(Redirected from
Dream Job)
The first season of Dream Job, a popular American reality television show from ESPN, began on February 22, 2004. It was the network's second reality show, with two editions of Beg, Borrow & Deal having taken place. This, however, was the first reality show from a network to offer its winner an on-air place on one of its shows.
The premise
The premise of Dream Job was to find a new anchor for ESPN's popular sports news program, SportsCenter. The winner of Dream Job would get a one-year contract with the network, and would play a trivia quiz on SportsCenter to determine how much money he or she would make in that one year. The winner would also receive a new Mazda3. Every week, though, one to two people's dreams would be shattered, as the American viewing public and the show's judging panel were allowed the power of whom they wanted to be cut from the show.
How it all started
In September 2003, the show's producers went on a nationwide talent search to find those who wanted a shot a sportscasting stardom. Over 10,000 came out to do so all over the United States. The idea was to cut down to just over 10 contestants to compete in the televised finals, starting in the Winter of 2004. Originally, the show wanted 11 contestants, 10 from the nationwide search, and another from a contest that was being sponsored by the popular fast food chain Wendy's. A 12th contestant would be selected as an alternate.
The contestants
The last 12 contestants still in the running on the premiere episode ranged in ages from 21 to 40. The youngest contestant was Maggie Haskins , a very energetic Chicago native who was a full-time student, a senior at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Haskins was at first the show's one alternate, but producers later changed their minds, and she competed from the show's start instead of being brought into the show at a later time. The oldest was Michael Quigley , an auto parts salesman from Landsdowne, Pennsylvania. Quigley no doubt (and you can ask the other 11 this) was the most excited about starting each episode. The other contestants were Aaron Levine , 21, a senior at Stanford University; Mike Hall (sportscaster), 22, a senior at the University of Missouri-Columbia; Casey Stern , 25, an executive recruiter from Bellmore, New York; Zachariah Selwyn, 28, an actor and a musician from Los Angeles; Nick Stevens, 29 , a Brooklyn-based comedian; Chris Williams, 31, an attorney from Boston; Chet Anekwe , 38, a Nigerian-born computer programmer who has taken up residence in Jersey City; Alvin Williams , 38, a retail manager from Montgomery, Alabama (Williams won the contest sponsored by Wendy's to become a contestant on the show); Kelly Milligan , 38, an attorney from Dallas who regretted going to law school instead of trying to become a sportscaster when he had the chance; and Lori Rubenson, 39, from New York City, who was working in business, and like Haskins was about to do, had graduated from Brown.
The judges
The judging panel consisted of 4 people: Tony Kornheiser, a popular Washington Post columnist and author, and co-host of ESPN's popular talk show, Pardon the Interruption; Kit Hoover , a former FOX News correspondent, cast member on the inaugural season of MTV's Road Rules, and co-host of the ESPN2 morning show, Cold Pizza; LaVar Arrington, a linebacker for the NFL's Washington Redskins; and Al Jaffe , the Vice-President of Talent at ESPN. The judging panel's job consisted of giving criticism to the contestants after performing a task on the show, and, when it came time, to vote (or, as it was termed, "cut", since it was a sports show) for who was to be sent home.
The episodes
There was one segment that recurred each week on the show: "My SportsCenter", in which each contestant read a highlight, or, as they did in week 4, introduce packages done by the person they were "co-anchoring" their segment with. Each show also consisted of a different game. These ranged from a "Breakdown" of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament to the Al Jaffe Sports Quiz, which is given to anyone who applies for a job at ESPN, no matter what job they've applied for.
Season 1 recap
The first two weeks of the show saw the contestants split into groups of 6, and each doing the "My SportsCenter" segment all by themselves. Chris Williams was voted off in the first week in a tiebreak in which show host Stuart Scott, a longtime SportsCenter anchor, called a network executive who made the final decision to cut Williams or Quigley, tied with 4 votes apiece. Alvin Williams followed the very next week. In week 3, on March 7, 2004, the "My SportsCenter" segment became co-anchored, and Quigley and Rubenson were voted off. For the "My SportsCenter" segment in week 4, on March 14, 2004, all the 8 remaining contestants were sent to Florida to do packages on Major League Baseball teams in Spring Training. It didn't help Stevens and Anekwe, however; they were voted out later that night. A special episode chronicling the nationwide search was shown the night after. In week 5, on March 21, 2004, "My SportsCenter" again became a one-person-at-a-time segment, with each contestant reading 2 highlight packages, both on the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The Al Jaffe Sports Quiz took place that night as well. Each of the 6 remaining contestants were asked 5 questions. Selwyn scored highest, answering 3 questions correctly. After the segment, though, host Scott called out Haskins and Hall. Two days earlier, on March 19, 2004, the Entertainment section of the New York Post ran a brief paragraph that basically said Hall and Haskins had been dating for some time. When asked, they confirmed the article's truth, but not directly. Amidst all the romance talk, Stern and Milligan were given the boot that night.
How season 1 ended
The 2-hour finale, airing on March 28, 2004, would determine who the new SportsCenter anchor would be, but in a different way. In the first hour, only the judges would determine who got cut. Haskins and Selwyn, the most popular contestant on the show, whom, in his first week as a contestant, drew more attention (by the judges, at least) for his appearance (he had shaggy hair, a shaggy beard, and was wearing a 70s leisure suit), for which Jaffe guilt-tripped him into cleaning up, which he did, and looked very nice afterward, were cut, leaving Levine and Hall to duke it out in the championship round. Haskins was tabbed by Jaffe as the show's most improved contestant. She was praised for having the best writing during her time on the show. When making the decision to cut Selwyn, Kornheiser said, "I probably just made a mistake." He was slammed by many fans for making the decision. In hour two, the American viewing public would cut one more contestant, and the man left standing would be the winner. At the end of the night, Levine, who had turned 22 the day before, had been cut by garnering 60% of the viewers' votes. Mike Hall was the first-ever Dream Job winner.
After season 1
Later that night on SportsCenter, Hall took his sports quiz, and correctly answered 5 questions, each correct answer worth $5,000, bumping up his first-year salary from a starting $70,000 to $95,000. He graduated from the University of Missouri on May 15, 2004. He started his tenure as a regular SportsCenter anchor on July 19, 2004. He had done some on-air work for ESPNEWS before officially joining SportsCenter.
As for Selwyn, he will become a color commentator on the new Game Show Network series, Extreme Dodgeball, which began on June 15, 2004.
Up next for Dream Job
A second installment of Dream Job began airing on September 14, while the third installment will begin in February 2005.
Beginning in the Summer, ESPN began taking casting calls for the second and third seasons of Dream Job. The second edition looked for another SportsCenter anchor, while the third installment is determining the next SportsCenter NBA Analyst. The twist is that the 6 contestants are former NBA Players - Dee Brown , Darryl Dawkins, Matt Bullard, Dennis Scott , J.R. Reid, and Gerald Wilkins.
See also
External link
Last updated: 10-29-2005 02:13:46
