#Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: HBO Longest Running Series Ends Tonight with Special Retrospective

(Photo: HBO)

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel is ending its run on HBO tonight with a special 90-minute retrospective episode. The cable network announced the end of series after 29 seasons in September. Viewers have seen more than 300 episodes of the monthly news magazine hosted by Gumbel.

HBO said the following about the series ending:

HBO’s REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL will conclude with a 90-minute retrospective of its 29 seasons of storytelling TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19 (10:00-11:30 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO and will be available to stream on Max. The series is the most honored sports journalism program on television with 37 Sports Emmy®, three Peabody Awards, and four duPont-Columbia University Awards for broadcast journalism.

The final episode highlights segments from over 1,100 extraordinary stories, reported from nearly 70 different countries across the seven continents. Gumbel, along with veteran correspondents Mary Carillo, Jon Frankel, Soledad O’Brien, Andrea Kremer and David Scott reflect on segments that transcended the world of sports and centered on the costs of modern sport, holding power to account, the resilience of athletes who defied unthinkable challenges and the innumerable personalities that made lasting impressions over the nearly three decades of the program.

REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL is executive produced by Joe Perskie.

In September, Gumbel spoke about the decision to end the long-running series:

“Since Day 1 at Real Sports, we’ve consistently tried to look beyond the scoreboard and focus instead on the many societal issues inherent in the world of sports. In the process we’ve had the opportunity to tell complex stories about race, gender, class, opportunity and so much more. Being able to do so at HBO for almost 3 decades has been very gratifying. I’m proud of the imprint we’ve made, so I’m ready to turn the page. Although goodbyes are never easy, I’ve decided that now’s the time to move on.”

What do you think? Are you a fan of this venerable series? Will you miss watching it on HBO?