Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

It actually responds to some of the criticism from real-life Lakers figures of Season 1 with some of the most comprehensive and entertaining press notes I’ve ever encountered.

Overall, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty returns with a solid and, in some ways, even more captivating follow-up that comprehensively sums up a large chunk of basketball history. And in a TV landscape where the amount of sports dramas and documentaries is ever-growing, that’s an impressive accomplishment.

The pace might be slower in this series, which will be broadcast weekly, but the magic is still there.

The stylistic flourishes of Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty can be distracting at times, but the story is still solid (even if it’s not fully factual) and the performances are still across-the-board excellent.

Yes, this is a series that feels like a dream come true for NBA fans, but it's just as accessible to non-fans as well.

As it goes in real life, your enthusiasm for hearing those details will be largely driven by your overall interest in the topic, but the vibrant depiction of these events ensures one thing — this show is never in danger of being boring.

It’s still fun to watch—especially with striking direction by the likes of Tanya Hamilton and Trey Edward Shults—but “Winning Time” can’t quite repeat the fresh success in its second season. It’s as breezy and proud as a victory lap, which is only so engaging.

Mostly, “Winning Time” reminds us that big stars often possess even bigger egos and fragile, easily wounded feelings. Yet the many good things about the series – from the performances to the basketball sequences, which feel as if they too have upped their game – would be so much better if the producers just dialed down the snark and salaciousness a few notches.

Winning Time’s second season doesn’t elevate the series beyond hitting us with some truly incredible performances, but it’s serviceable television that should please more forgiving NBA fans and sports-history buffs.

This season does a slightly better job of capturing the era's spirit, particularly a man-on-street sequence commenting on the Lakers’ losing streak and the ostentatious party atmosphere of the Forum Club. But other than a passing reference to Reagan, connected to Buss’ strategy of taking on more debt for greater growth, "Winning Time" still avoids conversing with the world around it.

Winning Time is now a glitzy scroll down a Wikipedia page, lobbing important details at the viewer without much care for nuance. .... What’s frustrating about Winning Time is that it doesn’t offer much more than that potted stereotype—something that’s true of almost every character around Johnson and Kareem.