Winning TIme is a bio-series about the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers that would win five NBA championships in nine years and go to the finals nine times between 1980 and 1991. At the heart of it is the Lakers late owner Jerry Buss, his star players Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, head coaches Paul Westhead and Pat Riley, former Laker great Jerry West, and Buss’s daughter Jeannie. The two seasons cover the first five seasons of the Laker dynasty, and the period shortly before it started when Buss bought the team. We see the drafting of Johnson, his struggles to get along with Kareem and the rest of the team while Buss ruffles feathers among the older NBA owners, and the internal struggles within the organization as Westhead eventually clashes with his star player and flames out to give way to Riley. As a side story we get to see the Lakers perpetual rival the Boston Celtics return to glory behind Magic’s onetime college rival Larry Bird, leading to an inevitable rematch at the next level.
If you’re an 80s kid like me this was right up your alley. I didn’t really start following the NBA heavy until the Bulls title winning years, but I was a casual fan during this time and I knew who all the important people were. So for me this was a bit of a history lesson to fill in the backstory on what I’d missed. Magic was my favorite player out of all the basketball I did watch then, so this was especially intriguing to me. But interesting isn’t enough of course; was it good? The short answer is: absolutely!!!
The casting was A plus. From John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss to Quincy Isaiah as Magic and Solomon Hughes as Kareem all the way down to Wood Harris as Spencer Haywood, it seemed like everyone played their roles great. It’s a pretty tough task to play people who we all have seen and heard for years, and most of whom are still with us, without devolving into a caricature of some sort but these folks pulled it off here. Reilly was an especially inspired choice; Jerry Buss is the one character in the series that interacts with everyone from the players to the coaches to his business partners to his Mom and children and was thus the most important casting in the series. Reilly nailed it and then some.
Isaiah was the second most important casting as Magic has such a distinct demeanor and personality that we’ve seen on our televisions for 45 years that you had to nail it or else everything would have been dead in the water. Like Reilly, Isaiah more than nailed it here. It helps in a major way that Isaiah is a newcomer (his only other credit in imdb is a 6 minute short film) because not knowing who the heck this guy is means you don’t fall into the trap of seeing (insert name here) playing Magic Johnson instead of just seeing Magic Johnson. The same goes for Hughes as Kareem; both men embody those roles better than you could possibly ever expect them to.
The music was top notch, from the opening theme (‘My favorite mutiny’ by the Coup) to all the songs played throughout ranging from the Commodores Brick House to Any Way You Want It from Journey to Rappers Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang. A good score or soundtrack can be a cast member unto itself, and that takes place here. A good mix of songs from the time period the story take place in, the late 70s, and some modern day tracks make for an excellent mix of songs that help punctuate what’s going on in each scene.
The basketball scenes were extremely well done, combining real footage with close ups featuring the cast members. That you were able to feel the intensity and get invested into games where we already knew the outcome is a testament to how well they were done. The same goes for the locker room scenes; the scene when Riley makes the transformation from Riles the outmatched assistant to Coach Pat Riley is one the best pieces of television I’ve ever seen.
Most biographies engage in at least little bit of lionizing the subject, but there are no sacred cows in either season. Buss is an enterprising, ambitious owner willing to spend money but he’s also personally reckless and can’t see the forest for the trees when it comes to deciding which of his children should have the highest position in the organization. West may be the biggest a-hole ever portrayed in a biopic, loud and abrasive and profane as all get out. Magic is a charming rogue but is prone to all sorts of indiscretions and more than a little petulant and immature.
As for the coaches, Paul Westhead goes from eccentric to a paranoid control freak as season 1 goes into season 2 while Pat Riley goes from being ambitious but opportunistic to in over his head to the Pat Riley we all came to know. Riley at times looks like he’s lying in wait for Westhead to falter, while making moves behind his back to solidify his own standing in the organization, so he can swoop in and take the job but Westhead eventually goes so far off the deep end that he takes himself out and Riley is plunged into it before he’s ready.
These accounts have been challenged by all the people involved, which isn’t surprising. Everyone from Magic to West to Jeannie Buss has reason to be unhappy with how they or their loved ones were depicted in the series; outside Jeannie everyone was at some point or another shown to be selfish, immature, a jerk or worse. The only one I saw on record giving any type of positive feedback is Haywood, who said that his addiction issues were correctly portrayed onscreen. Johnson disavowed it claimed to have not watched any of it. Jeannie has expressed her displeasure with the show but has admitted that she likes seeing her Dad again.
The subjects personal lives were not spared either. We saw Magic the ladies man, unable to control his urges even as he pursued Cookie, who he eventually would marry later. Dr. Buss was no model of restraint himself, and was totally blind to the clear fact that his daughter was the best of his children to run the team while he kept entrusting things to his sons. Buss was progressive enough to hire a woman to run the administrative side of things but sexist enough to constantly choose his sons over his daughter.
My take? It’s a TV show so some things were played up for sure, but you can watch the video of when Riley was announced as coach and the scene from the show matches it word for word. West’s intensity and profane nature has been well documented for years so it’s not crazy to think that they got it right on the show. This is not a hagiography and it shows everyone’s warts, but even after all that I didn’t come out thinking any less of anyone even as I shook my head at some of the things they were portrayed doing. I’ve always thought that Magic was way more difficult to deal with than he’s ever let on, and he admitted a long time ago how wild he was off the court. Players like Magic who are held to the standard of how many rings they win move differently than the guys who are just happy to be there.
My only real problem with it is that it ended too soon. Warner Media’s decision to cancel it after two seasons was a major bummer. I would have loved to see Big Games James, Bird’s struggle with injuries, and the oncourt wars with Isaiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons. There was so much material waiting to be mined and unfortunately barring a miracle we won’t get it.
Final Verdict
This was great television, from the casting to the acting and everything else. It was riveting from start to finish, even if you already knew the outcome of all the seasons. Every character shined from the main ones to all the supporting ones. It’s a shame that this ended after two seasons; this may be the best sports show or movie ever made. It was exciting and brutally honest in it’s depictions; unlike so many biopic it did not come off as it was written by it’s subjects. It didn’t handwave the shortcomings of it’s stars but didn’t demonize them either. I cannot recommend anything more than this series, go watch it now.
Stroke of Genius 