Stephen A. Smith to host special SportsCenter with Magic Johnson to wrap up ‘The Last Dance’
Though it’s dominated the sports world over the past month or so, “The Last Dance” is set to conclude on Sunday night with its final two episodes.
ESPN, however, isn’t going to let the thrilling documentary into Michael Jordan’s last season with the Chicago Bulls come to an abrupt end. It has more in store.
ABC will air an hour-long “SportsCenter” special, “After the Dance,” on Tuesday night to break down the entirety of the 10-part documentary, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Stephen A. Smith, perhaps ESPN’s biggest personality, will host the show and be joined by former Los Angeles Lakers star and ex-president of basketball operations Magic Johnson, among others.
ESPN has shown two episodes of the 10-part series each Sunday over the past month before Scott Van Pelt hosts a special “SportsCenter” to break it all down. Van Pelt has talked with reporters and players featured in the documentary, as well as others, to provide an extra angle on the previous two episodes each week and share a special sneak peek into what’s next.
The documentary itself has been a hit, too. It averaged 5.6 million viewers over the first eight episodes, according to ESPN, which is 57 percent more than the premiere of its next-closest documentary got. The first six episodes averaged 12.2 million views when including on-demand, DVR viewing and encore presentations, too.
Though it means “The Last Dance” is officially over, the recap show should provide some very telling insight into Jordan, the documentary and the league in general. And with Smith and Johnson involved, it’s bound to be extremely entertaining, too.
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