Shelter-in-place orders and social distancing to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus have led to plenty of attempts to recreate content from home, from NASCAR iRacing (controversial or not) to SNL At Home to ESPN’s NBA HORSE challenge to various studio shows from personalities’ homes (and sometimes even the crew’s homes). The latest studio show to return in a “from home” edition is NBA TV’s Open Court, which is coming back tonight at 10 p.m. ET (following the network’s 8 p.m. ET rebroadcast of Kobe Bryant’s last NBA game, and ahead of their rebroadcast of Reggie Miller’s 1994 performance against the Knicks) with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Dwyane Wade, Isiah Thomas, and Chris Webber. Here’s a preview clip:
Open Court is back! 🔥
Catch @TurnerSportsEJ, @DwyaneWade, @realchriswebber @IsiahThomas and Chuck discuss the NBA hiatus, next steps and more tomorrow at 10pm ET on NBA TV! pic.twitter.com/iHolEvynkM
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 12, 2020
It’s interesting to see some of the usual camaraderie and back-and-forth joking from Turner’s NBA cast even when they’re not in the same location, and to see the mix of sincerity and humor that’s often reflected in their coverage. Johnson’s “As a grandfather, I can’t see my grandkids, and that hurts” comment is heartful and relatable, but Barkley’s rejoinder of “Ernie, I talked to your grandkids, and they didn’t want to see you anyway, just for the record” is hilarious. We’ll see how this at-home show goes, but it’s certainly notable to see them doing this.
