BRONX IS BURNING To Be ESPN's Last Scripted Series For Awhile

(From Sports Business Daily)

THE BRONX IS BURNING recently ended its eight-episode run, and ESPN executives said that no other scripted series "is planned or likely to be green-lighted any time soon," according to PAUL GOUGH of HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

ESPN will "spend more time on its bread and butter sports properties and news-oriented shows while announcing plans to run selected documentaries."

It is also launching an investigative series, E:60 this fall.

The break from original entertainment is a "marked shift" from the days of former ESPN Executive Vice President MARK SHAPIRO.

ESPN Executive Vice President/Content JOHN SKIPPER -- "I'm a little less interested in the intersection of where entertainment and sports combine."

But Skipper said "he wouldn't be surprised to see a half-hour loosely scripted series appearing on ESPN in the future, and he has been thinking about an animated series."

DAN KLORES' BLACK MAGIC, about black athletes in the '50s and '60s, and a documentary about Japanese baseball as "seen through the eyes" of former Mets and Rangers manager BOBBY VALENTINE, who now manages in Japan, are planned for the net.