Kerrigan/Harding ESPN documentary premieres Nov 5, 2013 | Golden Skate

Kerrigan/Harding ESPN documentary premieres Nov 5, 2013

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avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Feb 27, 2012
Kerrigan/Harding ESPN documentary premieres Nov 5, 2013

Per The Hollywood Reporter (Jul 24):
... Schell acknowledges that he and his team have yet to convince Kerrigan to sit for the planned November doc, aptly titled Tonya and Nancy, which will tell the now-legendary story of the 1994 event in which Harding clubbed Kerrigan. The ESPN team has interviewed several close to Kerrigan and are still hopeful that she'll agree to participate in the way Harding has.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/espns-30-30-series-feature-592493
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Why would Kerrigan want to participate? The incident caused a lot of pain for her, not just the extreme physical pain but surely the terror at first that she had been permanently injured. Then the first thing that happened was that her agonized cries right after being struck, which happened to be recorded, were mimicked for laughs on Saturday Night Live--the most classic example imaginable of literally adding insult to injury. And then she had to rehabilitate her knee, which surely was an experience she'd rather not think of yet again. Once she had done that, she had to practice in Norway with Tonya there on the team. I hope she says no thanks.
 

gmyers

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Mar 6, 2010
In 1998 Kerrigan sat down with Harding for a fox special and people were amazed but it must take a lot for her to sit sown with Harding or talk about the whole situation when she doesn't have to.
 

Pepe Nero

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Dec 11, 2011
I would understand why neither Kerrigan nor Harding would want to participate, though I can imagine that Harding might feel compelled to participate, given how The Hollywood Reporter describes her involvement. Did I miss the part in which Harding confessed (and/or evidence was presented) that she dressed up in a Shane Stant costume and clubbed Kerrigan's knee?
 

phaeljones

On the Ice
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Apr 18, 2012
In 1998 Kerrigan sat down with Harding for a fox special and people were amazed but it must take a lot for her to sit sown with Harding or talk about the whole situation when she doesn't have to.

I had heard that they each received a lot of money to appear on the show. I remember listening to rather high amounts being discussed on The Howard Stern show. I just googled "how much did Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding get paid by Fox to appear on tv" and got basically some articles laying out a pretty good case that both skaters got paid handsomely.

Here is one of them:
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives...-puts-new-spin-loopy-pairing-article-1.801248
but there are lots of others.

This event has to be one of the worse in the history of the sport. And it was sooooooo long ago. It should be buried, not resurrected.

I hope for the sake of the sport, Kerrigan does not appear. I hope she has enough mettle to hold her ground on that one. Honestly, does anyone care what Harding says? Let her talk to herself, give herself an audience, but the rest of us should just boycott it.
 

gmyers

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Mar 6, 2010
Kerrigan has decided to talk to NBC and do their documentary! I can see the thinking that it was a horrible event and In a way it rewards those who did it but it created the skating boom!! A huge interest in the sport exploded because one woman was so competitive she had her opponents knee whacked!
 

MK's Winter

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Feb 9, 2009
I also think they are doing this because we are coming up on the 20th year mark for Lilihammer. I can't believe it's been that long...
 

pangtongfan

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Jun 16, 2010
God cant the Harding-Kerrigan thing just die already. I cant believe anyone is so desperate to keep drudging up that tired old story.
 

skateluvr

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Oct 23, 2011
It is the perfect sport story in these days of disgusting, low brow reality television. I would think nancy was done. Tonya, however, needs the money and will do it for as long as there is money. I saw the fox thing, and nancy was very emotional at the end. She was a tough girl to go through it. She was very lucky in the outcome, and it helped her and many skaters to long careers as pros-except for Tonya.

I feel sorry for Tonya. She had one talent. She did not take care of herself. fame , as jagger says rests uncomfortably on the shoulders of many, and is a disaster for some. I believe in second chances, and tonya finally has a chance to be a mother, and maybe has a stable relationship. How much did she know? In my book, everything. But the nagging doubt is when a very dumb Tonya actually says she can't wait til Norway to whip Nancy's butt. She clearly did not know right then how bad Kerrigan had been injured. It seems she fully expected to face off against her rival. I really feel the world/judges were sick to death of these faces by the time of Olympics. I truly think kerrigan lost the gold before she even set foot on the ice. She skated so damned well, it was her best sp and LP and she looked every inch the stunning champ. I think losing to Oksana after all that was tough.

nancy is one of the few heros in the sport. Thanks to adoring parents, nancy got up and did what she had to. Her agent said her sheer moxie in rehab was what made him fall in love with her. There is nothing new to be learned here, and unless I see a promo where Tonya breaks down, prostrates herself and begs nancy for forgiveness, I will not be watching. Tonya and nancy are not radically changed. Expect Tonya to be cloying, sweet, pretend to admore Nancy's huge family and great career. Expect nancy to be wary, condescending, and barely cover her contempt as before. I think the money should be donated by both parties, or not done at all. Nancy fan.
 

