LeBron James’ talk show, set in West Hollywood’s Barber Surgeons Guild, has been picked up by HBO, according to the Hollywood Reporter:
LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s barbershop-set talk show The Shop is coming to HBO.
The premium network has ordered a handful of episodes of the program, which first bowed in 2016 on James’ Uninterrupted digital site.
The first episode for HBO was shot last week in Los Angeles at West Hollywood’s Barber Surgeons Guild, and is set to bow Tuesday, Aug. 28, at 11 p.m. ET/PT. It features James and Carter in conversation with Snoop Dogg (who throws shade on frequent collaborator Dr. Dre in the clip below) as well as the New York Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr., New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green, Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker and comedian Jon Stewart.
James and HBO Sports Executive Vice President Peter Nelson gave the Hollywood Reporter more detail about the show:
“This show is real, it’s candid and it’s the essence of conversation,” James tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And we know with social media and text being the way people communicate, the form of conversation, actually talking, is kind of a lost art.”
Each episode will assemble a mix of personalities in a barbershop for unconstructed, frank talk while the cameras roll; the conversation will then be whittled down to 30-minute episodes.
“When I was a kid, being in barbershops meant listening to adults talk about sports, clothing, politics, music, everything happened in the shop,” says James. “It was so real and so candid — no one had a sense of, well I can’t be myself here. That’s how The Shop became an idea.”
So far, the NBA superstar is slated to appear in at least the first three episodes of The Shop. HBO Sports has left the episode order somewhat vague given James’ day job, so it’s unclear when the second episode will air.
“We’ll do it as frequently as the conversation warrants,” says HBO Sports executive vp Peter Nelson. “It’s LeBron’s baby, so he very much wants to do it. And he wants to do it as much as possible.”
Here’s a snippet from the first episode, featuring a very transparent and introspective James conversing with a star-studded cast:
