Interbasket

I saw a mention of a new reality television series centering on gay basketball players last week on the Sporting News blog, and then today that same show is displayed at the top of the New York Times TV listings in their “What to watch” section for Monday, so I think a write-up about the show would be appropriate.

The show is called Shirts & Skins and focuses on six gay basketball players from the San Francisco Rockdogs as they share a house in San Francisco, attempt to balance twelve different personalities from various ages and backgrounds, and prepare for the national tournament.

During their journey, they meet with the most famous gay basketball player John Amachi and WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes.  The Rockdogs also take on the local basketball powerhouse San Francisco Fire Department as well as an ABA Team, the San Francisco Rumble.  Here’s the New York Times synopsis of the show:

10 P.M. (Logo) SHIRTS & SKINS: The Rockdogs, a San Francisco basketball team, won the gold medal at the 2006 Gay Games but then disbanded. Now the founders have rallied the former members to defend their title at the National Gay Basketball Championship in Chicago. This new series checks in a month before the tournament as teammates get to know each other again, both on and off the court. The competition from their first challengers, a team from the San Francisco Fire Department, is fierce. But things turn even more heated with Rory, a 29-year-old forward, and Jamel, a 24-year-old swing man, get into a debate about whether being gay is a choice.

The six players are the aforementioned Jamel and Rory, as well as Marco, Mike, Peter and Chris.  They are are part of the San Francisco Rockdogs team, a champion basketball team on the gay basketball circuit.  Sounds like the show is basically the Real World with gay hoopers, the expected reality-series drama  without women.  If interested, the show debuts on Logo tomorrow night at 10pm on LOGO television.  Here’s the official Shirts & Skins webpage on LOGO.

Edit: Buy the complete first season of Shirts & Skins here.

Links and Resources: LOGO Shirts & Skins Homepage (LOGO Online), Logo starts Gay Hoops Reality Series (Sporting News), New York Times TV listings (New York Times), Official Rockdogs Website (Rockdogsbasketball.com), Buy Shirts & Skins Complete Season (Rockdogs.TV)