Do You Think Bill Simmons Cares That He Has Become A Laughing Stock?

Washpo – Bill Simmons’s new HBO show, “Any Given Wednesday,” has struggled to gain much of a foothold in its first season. The criticisms of it are varied: The format stinks; viewers have tired of his hackneyed Boston fanboy-isms; his style is better suited for print or podcast; what’s with all the Michael Rapaport?; he just isn’t very good on TV. Whatever the reason, the show has not been a success in the ratings department, and on Wednesday night far fewer people tuned in than ever before. Only 82,000 people watched Simmons’s latest attempt at proving he’s a capable talk-show host, down more than 75 percent from the series’s second-episode high-water mark of 362,000 viewers in June. The following cable-sports shows garnered more television eyeballs Wednesday: “The Herd,” a midnight showing of “Sports Jeopardy,” “Undisputed,” an episode of “Baseball Tonight” on ESPN2 that began at 1:08 a.m., and something called “Linea de Cuatro” on Univision Deportes (also in the 1 a.m. hour).

So by all accounts Bill Simmons new venture on HBO is a colossal failure.  The show stinks by every single metric that you use to judge shows.  The critics say the show stinks. I say the show stinks.  And more importantly nobody is watching it because it stinks.  I mean his last show had 82K viewers!  Nate at Night is a smash hit compared to those numbers..  Just a complete and utter failure.  Now all the people who have said from the beginning that Simmons has the charisma of an ant are dancing on his grave.  Saying I told you so. He has become a punchline to a joke.  A guy whose ego got so big he refused to believe the fact he sucked on TV until reality slapped him in the face.   But that’s neither here nor there.   My question is do you think Simmons actually gives a fuck?  Like the guy has made a boatload of money.   He’s rich beyond his wildest dreams.  So yeah Any Given Wednesday stinks, he ruined his entire brand and is basically the new Rick Reilly.  Does it matter?  I’d make that trade in a heartbeat if I were him.  I don’t need critical acclaim.  I want to be rich as fuck and Simmons is clearly that.  But if I had to guess I’d say Simmons is devastated.   He’s always been a sensitive thin skinned guy and for somebody like him to be embarrassed on such a huge scale and have the entire internet laughing at him must kill him.   Poor Billy.   Sad.