Prime Video to Take Viewers on ‘The Ride’, Coming Later this Year
By: Andrew Giangola
NEW YORK — Jess Lockwood is back, Jose Vitor Leme continues growing his legacy, 47-year old Ednei Camhinas is laughing at Father Time, a new crop of exciting riders are filling the chutes and fans are packing arenas coast to coast.
With more sellouts at PBR’s top two tours than you can shake a stick at, January will wind up a record-setting live attendance month for the sport.
Today, the year that’s off to a roaring start season just became even more exciting.
Prime Video has announced The Ride, an eight-episode docuseries produced by Kinetic Content that will take fans inside the world of the PBR Team Series, onto the dirt and into the lives of its biggest stars like never before.
The Ride will premiere later this year on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
The intimate docuseries follows an ensemble cast of bull riders and coaches throughout the PBR Team Series, as they navigate the league’s inaugural 2022 season, budding rivalries, exhilarating highs and challenging lows of the sport’s newest team-based competition.
“The Ride will showcase the intense action, heated competition, raw emotions, and personal battles that are fueling the sport’s brightest stars,” said Matt Newman, head of Prime Video Original sports content.
“We can’t wait to bring PBR fans and casual viewers closer to the western lifestyle driving this great American sport. We couldn’t ask for better partners than Kinetic and PBR.”
PBR CEO and Commissioner Sean Gleason says that The Ride is the deepest, most-engaging window into PBR ever offered.
“From their homes, through the locker room, and ultimately into the bucking chute on top of a 2,000 pound bull, The Ride captures these modern-day gladiators like never before while answering the question: Why do they do it?” Gleason said.
“These are riveting stories of family, brotherhood, passion and dreams against the backdrop of the world’s most dangerous organized sport now redefined in the PBR Team Series. The compelling episodes that unfold will entertain everyone whether they are a fan of PBR bull riding or about to become one.”
Just as “Drive to Survive” has been transformial for F1 so does The Ride have the potential to truly push the surging sport into the mainstream, especially as shows like Yellowstone stoke massive interest in cowboys and the Western way of life.
“As the sport and Western culture surge in popularity, this premium docuseries will introduce the world to the modern-day cowboys putting their lives on the line for eight perilous seconds of glory,” said Karrie Wolfe, executive producer and co-head of development for Kinetic. “The Ride will place viewers onto the magnicifcent 2,000-lb bulls bred to buck, as they ride along with the world’s best riders and witness the blood, sweat, tears, heartbreak, and victories on and off the dirt.”
Traditionally a solo sport, PBR entered a new era with the creation of the PBR Team Series in 2022.
Under the new format, riders on eight teams compete in head-to-head, five-on-five matchups in order to conquer as many bulls as possible and earn the highest aggregate score to win games across a 28-game regular season, and advance to the championship tournament in Las Vegas.
On and off the dirt, the inaugural Teams season was full of drama that couldn’t have been scripted.
Seven of the eight teams achieved the No. 1 ranking at some part of the season, capped by the Nashville Stampede’s Cinderalla run through the Las Vegas championship.
The Ride is executive produced by Kinetic Content’s Chris Coelen, Eric Detwiler, Karrie Wolfe and Micah Brown. PBR’s Sean Gleason and Lawrence Randall also serve as executive producers. The Ride is a co-production from Prime Video Sports, Kinetic Content, and PBR.
Prime Video supports a growing lineup of live sports globally, including Thursday Night Football, the WNBA, the Seattle Storm, the New York Yankees, Seattle Sounders FC, and Overtime Elite in the United States; ONE Championship in the United States and Canada; Premier League in the United Kingdom; US Open Tennis, ATP, and WTA in the United Kingdom and Ireland; UEFA Champions League football in Germany and Italy; Roland-Garros and Ligue 1 in France; Australian Swimming globally; New Zealand Cricket in India; and NBA in Brazil.
This is in addition to a selection of Amazon Original All or Nothing sports docuseries including All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur, All or Nothing: Juventus, All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs, and All or Nothing seasons with the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers, and Philadelphia Eagles, as well as the NCAA’s Michigan Wolverines football team.
PBR’s production partner Kinetic has a slate of projects for multiple networks including Lifetime, Netflix, Fox, Amazon, Bravo, ABC and Discovery; their track record includes highly successful and groundbreaking shows in every non-scripted genre.
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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