Season 3 Premieres on NBC; Season 2 of
Harlem Globetrotters: Ganando Con La Comunidad Premieres on
Telemundo; Saturday, October
5th
NEW
YORK, Sept. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --
Former NBA star and current TNT Sports commentator
Kenny Smith joins as host for Season
3 of the Emmy® nominated series Harlem Globetrotters:
Play It Forward. The 30-minute weekly series, produced
in an exclusive partnership with Hearst Media Production Group
(HMPG) and Herschend Entertainment Studios, premieres Saturday, October 5 on NBC's "The More You Know"
educational/informational (E/I) programming block as well as Season
2 of Harlem Globetrotters: Ganando Con La Comunidad
premiering on Telemundo (times may vary; check local listings).
Smith is an NBA studio analyst for the Emmy®
Award–winning studio show, Inside the NBA. He is also an
analyst for TNT Sports and CBS Sports' combined coverage of the
NCAA March Madness Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
During his NBA career, Smith won two World Championships with the
Houston Rockets in 1994 and 1995, and played 10 seasons for the
Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, and Atlanta
Hawks, before retiring.
Since 1951, the Harlem Globetrotters have been recognized by the
U.S. State Department as "ambassadors of extraordinary good will."
The series honors and highlights local people and community
organizations supporting extraordinary causes across their CSR
pillars: education, health and wellness, and community
empowerment. Smith and the Globetrotters will spotlight
philanthropic groups including Maine's Camp Sunshine, which provides a
respite for children suffering from life threatening conditions;
Globetrotters guard, Rock "Wham" Middleton hosts a field trip for
students from his former elementary school to Atlanta's Center for Puppetry Arts -- with a
surprise visit from "Fraggle Rock" characters; and the team lends
their magic to welcome home the 419th Fighter Wing at Utah's Hill Air Force Base.
"The Harlem Globetrotters have been a part of my lifelong
basketball journey," Smith said. "At 11 years old, I won the
Globetrotters shooting competition at halftime of the Knicks
game. Twenty years later, I participated as the GM for the
Washington Generals. Shortly after retirement, I hosted
Globetrotters tryouts in Houston
for the team. Now I have the pleasure of narrating this
compelling and dynamic series. The Globetrotters remind us that
basketball is more than just a game; it's about bringing people
together and having fun."
"Kenny and the Harlem Globetrotters are an epic matchup of two
iconic basketball brands that will resonate with viewers and
attract a new generation of fans," said Bryan Curb, HMPG EVP and general manager,
education/information.
"The Harlem Globetrotters, HMPG, NBC, and now Kenny Smith make for a powerful starting
lineup. It's one that we think will resonate with fans, our
partners and the larger sports community," said Keith Dawkins, president of Harlem Globetrotters
& Herschend Entertainment Studios.
Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Forward averages more
than 900,000 total weekly viewers across all platforms. The series
is also available on NBC.com and NBC VOD and has earned two Daytime
Emmy® nominations, five Cynopsis Awards and 25 national
Telly Awards.
Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Forward is part of
HMPG's current program portfolio comprised of more than 30
weekly series and hundreds of hours of content annually on leading
broadcast networks and station groups and on connected TV and
streaming platforms. It has a library of more than 4,000
hours of programming and its content can be found in 97
countries.
About the World-Famous Harlem Globetrotters™ / Herschend
Entertainment Studios
The Harlem Globetrotters™ are THE
originators of basketball style; captured by their dynamic
athleticism, unique skill and historical influence on the modern
game of basketball. Since 1926, the Globetrotters, proud members of
the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, have used their
legendary global tour to showcase their iconic brand of basketball
to tens of millions in over 124 countries and territories across
six continents. They have expanded the brand by coming back
to network television for the first time in 40 years with their
Emmy nominated NBC series "Harlem Globetrotters: Play it Forward"
which also airs on Telemundo as "Harlem Globetrotters: Ganando Con
La Comunidad." Content partners include Hidden Pictures,
Atmosphere TV, and Hearts Media Production Group; consumer
partnerships include, Sprayground, Undercrwn, Macys, Hybrid; and
additional partnerships include our official tour partner Jersey
Mikes, official ball partner, Spalding, Viral Nation, Hoopculture,
and Citi. Coined by the U.S. State Department in 1951 as
Ambassadors of Goodwill, the team leverages their moniker to drive
its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts around their
strategic pillars of Health & Wellness, Education, and
Community Empowerment. These efforts have yielded partnership
with the likes of Microsoft, U.S. State Department Sports
Diplomacy, The National Archives, 'Great Assist' in partnership
with Jersey Mike's Subs, Campus Multimedia Court of Creativity, and
Comic Relief Red Nose Day. For more information about the Harlem
Globetrotters™ and the Tour, visit the Globetrotters' official
website: www.harlemglobetrotters.com. The Harlem Globetrotters™ is
a subsidiary of Herschend, the largest family-owned themed
attractions company.
About Hearst Media Production Group
Hearst Media
Production Group (HMPG), a business unit of Hearst
Television, is an independent producer and distributor of original
programming for TV stations, broadcast and cable networks and
streaming services. HMPG produces hundreds of hours of programming
annually across linear, streaming, digital and social media
platforms for domestic and international distribution in nearly 100
countries. Its popular shows include the Emmy®
Award-winning educational/informational (E/I) programming blocks
airing weekends nationwide including "Weekend Adventure," on ABC
stations; "CBS WKND," on the CBS Network; "The More You Know," on
the NBC Network; "One Magnificent Morning," on the CW Network; "Mi
Telemundo" on the Telemundo Network and "Go Time" on independent
stations. HMPG also produces and/or distributes a diverse slate of
other programming and content including Matter of Fact with
Soledad O'Brien, America's #1
nationally syndicated public affairs news magazine; Consumer
Reports TV, and the company's dedicated FAST channels Xplore,
The Jack Hanna Channel and Rovr Pets, available on some of the most
popular smart TVs and streaming platforms. HMPG has offices
in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Charlotte. HMPG is
represented by United Talent Agency.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nba-legend-kenny-smith-joins-season-3-of-emmy-nominated-series-harlem-globetrotters-play-it-forward-as-new-host-302250695.html
SOURCE Hearst Media Production Group, LLC