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When does Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons return to HBO?

By Hector Cruz

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 07: HBO's Bill Simmons speaks onstage during 'Ahead of the Curve - The Future of Sports Journalism' at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 7, 2015 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 07: HBO's Bill Simmons speaks onstage during 'Ahead of the Curve - The Future of Sports Journalism' at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 7, 2015 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for Vanity Fair) /
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The return of Bill Simmons’ HBO talk show Any Given Wednesday is less than a week away.

Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons recently took its first extended break since premiering on HBO in June. The sports and pop-culture centered talk show has gotten off to something of a rough start, but the network and its host are hoping it finds its footing during the remainder of the year.

Any Given Wednesday will be back on September 7 in its usual time slot, where it has attracted mediocre live ratings thus far. The show’s premiere, which featured Ben Affleck’s much-talked rant about Deflategate, attracted just 260,000 viewers, and received a mixed reaction from critics. However, the Affleck moment helped create buzz for the show, and its ratings went up in its second week to 362,000 viewers. But it has failed to create another viral moment, which are reflected in its ratings since then.

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Across its first six airings, Simmons’ talk show has averaged 249,833 live viewers per episode, dropping to a low of 163,000 viewers on July 27. But HBO maintains that it averaged a total of 2.4 million weekly viewers across all platforms during that same time frame. It drew 204,000 live viewers for its most recent episode on August 17.

Some have been skeptical of Simmons transition from being a writer known as “The Boston Sports Guy” to a TV personality since his first appearances on ESPN. However, he has had several successful endeavors outside of his column, including the creation of the critically acclaimed 30 for 30 documentaries, the popular podcast The B.S. Report and the website Grantland, the latter two of which ended after Simmons was fired by ESPN after frequent conflicts with the network. He has since launched his own website, The Ringer, which also includes several podcasts.

Simmons signed a three-year deal with HBO in October 2015 that’s reportedly worth more than $20 million, which includes his own talk show. His contract gives both parties all the more incentive to make Any Given Wednesday work, while Simmons is also expected to produce other sports-related content for the network.

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The first season, which is expected to run through December, includes 20 episodes, eight of which have already aired. So far, segments have included exploring Cleveland’s new identity following the Cavaliers’ championship win, discussing the issues with personal seat licenses, and a weed-related round of questioning with Seth Rogen and Ricky Williams.

Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons returns September 7 at 10 p.m. on HBO.

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