ALMOST nothing about the new “Two-A- Days” is the same. Not even its title.
After two successful seasons on MTV, the reality show about high school football has moved from Alabama to Louisiana, and is bound for ESPN.
And its focus has shifted from kiss-and-tell to first-and-goal.
That’s fine – even better – for West Monroe, La. coach Don Shows.
Shows said his team was approached two years ago to do the original “Two-A-Days” and turned it down. Production company Humidity Entertainment wound up at Hoover (Ala.) High, where love triangles became more prominent than square outs.
Shows said yesterday he would have said no again if he weren’t assured the game plan would be sports, not soaps.
“I just didn’t want anybody to get involved in the personal lives of the kids,” says Shows (rhymes with “plows”).
Now, with ESPN the destination for freshly named “Varsity Inc.,” that should come to pass.
“I think a lot of people would be interested more in the football side,” Shows says. “What goes on in practice, in meetings, how it fits into the community.
“I’d be interested in watching something like that, to see how a team gets to where they are.”
The underdog Rebels have already done their part, this past Saturday getting an upset win over rival Neville on a last-second field goal – in front of 22,000 fans.
“We’re not as good as we’ve been in the past,” says Shows, whose team was state champ in 2005 and runner-up last year. “Every time we walk on the field this year, the other team will have a chance to win.”
Hoover has bigger problems than that.
This summer, Alabama newspapers have been filled with allegations of special treatment given to football players, leading to the ouster of the principal, who on his way out the door revealed rumors that coach Rush Propst had a secret second family. Propst has denied the claims.
The mess is winding its way through court, which, come to think of it, might make for an entertaining show of its own.
MTV had an option to do a third season with the Bucs, but there are no cameras currently at the school and no expectations they’ll return.
Shooting at West Monroe started Aug. 1, with the premiere of a seven-episode run expected in late November. And according to Shows, so far, so good.
“I haven’t changed any grades, and I don’t have a ‘secret family,’ ” Shows says with a laugh. “I’m not worried about anything like that. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.”