McKinney before the 1979-80 season yet he's depicted as a long-time McKinney loyalist who is told by Jack that McKinney hired him because he knew that Westhead would never be a threat to his job or to leave for another. This just doesn't seem right.

Postscript: They have now cancelled this show after the second season, which finished with a summary of what happened in subsequent seasons. Thus, the show dramatizes only half of the Laker's dynasty and none of the post dynasty era where Magic acquired HIV, (the subject of the first scene in the premiere) and lost to Michael Jordan's Bulls in Magic's last finals appearance. This is hugely disappointing, but I suppose that it was an expensive show to produce and since the ratings were down, I guess they felt they had no choice. It thus ends with a Celtics Victory. I'll bet Red Auerbach is puffing on his cigar, wherever he is now.

Adam McKay is a masterful director to start off the series, most of his projects are great especially the drama ones, Step Brothers and Anchorman are excellent as well. Winning Time is better than I expected it's fun, very well made all around and powerful acting that is captivating! I don't even know much about basketball would still recommend the series.

One of my favorite shows of all time is cancelled by so called lack of viewers? Can someone tell me how does that work. I'll be the first to say I did not want to watch the show until it was completed cause it would make my nerves bad waiting for the last episode. So how do you claim viewership is low before ppl like me, who loved the show, even saw it. All the garbage that's released on HBO, and they have the audacity to end this series prematurely. The run way was so deep for this show. Anyways, it just goes to show that there were powerful ppl behind the scenes that didn't want this to go as far as it appeared it would go. I believe Jennie Buss and Magic Johnson had a lot to do with the show's demise, as if their lives wouldn't have been entertainment. She had no problem letting the depict her father a certain way, but as soon as she was coming up in the story, Jeanie shut it down. It's pathetic honestly. I just want to encourage everyone to go watch the show still. It's a beautifully told story. Maybe a little bit dramatic on how they described people's personalities, but that's all for entertainment. I've yet to hear any criticism about this show besides from the characters being played in it. The just didn't like how they were portrayed. Since, the show was supposed to be about entertainment in the end, they absolutely did a fantastic job. Shame on HBO for canceling the show. After I watch the season two I'll be canceling my subscription. I can't support a company who's that shallow and can be bought or manipulated by an outsider.

Very entertaining. Offbeat direction and exaggerated characters keep it full of surprises. Forget trying to compare it to reality or searching for a political stance; it's just fast paced fun and entertainment. Just relax and enjoy it.