Death at the Wing
4.9/5
Critic Rating
At the dawn of the 1980s, the world was moving faster, the media was growing bigger, and greed was finally good. For the NBA, it was a chance to finally step into the spotlight. But all that wealth and stardom came at a deep cost.This is the story of how basketball reflected a moment when Reagan’s America doubled down on some of its core values: selfishness, violence, and racism -- and the players who paid the price.Hosted by Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice, Succession) and produced by HyperObject Industries and Three Uncanny Four
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Hannah J Davies • The Guardian • Jun 17, 2021
"McKay carefully assesses all the societal factors that left their mark on the NBA."
Score: 5
Tim Molloy • Movie Maker • May 22, 2021
"McKay’s sense of humor somehow still shines through even as he lays out a grim but persuasive picture of the 1980s as a time of incredible opportunity — and a mean obsession with success. You can listen to Death at the Wing as a basketball story about politics or a political story about basketball, but it’s mostly a story about soaring and suffering human beings, filled with constant surprises, unexpected laughter, and anguish mixed with an astonishing capacity for love."
Score: 4.8
Eliana Dockterman • Time.com • May 20, 2021
"...he strikes the right balance of somberness and entertainment as host and executive producer of Death at the Wing."
Score: 4.8
Nicholas Quah • Vulture • Apr 22, 2021
"Any one subject, if unpacked deeply enough, can tell the story of an entire world. Death at the Wing makes this idea explicit, situating each individual case within a dense network of causes and effects. McKay wears his politics front and center in Death at the Wing, aggressively framing Reagan as the personification of pure white greed. The overtly political nature of the podcast will probably raise a few eyebrows. But everything in a society is deeply, intimately connected to everything else. You simply can’t just stick to sports."
