The Contender - TV Series
by Michael Simon
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alfonso Gomez Jr., Jeff Connor, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sylvester Stallone, Tommy GallagherDirector: Michael Simon
Producer: Adam Briles
Producer: Bruce Beresford-Redman
Producer: Bruce Kennedy
Producer: Elizabeth Schulze
Producer: Fred Peabody
Producer: Ian Mallahan
Writer: Mark Burnett
Format: NTSC
Movie Reviews of The Contender - TV Series
Movie Review: One of the Best shows ever...
Summary: 5 Stars
This show is one of the best shows of all time. No doubt. It didn't get enough promotion from NBC and so there were a lot of people who didn't know about it, and many people who did catch the ad on NBC quickly assumed it was just another dumb reality TV show, but this show was far from that and just about everyone who did watch it knew that and loved it.
Almost everyone that I talked to that had watched the show literally said that this was their favorite TV show on the aire at the time. This show was the only show since I can remember that I would work my schedule around to make SURE I was home or at someone else's house to watch the new episode.
This show gained a lot of viewers as the season progressed just from word of mouth and how passionate certain people, including myself felt about it. This show is Sylvester Stallone's best work since the original Rocky, and me personally I like it even better than Rocky.
This show is all heart and character. Sly & Sugar Ray Leonard have a perfect chemistry and you can tell they have a genuine interest in helping these guys. They aren't like Donald Trump on "The Apprentice" where Trump looks on with a snarl and says "You're Fired!". Sly & Sugar offer genuine advice and counsel to these guys and they want every one of these guys to become great. Sly even admits that he has made a slew of bad movies in his career, but by doing this show makes you totally forget about all his short comings in the past. The show is so good that it makes up for "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!" lol.
I saw a review someone wrote about the show and how much they liked Jesse Brinkely. Well, I liked Jesse too, BUT I have to draw the line where she says that Jesse makes the show good. They ALL made the show good. There was no one guy that made it and that's something else really good about it. Each guy had their own unique story and set of circumstances that life handed them.
My personal favorite of the group would have to be Joey Gilbert b/c of all the heart he showed. How do you continue fighting after enduring 3 fractured ribs and a gash above your eye that required 55 stitches and was so deep you could see bone? Joey did it. And in his first fight, his hamstring went out on him in the middle of the fight, but he persevered and conquered his opponet even though he was the 20-1 under dog.
Alphonso Gomez also showed great heart as well as Sergio Mora and Ishe Smith. Jesse Brinkley had the most surprising ending to a fight in the whole series. You gotta see that fight vs. Anthony Bonsante to believe it.
Also, Juan and Tarick was one of the best fights even though Juan was criticized hard for his performance, but in spite of that you couldn't criticize his heart in the ring. Many people were hard on Juan after deciding to leave due to injury, but he was one of the most entertaining fighters to watch in the ring. Would love to see him and Joey fight. What a great match that'd be.
In conclusion, there HAS to be a DVD made of this series! This show is too good not to have as a collectors item and something you can watch over and over and show to people.
NBC wants to cancel the show due to a lack of ratings, but remember that this is the same network that turned down "King Of Queens"! lol. NBC always drops the ball. So what else would you expect from NBC?
What NBC needed to do was believe in this product and use more tools to promote it. This network lacks vision. I could do a much better job of running that network than their executives.
It seems that ESPN will pick up "The Contender" and run it for season 2. ESPN knows how to promote, and this show will become one of the most popular shows on TV and be added to NBC's long list of shows they have dropped the ball on.
Even if you are not a boxing fan or even a big sports fan for that matter, most will still like "The Contender" b/c it is so relatable to the average person. The spirit and heart of the show is what you really feel most when watching, and the soundtrack that Hans Zimmer composed that plays through out the show really brings out the feel and emotion that the creators of the show aim to bring out.
Watching this show reminds you that in no matter what occupation you may have, or what you are aspiring to become, if you just show up and hang around that good things can happen if you just refuse to quit. You may lose a round or two, and you may even lose a fight or two, but if you will stand firm and keep believing then sooner or later you will conquer your goal.