James and lifelong friend Maverick Carter (right) grew up together in Akron, OH. Their new HBO show will premiere on August 28
LeBron James and lifelong friend Maverick Carter’s barbershop-style talk show, ‘The Shop,’ is moving to HBO.
James, who recently relocated to Los Angeles by signing a four-year, $154 million contract with the Lakers, had been doing the program on his website, The Uninterrupted. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO has ordered a ‘handful’ of episodes, which began shooting in Los Angeles at West Hollywood’s Barber Surgeons Guild last week.
The show will premiere on HBO at 11pm on August 28.
In one part of the preview, James can seen discussing the stress of parenthood: specifically watching his sons follow in his hardwood footstep.
‘I didn’t get into an argument with an AAU dad,’ James said when talking about seeing his son, LeBron Jr., play youth basketball. ‘I got into an argument with an AAU mom.’
James also confessed that he regretted giving his oldest son the ‘Jr.’ moniker, and gave a little window into his reasoning.
‘When I was younger, obviously I didn’t have a dad, my whole thing was when I have a kid, not only is he going to be a “Jr.” I’m gonna do everything that this man didn’t do.’
James (right) and New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (left) on the set of The Shop
LeBron James (right) and lifelong friend Maverick Carter (left) are moving their barbershop-style talk show, The Shop, to HBO. The show originated on James’s website, The Uninterrupted
Some of the first guests will include Snoop Dogg, New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, WNBA superstar Candace Parker, comedian Jon Stewart, and one of James’s nemeses, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green.
‘This show is real, it’s candid and it’s the essence of conversation,’ James told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘And we know with social media and text being the way people communicate, the form of conversation, actually talking, is kind of lost art.
‘When I was a kid, being in barbershops meant listening to adults talk about sports, clothing, politics, music, everything happened in the shop,’ James continued. ‘It was so real and so candid; no one had a sense of, “Well, I can’t be myself here.” That’s how The Shop became an idea.’
It’s not yet clear how many episodes HBO will broadcast, or if James will appear throughout the series.
Snoop Dogg, a native of Southern California, will welcome James to the neighborhood on HBO
WNBA superstar Candace Parker (left) and Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett (right) will also appear in the early episodes of The Shop on HBO, which premieres in August
Jon Stewart asked James how he deals with watching his children follow in his footsteps
According to THR, James will appear in at least the first three episodes.
Of course, James’s availability next year will be determined by how far he and his new Lakers teammates get into the Western Conference Playoffs.
‘We’ll do it as frequently as the conversation warrants,’ says Peter Nelson, executive vice president of HBO Sports. ‘It’s LeBron’s baby, so he very much wants to do it. And he wants to do it as much as possible.’
Another former Giants wide receiver, Victor Cruz, also made an appearance in the HBO trailer for the new show, ‘The Shop’
James’s SpringHill Entertainment has several projects underway with HBO, including a multi-part documentary on Muhammad Ali, and something about student athletes, which will premiere on October 2 and focus on the NCAA’s controversial rules regarding amateurism.
The Shop gives the boxing-centric HBO Sports another avenue to reach new audiences.
‘Sports for us is really about a lens into socioeconomic, political, cultural issues and ideas around virtuosity in competition,’ says Nelson.
‘The objective,’ Nelson continued, ‘is candor. On the one hand, the barbershop as a place historically of secular communion, and on the other hand of the athletes and artist who have achieved this certain level of excellence who want to get in a room and a setting to talk like that with each other because a dearth of forms like that where they can really feel porous and honest with one other. And so it’s less about let’s leverage these names and these relationships and can we get this person or that person. It’s more about who has something to say.’
James has appeared in the last eight NBA Finals as a member of the Cavaliers and the Miami Heat, but lost in three of the previous four meetings with Stephen Curry and the Warriors