ManyCairns

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^You said it when you said expect Tonya to be cloying, skateluvr. I've tried to watch an interview she did with Oprah a couple of times on youtube, and each time I started it I had to stop because she was being so cloying with Oprah, acting like just being with her was such an extreme honor. Very very very very over-the-top ingratiating in a way that I just couldn't even watch.

I still can't believe what Nancy did, though, as you said, giving those two performances after all she'd been through. And then not getting the gold. And she never did find an easy, relaxed on-camera persona, but I still couldn't help but admire her for how she handled it all in the big picture -- being attacked but still skating. Makes me think of Monica Seles -- I was going back through some old tennis coverage after Wimbledon this year. And how Monica never came close to regaining her old form after she was attacked. And how several were interviewed as saying that when they heard Monica was stabbed, their first thought was -- "oh, Monica's tough, if anyone can handle it, she can." But you know, she never really did. She did play again eventually but never again with the same domination, and apparently the attack really changed her personality.
 

Krislite

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Sep 22, 2010
I'm not surprised they're dredging this up again. The Olympics is next year and something has to be done to drum up public interest in figure skating in the US. Some guy in ESPN is thinking: why not go back to the singular event/scandal that made it popular? (Not that I agree with the logic.)
 

MK's Winter

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Feb 9, 2009
I'm not surprised they're dredging this up again. The Olympics is next year and something has to be done to drum up public interest in figure skating in the US. Some guy in ESPN is thinking: why not go back to the singular event/scandal that made it popular? (Not that I agree with the logic.)

I agree with you on this. I can see it now.. 20 years later and blah, blah, blah. Nancy went through soo much then and even recently losing her father. The book should have stayed closed after the 98 interview.
 

Reginald

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Jan 28, 2011
I'm not surprised they're dredging this up again. The Olympics is next year and something has to be done to drum up public interest in figure skating in the US. Some guy in ESPN is thinking: why not go back to the singular event/scandal that made it popular? (Not that I agree with the logic.)
This.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Feb 27, 2012
I had heard that they each received a lot of money to appear on the show. I remember listening to rather high amounts being discussed on The Howard Stern show. I just googled "how much did Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding get paid by Fox to appear on tv" and got basically some articles laying out a pretty good case that both skaters got paid handsomely.

Tonya, however, needs the money and will do it for as long as there is money. .... I think the money should be donated by both parties, or not done at all.

Don't ESPN and NBC Sports have strict policies against paying for interviews? Unless someone has definitive information otherwise, I would assume so. (Even if Fox did/does not hold this journalistic principle dear.)

It would not surprise me if ESPN and NBC have promised each skater a promotional plug for a commercial or charitable endeavor of her choice.
But it would surprise me if money is changing hands between either network and either skater.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Feb 27, 2012
FWIW, the NBC press release re its own Kerrigan/Harding doc refers to its "exclusive" interview with Kerrigan. (But IMHO, it doesn't necessarily mean that ESPN will not get a Kerrigan interview. Networks often are on very shaky ground when they throw around the word "exclusive".)

Excerpt:
LOS ANGELES – July 27 – NBC Sports Group today announced a new documentary on former Olympic figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding featuring an exclusive interview of Kerrigan that will air during its Sochi Winter Olympics coverage.
http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2...nbcuniversals-sochi-winter-olympics-coverage/
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
They're going to air it during Sochi? Oh, yuck. Why would a fine skater like Nancy, a two-time Olympic medalist, want to be introduced to a new generation of sports viewers as part of that sorry series of events? Nancy contributed to the American record of Olympic excellence in a way that has not been matched by any ladies' skaters since 2006. Seven years of famine, and we bring out one of our best recent skaters to talk of her in this way? And then we give equal spotlight time to Harding? Distasteful.
 

NYscorp6

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Oct 23, 2005
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Personally I would prefer Tonya is not given any coverage whatsoever for her despicable actions, especially during the Olympic Games.
 
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