SoHo to Show 7 Days Instead of Show Me a Hero

August 9, 2015 0 Comments

SoHo is replacing the August 17 premiere of Show Me a Hero, which debuts next week in the US, with the Andy Samberg sports mockumentary, 7 Days in Hell.

Show Me a Hero, a six-part drama from David Simon, the creator of The Wire and Treme, will air next month as part of a refreshed Thursday line-up on the premium drama channel.

The two-hour comedy block is being replaced with a season of documentaries, including Larry Kramer: In Love and Anger, Toe Tag Parole: To Live and Die on Yard A and Southern Rites.

As for 7 Days in Hell, it follows two Wimbledon rivals — one British, the other American — and as well as the Brooklyn Nine Nine star, features Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington, Masters of Sex’s Michael Sheen, Girls’ Lena Dunham and cameos by Serena Williams, Chris Evert and John McEnroe

The Los Angeles Times thought it “as strange and splendid a bit of satire as you will ever find jampacked into 42 minutes of television”.

And while the New York Times noted “a crudeness worthy of a frat-house movie … along with the ribaldry, Murray Miller, who wrote the show, manages to create a deadpan sendup of sports documentaries.”

“7 Days in Hell has its share of strong points, and given the marquee names involved, it’s easy to see why HBO would provide subscribers with a courtside seat,” Variety quipped.

“That said, the highlights are offset by enough faults, as the match drags on, to prevent this from being scored as a clear-cut winner.”

But The Washington Post argued 7 Days “has only about five minutes of jokes to tell” and is tonally uneven.

“You’re never quite sure if you’re watching a comedy that intends to be purely absurd (such as Zoolander) or comically realistic (such as Best in Show). Even the tennis humour is badly served.”

SoHo’s September highlights beyond Show Me a Hero include the season four premiere of Strike Back (8.30 Tuesdays from September 1) and the HBO comedy special, Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted (8.30 September 28).