We're well aware that we've been less active than a middle-aged Midwesterner* (we've still been away less time than Greg Oden - and can jump higher), but we're back and so is a beloved b-ball show from the nonpareil nineties. So dust off your denim overalls (leaving one strap unsnapped, of course) your Starter pullover jacket and your Fila high tops because NBA Inside Stuff is back on the air, after an 8-year absence. The influential infotainment show ran from 1990-2005, first on NBC, then moving to ABC in 2002.
After binging on Saturday morning cartoons (there was no such thing as too much TMNT), it was time for the host whose name rhymed, Ahmad Rashad, and the willowly Willow Bay to catch the viewer up with what players did on the court, then capture what they were like off the court. Rashad was capable of getting chummy with even standoffish stars. If Myspace had been around at that time, he'd have even more friends than Tom.
The program resumed on November 2 on NBA TV and the anchor seats are now occupied by eye candy Kristen Ledlow and brain candy Grant Hill. Will this revamped version be a hit with virgin viewers? We're not sure, since kids today probably don't understand the term "rewind" (we've tried to explain that it's what you had to do to VHS tapes before you could return them to the video store, but those whippersnappers didn't know the words "VHS," "video," or "store"). So, the main question becomes: Who will be Grant Hill's "main man" each week? Keep in mind, Grant, that a bottle of Sprite doesn't count as a person.
*we were busy working on our no-help, self-help book, Master Your Mediocrity!, the follow-up to the failed Achieve Your Averageness! and pitching our game show for the Food Network, Wheel of Fortune Cookie, where buying consonants is more critical than vowels (hosted by China White, aka Kelly Hu).
