Saturdays in the South: A History of SEC Football

This is a good, but not great, documentary about SEC football spanning from the late 1800's to the modern era. The documentary's one shortcoming is it focuses way too much time on two teams - Alabama and Auburn. It leaves out a lot of good information, milestones and stories throughout the rest of the SEC.

As one who grew up in the South, loving college football in the 60s and 70s, this series is a slice of wonderful memories. It is amazing how many different people the producers were able to round up and interview from all over the SEC. Nothing is left out, including the segregation issues which are addressed quite directly and honestly. So, if you love SEC football, you can't miss with this excellently produced series.

Making history documentaries neccesarily entails leaving things out. But this series is noteworthy for how much it left out, such as every SEC program other than Alabama, LSU, and Florida in the 2000s and Alabama and Auburn in the 2010s. 30 minutes on Tim Tebow was unnecessary, as was Nick Saban's entire backstory. In short, this show was afflicted with ESPNitis--caring more about off field stories rather than actually covering the history of SEC FOOTBALL.

This seemed to be more about Alabama and Auburn with a dose of LSU. What happened to Georgia? If it weren't for Herschel, it would be about all the losses handed to them. And not even a word about Larry Munson? You guys gotta do better.

Some of the criticisms of this series (too much focus on Alabama, Tebow, etc.) are warranted, but that has more to do with the layout, progression, and context of this series more than actual bias.

The first several episodes are basically historical and cultural documentaries. They tell the story of Southern college football and its place in American history and Southern culture. For that, it does an amazing, entertaining, and moving job. In addition to college football fans, historians and anthropologists will love it.

The last half of the series focuses on the 80's to present day. In terms of greater human history, the historical lens and hindsight of cultural events that we had on the first half simply hasn't developed yet. Therefore, the focus shifts to recent personalities of the SEC. Spurrier, Saban, Tebow, and Manziel have their moments. While the first half has appeal for a wider audience, this shift may not be for everyone.

Overall, though, the series is very well produced, written, and researched. The people they found and interviewed were impressive. It is a solid piece of storytelling.