Netflix Released Their First Trailer For The New NBA "Starting 5" Series And It's Arguably The Worst Promo Of All Time
Back in January we first learned that Netflix was producing a spinoff of their "Quarterback" and "Wide Receiver" documentary series with an NBA version called "Starting 5" that was going to follow LeBron, Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards, and Domantas Sabonis throughout the 2023-24 season. As I said at the time and have said several times since, I am IN on any sort of behind the scenes basketball documentary, and as someone who enjoyed both football versions, I was excited for this to come out. Now that we know they were filming during the Celts title run that's even more true, and early October can't come soon enough.
Having said that, with such an awesome idea, I'm not sure I've ever seen a worse trailer/promo video than what Netflix just put out for this show. See for yourself
I'm sorry, what the hell was that? Did we teleport back to like 2019 or some shit when all of those fake text thread videos would go viral? You're telling me THAT is the best you could do to hype up this series? I cannot imagine there is a single person on planet earth who believes these were the actual players texting each other, not to mention the tweets weren't even that good! After hearing about this project 8 months ago we finally got our "first look" at it and this is what we're given? Netflix should be ashamed.
All you have to do is compare it to what we got for the football versions and it's even more embarrassing
I mean, these promos aren't even close to being in the same galaxy. I find it hard to believe that after a year of filming the best you could do for your first trailer is a fake text chain. You watch either of the football promos and your blood is pumping and the juices are flowing. You watch the NBA version promo and you're left like this
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I get it, NFL > all. But considering how good Netflix docs and series are and how good their trailers have been, I was pretty much expecting the same thing for the NBA version. Boy was I wrong.
What is especially disappointing is the guys involved in the series this year had an epic season! There were tons of moments you could choose from to get people excited about this series, and instead, Netflix did the opposite. I'm sure there will be another trailer that comes out as we get closer to the release date, but you only get one chance to make a first impression and I dare someone to argue this wasn't a gigantic fumble. Sure I'm going to watch anyway but that doesn't mean I don't deserve a kickass trailer like we had for the football ones.
I do wonder if they were going with the strategy of "let's make this so bad and corny that it goes viral, even if it's for the wrong reasons because at the end of the day, promotion is promotion". I could maybe understand that angle, but personally I'd go with the route of having an awesome trailer that gets people excited about your show. Then again, I'm just a blogger so what do I know.