VICE TV "Out of Bounds" documentary series to kick off with episode on Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson
Published 5 days ago • 3 min read
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VICE TV to explore Bill Belichick/Jordon Hudson, Antonio Brown, sports gambling and more in new Out of Bounds docuseries
A Vice image for their "Out of Bounds" debut feature.
As discussed back at the launch of this site (almost two full months ago! Time flies...), one of my goals here is to spotlight creative work in the sports space. Part of that is with sports documentaries, and an interesting new approach there comes from a VICE TV series announced today. Out of Bounds will debut December 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT with a two-hour episode on University of North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick and his girlfriend Jordon Hudson, with upcoming episodes on former NFL receiver Antonio Brown and sports gambling also announced. Here's a trailer for that premiere:
VICE TV, home of VICE Sports, today announced the new documentary franchise, “Out of Bounds,” from VICE Studios in association with The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC), a part of Sony Pictures Television. The first three two-hour installments look beyond the scoreboard to investigate and uncover the stories shaping sports today: Bill Belichick & Jordon Hudson; In Search of Antonio Brown; and Sports Gambling. The announcement was made today by VICE TV President Peter Gaffney and VICE Studios President Amy Powell.
“At VICE TV, our sports programming caters to fans who want more than highlights - they want the stories behind the headlines,” said Gaffney. “Out of Bounds delivers that with fearless storytelling and a cultural lens that only VICE can bring. We’re proud to partner with VICE Studios to give our viewers a front row seat inside some of the most fascinating sports stories of our time.”
“Sports is one of the few places where power, control, and reputation play out in front of the world and in real time,” said Powell. “With Out of Bounds, we’re building a franchise that takes that lens beyond the field: into the personal stories, contradictions, and consequences that shape modern sports culture. This is exactly the kind of storytelling VICE Studios was built for.”
“Out of Bounds: Bill Belichick & Jordon Hudson,” premieres on Tuesday, December 16 at 9PM ET/PT and delves into how the 8-time Super Bowl champion known for controlling everything — from his team to the media — now faces his greatest paradox: what happens when the master of control may no longer be in control? Through his controversial relationship with Jordon Hudson, this two-hour documentary unpacks power, legacy, and the shifting dynamics behind football’s most enigmatic icon and features commentary from sports journalist Pablo Torre, “The Sports Gossip Show” hosts Charlotte Wilder and Madeline Hill, Boston sports media personality Michael Felger, “PR Talk” podcast host Molly McPherson, and many more.
There are a couple of things worth noting around this. Sports in general has really become a focus for VICE TV in the last couple of years, with projects there including live BIG3 games and BYB Bare Knuckle Boxing events, ManningCast-like lookbacks at classic NFL games, and various documentary and analysisprojects. Two of their most significant documentaries came last year, with Calipari: Razor’s Edge and Pitino: Red Storm Rising following John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks and Rick Pitino's St. John's Red Storm. I spoke to Gaffney about those series (especially around those teams facing each other in March Madness) and Vice TV's overall sports approach. Here are a few notable quotes from what he said:
"When you talk about any content that you’re going to make, any show that you’re going to make, you want to make sure that you have great stories and great characters."
...“When it comes down to measuring our success, it comes down to a number of factors. One, you know, does the creative community and does talent want to make shows with us? That was one of the first things that we wanted to see, and that has been a resounding yes, the talent out there in the marketplace wants to work with us. Secondly, are we making good content? And we feel we are making best in class content for sure. And are we getting the attention in the marketplace for that content? And so far we are, hell yes.”
...“If we get great talent, we make great content, we’re able to get that attention in the world of sports, we’re going to get people to check this out, to build out the brand. And as we build it, you know, as they say, if we build it they will come. And we’re on our way. So we’re really happy about the progress we’ve made so far.
On that front, Vice has certainly landed some big names for this Out of Bounds premiere, including Torre (whose podcast has been crucial to coverage of the Belichick/Hudson "story about power"), Wilder and Hill, and Felger. It's also notable that this isn't particularly an access documentary series, a tack that can sometimes give subjects too much control; this is looking into and discussing the subjects rather than presenting the subjects' own authorized version. That's reminiscent of HBO's great and much-missedReal Sports with Bryant Gumbel, which told a lot of stories with limited to no subject participation. We'll see how the Vice series stacks up, but this is certainly an ambitious and promising project from what they've put out so far.
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