What does a celebrity do when they need a quick jolt of publicity to revive a fading career? Reality TV, of course. What does a sports team desperately in need of some public goodwill and attention do when they're being overshadowed in their own city? Apparently, the exact same thing.
The Miami Dolphins have announced that they'll be staring in the next season of HBO's Hard Knocks docudrama series. The Miami Marlins, meanwhile, are currently filming Showtime's rival baseball-themed series The Franchise. The Miami Heat don't need a reality TV show, as they're busy clinching their spot in a TV show called the NBA Finals for the second year in a row.
The HBO docudrama (a fancy, weird name for reality TV, let's be real) has filmed six season since 2001, and is being revived after the channel failed to find a team to cover in 2011 because of the looming possibility of the lockout. The series was finding a hard time finding a team to film this season. The Jets, Broncos, Falcons, Texans, 49ers and Redskins had all turned down invites, according to reports.
New Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin announced the decision to do the show at a press conference today. The series follows the team in pre-season training, and this season figures to follow the team's reinvention under Philbin. The show typically also spends a lot of time focusing on the team's highest draft pick. So get ready for your close-up, Ryan Tannehill (we're guessing they'll probably try and get your wife on camera too).
The move is a surprising change of culture for the Dolphins. Under the leadership of secretive Bill Parcels and his disciple Tony Sparano, there's no way the team would have allowed cameras to document their pre-season in such an invasive manner. Though, we bet owner Stephen Ross is over the moon. This is the guy who decided letting the chick who sings the hooks on Black Eyed Peas songs to buy a small stake in the team was a good idea to drum up cheap publicity.
At least one Dolphin already has tons of reality TV experience. Reggie Bush, of course, has quite a few appearances on Keeping Up with the Kardashians under his belt.
The series will premiere on August 7, and will run weekly for five episodes.
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