Brockmire is an American television comedy series that will premiere on IFC from April 5, 2017. Brockmire stars Hank Azaria as baseball play-by-play announcer Jim Brockmire. Amanda Peet and Tyrel Jackson Williams co-star.
Cast[]
Development[]
The character of Jim Brockmire was conceived of in 2010 when Hank Azaria debuted the character in a Funny or Die web-series called Gamechangers. Brockmire featured in the third episode, entitled A Legend in the Booth. Azaria based the character's voice and broadcasting style on Bob Murphy and Phil Rizzuto.
Azaria later reprised his role as Jim Brockmire in 2012 on the NFL Network's The Rich Eisen Podcast to discuss the National Football League.
In November 2012, with Azaria fielding offers for a movie based on the character, he sued actor Craig Bierko over the ownership of the Brockmire voice. Bierko claimed that he helped develop the character. Azaria won the case in 2014, as Gary Allen Feess, a United States district judge, ruled that, though both actors had been using a baseball announcer voice before and since meeting at a party in 1990, only Azaria's voice was, as Brockmire, a defined, "tangible" character and thus subject to copyright.
In February 2016, IFC commissioned a series based on Jim Brockmire. The show is written by Joel Church-Cooper and directed by Tim Kirkby. Azaria, Church-Cooper, Kirkby and Mike Farah and Joe Farrell from Funny Or Die all serve as executive producers. In May 2016, Amanda Peet was announced to have joined the series as Julia James, owner of the Morristown Frackers, a Minor League Baseball team in the Rust Belt. Tyrel Jackson Williams was cast in June 2016 as Charles, an intern and Internet whizzkid who serves as an assistant to Brockmire. It has been reported that baseball writers and broadcasters will appear in Brockmire in cameo roles, including Joe Buck, Jonah Keri, Brian Kenny, and Tim Kurkjian.
Premise[]
In 2007, Jim Brockmire is a baseball announcer calling play-by-play for the Kansas City Royals. After discovering that his wife is a self termed "sexual astronaut" who has been having affairs behind his back, Jim is fired from his position after a profanity-laden breakdown while live on air.
Ten years later, Brockmire returns to America after travelling the world. He has been calling all manner of sporting events, as well as developing addictions to keep his depression at bay. He is hired by Julia James of the Morristown Frackers to call their games, and soon discovers that his breakdowns are an Internet phenomenon.