The Binge-Worthy Guide for the Football Obsessed

How to occupy your time on non-game days

Twiddling your thumbs when there’s no football on and you’re not busy micromanaging your fantasy team? Thankfully, there’s a ton of shows (on TV, demand or DVD) to get you through.

(And I’m not even focusing on the big screen — including the recently released Greater about Brandon Burlsworth, a non-scholarship “walk on” for the University of Arizona in the late 1990s who became one of the best offensive college linemen in the country, but died in a car accident 11 days after being drafted by the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

Or Woodlawn Dare to Believe about an extraordinary Alabama high school football team, set to be released next month. You can go see those on bye weeks.)

Back to the small screen:

We’ve reported that Varsity Blues is going to return as a TV show (can’t wait!) … But here are some others:

The newest entry in the documentary genre is Last Chance U (Netflix), the story of the East Mississippi Community College football team coached by Buddy Stephens in Scooba, a town of 700. (The show is based on an article in GQ.) The school is a haven for players with academic or disciplinary problems at Division I colleges that forced them to leave. They need one great season to get their shot to return to a Division I school or start on a pro career. Stephens, a good ’ole Southern boy, is focused on winning games and that’s what he tells his players. It is up to Brittany Taylor, the academic advisor, to help the players meet the minimum academic standards that will allow them to maintain eligibility to play. She does everything from handing players pencils and notebooks, walking them to class, reminding them to buy their books and yelling at them when they miss a class. No one at the college seems self-conscious about being filmed, which makes the show interesting…but also a little unsettling. Some of the players may deserve a shot at a pro career but their complete focus on football to the exclusion of everything (except maybe video games) is scary. They don’t care about classes or learning; they understand the rules and they’re repeatedly reminded they need to maintain a certain average. But all they care about is the opportunity to pursue a pro career and a big bucks contract. Apparently, the show has hit a sweet spot, as a second season is planned.

Next up, the HBO documentary series Hard Knocks, with narration by award-winning actor Liev Schreiber, has been on for more than 10 years. Each season follows one NFL team’s preseason training camp from the initial practices through the final exhibition game, with hour-long episodes for five weeks. The show provides a behind-the-scenes mix of training camp footage with clips about some of the players’ personal lives, with a dramatic focus on the players being cut, injured, arrested and getting into fights with teammates. Some years the show is compelling watching, depending on the antics of the coaches and players (don’t mind the swearing) — but some think the program is past its prime. This season, the show followed the Los Angeles Rams, newly moved from St. Louis. One of this season’s dramatic moments came when a player was cut for bringing a woman to the training facility in violation of coach Jeff Fisher’s rules. The NFL insists that teams cooperate with the producers so so look for all the league’s teams to eventually be featured.

All or Nothing: A Season with the Arizona Cardinals (Amazon), produced by NFL Films and Amazon, is an eight-episode documentary following Arizona’s entire 2015 season, ending in a disappointing loss to the Carolina Panthers in the NFC title game. The episodes focus on a small number of players on and off the field so viewers see them as both players and family men. This one will appeal to serious football fans, especially Arizona fans. A second season has been announced, although it’s not clear which team will be the focus this year.

Ballers (HBO) is a comedy/drama series starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Spencer Strasmore, a former member of the Dolphins trying to establish a second career as a financial adviser and agent for current players. Strasmore spends his days fighting off other agents as he deals with players’ drug addictions, health issues and legal woes. A sort of Entourage revolving around football, Johnson carries the show along with Rob Corddry, who plays his hyperactive partner in the advisory business. Also appearing on the show is John David Washington, Denzel’s son, who plays a wide receiver for the Dolphins. Ballers is currently in its second season.

Already finished all of the above? Dip back into the archives and give these a re-watch:

Friday Night Lights, our beloved drama adapted from the incredible book by Buzz Bissinger, aired from 2006–2011. Starring Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, the show focused on a high school coach in a small Texas community and his wife, a school guidance counselor.

Coach, an NBC sitcom that aired from 1989 to 1997, starred Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, coach of the fictional Minnesota State University football team.

Necessary Roughness was a sitcom that aired on the USA Network from 2011 to 2013. The show follows a psychotherapist, played by Callie Thorne, who is retained as a therapist for a N.Y. football team while juggling romance, work and her kids. (Also featured John Stamos!)

And, of course, if you haven’t yet seem them, two compelling shows about O.J. Simpson debuted this year to great fanfare — The People vs O.J. Simpson (FX) and O.J. Made in America (ESPN). The former is a fictional account of the infamous trial with superb acting by, among others, Sarah Paulsen as Marcia Clark and Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochrane. The ESPN series, a documentary, examines not just the trial and its aftermath, but also Simpson’s college and pro football career and his subsequent lucrative work as an advertising pitchman and actor prior to the trial.

In fact, Simpson played a veteran running back in the HBO show 1st & Ten (1984–1991), which was about the fictional California Bulls team whose owner was portrayed by Delta Burke … another good one to watch in between games.

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