ABC Sports will unveil a new format for its 30-minute NBA pregame show when it begins its coverage this season on Christmas Day. The new name for the show, formerly called “NBA Game Time,” is “GMC NBA Nation.” New analyst Scottie Pippen will join returning host Mike Tirico, and the program will include a preview of the day’s games, a feature story of the week and a celebrity guest panel. The show will continue to originate from its Times Square studio ( ABC/ESPN ). USA TODAY’s Michael Hiestand notes Pippen will replace Steve Jones and Bill Walton, who are leaving the studio to call games. ESPN Exec VP/Studio & Remote Production Norby Williamson said that the guest panel will “resemble ones [on] the old ABC show ‘Politically Incorrect,’ where host Bill Maher would often lead a discussion among people who [didn’t] seem to have any obvious connection to each other or to the topics at hand.” He added that the panel “might include athletes outside basketball as well as people who aren’t big celebrities — as long as they ‘have a passion for the NBA.’” Williamson: “We’re trying to reinvent the pregame show. We want people to tune in and say, ‘Whoa, how are those people connected?” ( USA TODAY, 12/16 ).
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