#SECOND LIFE DOCUMENTARIES SERIES#
He served as a writer/producer for CBS' hit series "Touched By An Angel" from 1995 - 2003. K" an Emmy Award winning documentary about Kansas City Royals owner Ewing Kauffman for PBS and "The Wright Brothers - First in Flight" for Discovery. His award-winning films "Free Spirits" and "Second Chance Season" are also currently airing on ESPN.įorer's other projects include "Mr. He recently completed production on "Mike and the Mad Dog" for ESPN's acclaimed 30 for 30 documentary series. Forer is a ten-time Emmy Award winning producer, director and writer with over 25 years experience in the sports and entertainment industry. Their tearful breakup was front-page news and broke the hearts of many listeners who still long for them to reunite.ĭaniel H. Many credit them with forcing the trade that brought Mike Piazza to the New York Mets.Īgainst a backdrop of high drama and intrigue, Mike and the Mad Dog went off the air in 2008. They were "must listen" radio for fans, general managers, team owners and league commissioners. Mike and Chris became two of New York sports' most vocal and influential power brokers. Their impact was not just in the imitators they spawned, but also in the influence they wielded. Today there are over a thousand sports talk radio stations and fans are all listening to variations of Mike and the Mad Dog. When WFAN began there was only one all-sports station in the country. Their openness garnered an audience so large that Mike and the Mad Dog became one of the first sports radio programs simulcast on cable television.
Nothing was off limits and Chris and Mike never held back. They shared intimate details of their personal lives, both the joyful and the tragic. They didn't just speak to their listeners they made them feel as if they were part of their families. It was an unconventional combination of rage, intellect and passion. The duo's unique appeal was that they were brash, defiant and radically different. The last, and most important part was Mike and Chris' emotional, at times combustible, relationship. The third was the monstrous impact Mike and the Mad Dog had on sports media how the show was responsible for the explosion of contemporary sports talk radio in America. The second was why the Mike and the Mad Dog show resonated with New York sports fans five-and-a-half hours a day, five days a week for nearly two decades. The first was the creation of WFAN, how the nation's most prominent all-sports station was born and why it succeeded. Mike and Chris' compelling journey was actually four different tales that had to be woven into a singular visual tapestry. The film presented a unique challenge, as it was not one, linear story. Shortly thereafter, Chris Russo said if Mike was in, he was too. When Ted approached Mike about doing a 30 for 30 he said he was at a stage in his life that he was ready to look back at his career. Executive Producer Ted Shaker and I had worked with Mike Francesa in the 1980s at CBS Sports. Then, in 2015, through good fortune, they did. Mike and the Mad Dog is a story that ESPN Films wanted to tell for years, but unfortunately the pieces just never fell into place. But for a generation of sports fans, there will never be another sports radio show as entertaining, as argument-inducing, as good as "Mike and The Mad Dog." And this documentary provides the proof. Framed by a 2016 lovefest known as FrancesaCon, the film captures the chemistry that made "Mike and the Mad Dog" so compelling-never more so than on their final show together in 2008, when Christopher's father, Tony, made a call to Mike.įrancesa and Russo both went on to success on their own. Forer, the story of their success is told through in-depth interviews, archival tapes and a chorus of colleagues and fans-some of them quite famous. In this rollicking yet revealing 30 for 30 documentary directed by Daniel H. But when all was said and done, they changed sports radio forever. Even though they both brought Long Island accents and encyclopedic sports knowledge to the microphone, they were distinctly different personalities who often clashed on and off the air. Their names are Mike Francesa and Chris Russo, and their "Mike and the Mad Dog" show ruled afternoon sports talk from the studios of WFAN 660 for 19 years-not bad considering they didn't think they'd last 19 days together. But there is another tandem of talents they will long remember, a pairing they didn't see as much as hear. Over the years, New York sports fans have witnessed many legendary combinations.
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