Despite the proliferation of sports television coverage over the past decade, the pregame and postgame studio show has continued to be a fairly predictable animal.
Most shows have a host directing the conversation with a group of analysts, usually a mix of former players and media professionals, setting up the game that's about to start or commenting on the game that just happened. A preview of the matchup, some highlights here, a cliché or two there and a prediction or hot take from each of the panelists is usually standard across most sports TV channels for their studio shows.
But there is one show that stands above the rest when it comes to entertainment and avoiding the pitfalls of most studio shows and that show is TNT's "Inside the NBA." While the show still does the usual business of studio shows by making picks, giving analysis, showing highlights and making comments on players and games, the group of Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O'Neal and host Ernie Johnson consistently has been must-see TV, something that not many other studio shows (if any) can say.
The flow between the analysts and host never feels forced and the chemistry between the group is better than any studio show there is. Barkley can sometimes make a controversial statement or two, but he is consistently funny, entertaining and engaging for viewers and he helps puts this show above all others, especially when it comes to NBA pregame shows. ESPN has tried different groups without as much success, although Sage Steele is an excellent host on "NBA Countdown."
In other sports, Fox's NFL Sunday show has a decent panel with Terry Bradshaw, Michael Strahan, Howie Long and Jimmie Johnson with host Curt Menefee, but as Yahoo Sports once pointed out, the members of that panel can spend quite a bit of time laughing.
Sure, the "Inside the NBA" group yuks it up as much as anyone, but the style in which they do it puts them on another level. Nothing feels forced about the way Smith and Barkley make their observations or how Johnson and Barkley go back and forth about certain topics. O'Neal made for a solid addition after joining the team and it has not disrupted the flow of the show at all since he joined.
Sports studio shows can often be a run of clichés and prepackaged analysis and the avoidance of this is why "Inside the NBA" remains the best studio sports show on TV.
