ESPN has been in the cultural lexicon for quite some time so it’s only natural that the Worldwide Leader would be the backdrop for a new online series that will be streamed on Verizon’s go90 service. “Play By Play” will be about fictional ESPN personality Pete Hickey looking back at his teenage years in the 1990’s and doing play-by-play of his most awkward moments.
Kevin Jakubowski is the creator, writer and executive producer of “Play By Play” and he also serves as the voice of the adult Pete Hickey. He says he wanted to create a series in the vein of two iconic series based in high school:
“I grew up on ‘The Wonder Years’ and ‘Freaks and Geeks’ so it’s a thrill to do something in that vein and add a sports twist to it.”
In the series, Hickey tries out for the football team and finds that he isn’t cut out to be a starter, but the coach then selects him to be the kicker. The first season shows how Hickey deals with the challenges of being in high school, dealing with girls and battling with his older brother.
Here’s the trailer for the series:
https://youtu.be/86EKiaOgdVM
The cast will include Reid Miller as Pete Hickey, Max Amor as Pete’s friend Rocco and Ellen Joe Trowbridge as Pete’s crush Alex. Other castmates are Tyler Emerson Crim, Shae LaRae Smolik, Jonathan Bray and Bridgett Newton.
The series will consist of eight 22 minute episodes and there’s hope that there will be a second season depending on the audience at go90.
While the series will be set in Chicago, the entire production was based in Des Moines, IA. According to IMDb, Chicago Blackhawks voice Pat Foley is slated to make an appearance as Pat Foley (who else would he play?).
The series is set to premiere on June 27 and it will only be available on go90 either at the web site or the go90 app for Android and iOS devices. This seems promising and we’ll see if the online audience will give Jakubowski an opportunity to produce a second season.
