ESPN
After Magic Johnson and Larry Bird ruled the 1980s and ushered in the modern NBA, Michael Jordan took over in the ’90s, winning six titles and becoming not just the greatest basketball player of all time, but one of the most thrilling athletes in any sport ever. And now you can relive his sixth and final championship season with the Chicago Bulls in The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary on ESPN. The series began three weeks ago with and resumes on Sunday, May 10 with episodes 7 and 8.
The documentary was originally scheduled to debut in June around the time of the NBA Finals, but with sports and everything else at a standstill due to the coronavirus, ESPN moved up its release. Two episodes will air each Sunday evening until May 17. The Last Dance will be shown on ESPN for US viewers and Netflix for those outside the US. If you plan to watch with your kids, you should know that the documentary contains adult language; an edited version will be shown on ESPN2 at the same time the unedited version airs on ESPN.
The Last Dance is not available on the ESPN Plus or Disney Plus streaming platforms.
The documentary is directed by Jason Hehir, who is no stranger to 1990s basketball icons. He helmed The Fab Five documentary about the Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball team that started five freshmen in the 1991-92 season. He also directed the brilliant André the Giant documentary, which HBO said was its most-watched sports documentary ever.
The Last Dance combines present-day interviews with new archival footage from the 1997-98 NBA season. Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, head coach Phil Jackson and Jordan agreed to let an NBA Entertainment crew film the team during the season, which turned out to be the last season of the Bulls’ dynasty. In addition to Jordan, the 1997-98 team featured Hall of Famers Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, as well as key reserve Steve Kerr, who is now the head coach of the Golden State Warriors.
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Broadcast schedule for The Last Dance
Two episodes will be shown on ESPN and ESPN2 each Sunday evening over five weeks, with the previous two episodes getting replayed each Sunday before the two new episodes air. Here’s the remaining broadcast schedule:
Sunday, May 10
- Episode 5 (rebroadcast): 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT)
- Episode 6 (rebroadcast) : 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT)
- Episode 7: 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT)
- Episode 8: 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT)
Sunday, May 17
- Episode 7 (rebroadcast): 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT)
- Episode 8 (rebroadcast) : 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT)
- Episode 9: 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT)
- Episode 10: 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT)
For viewers outside of the US, each episode will be available to stream on Netflix five hours after it’s shown on ESPN each week, beginning at 3:01 a.m. ET (8:01 a.m. UK, 5 p.m. AEST). Here’s the Netflix schedule:
Monday, April 20
Monday, April 27
Monday, May 4
Monday, May 11
Monday, May 18
How to watch The Last Dance
As well as watching on TV, you can also watch The Last Dance after each episode airs on ESPN.com or the ESPN app, but you will need to log in with a pay TV account. If you don’t have a pay TV subscription, you can watch the documentary with a live-TV streaming service.
All of the live TV streaming services above offer free trials, allow you to cancel anytime, and require a solid Internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our massive streaming services guide.
How can I get these services on my TV?
These services are widely available on game consoles and smart TVs, but if you need to add them to an older TV, add-on options like Roku and Fire TV start for as little as $30.