LIV Golf Threw a Sport Into Chaos. It Also Changed It.
For those who watched LIV’s early seasons, you know what to expect. It will all go in slow motion. It will all go in one big circle. There will be a few gee-whiz moments followed by a few duds, but most of the drama will be buried in the background. You’ll be left with a series of episodes each with a single twist that will send viewers into overdrive.
You just can’t do that with golf. It’s too much of a game of give and take. It’s a golf game in which you throw it down at a high rate of speed and don’t know the outcome in case it should get too fancy. And if it does get too fancy, it is often the opposite of what you want it to do. If you want a high-risk-high-reward scenario, you’ll do your best to throw it down and not know. If you want to win, you’ve got to know before you try to do either.
A new reality set in for LIV when it launched in 2008, when it started bringing a new reality show to the scene. It took the show to an entirely different level. Rather than relying on a small number of golfers who knew what was good and what wasn’t, the show became a one-stop shop for the amateur, pro, and weekend warrior golfers alike. LIV became the “real” golf show. Rather than the “nice” golf series we see on TV all the time, LIV became the “real” golf TV show.
The result was LIV TV took the world by storm and became the most watched show in cable history, winning three Primetime Emmy Awards in 2010.
Even its second season became a massive hit, reaching 3.5 million viewers and winning five Primetime Emmys. It set a new standard for reality television for years to come.
To a lot of viewers, that was it. And many were disappointed with what they saw in season two. To most of us, the show had become the epitome of what reality television