The series “features bonus footage and never-before-seen elements from the original series, which spotlights the changing role of basketball and its athletes in advancing social justice and civil rights,” said Showtime. 

The first video is here. Each will be released on the Showtime Basketball YouTube channel and will air interstitially on Showtime over the next two weeks. 

“During the making of Shut Up and Dribble, this talented team of filmmakers produced a vast array of important and powerful material spanning decades,” said Stephen Espinoza, president and general manager of sports and event programming, Showtime Networks Inc. “Unfortunately, not all of that material fit into the original three-hour series. Today, we revisit this material and highlight some of the more relevant and timely unaired segments so that we might, in a small way, contribute the ongoing social justice conversation and help shape our path forward.”

The videos share insights from Craig Hodges’ failed protest following the Rodney King incident and Oscar Robertson’s landmark demand for free agency and social change, among other topics. Kendrick Lamar, Bob Costas, Arsenio Hall, Jesse Jackson, Mark Cuban, Adam Silver and Steve Kerr lend their voices. 

Shut Up and Dribble debuted in November 2018. It is available on demand and will air Saturday, Oct. 10, starting at 1 p.m. ET/PT. 

SportsCenter host Jemele Hill will depart the show and take on a new role as writer for the network’s The Undefeated online site, the network said Friday. 

 Hill, who took over co-hosting duties for the 6 pm SportsCenter show along with Michael Smith last February, will host her last SC6 segment on Feb. 2. Smith will remain as host of the daily SC6 show.

RELATED:Jemele Hill, Michael Smith SportsCenter's New Dynamic Duo

Hill came under fire last September for calling President Trump a “white supremacist" as part of a series of politically-themed tweets. She was suspended last October for violation of the company’s social media guidelines after she sent out a tweet calling for a boycott of the Dallas Cowboys after team owner Jerry Jones vowed to bench any players kneeling during the national anthem.

Hill in a statement said she approached management about the change, adding that hosting SC6 really wasn't her calling and that she prefered instead to write and report. 

“My first choice was to work with The Undefeated, a site that covers the intersection of race, African-American culture and sports in creative and compelling ways,” she said.

ESPN Executive Vice President of Production and Executive Editor Norby Williamson said the show has undergone recent format changes as it looks to draw viewers at 6 pm. “The telecast continues to evolve as our primary mission is serving sports fans no matter the time of day,” Williamson said. “We have clearly learned that viewers expect the most comprehensive news coverage and compelling analysis during the 6 p.m. hour. Michael Smith is an experienced journalist and seasoned commentator and I'm confident that his talents can help us achieve our objectives as we move forward.”

According to Sports Illustrated, Skipper had been taking a more front-and-center role with the company – he led a company-wide rally in Bristol, Conn., a few weeks ago aimed at inspiring the troops. And despite a series of layoffs this year – the network shed 100 on-air employees in April and another 150 workers globally in November -- his job seemed secure. While the company has endured its share of controversy – a Dec. 14 article in the Boston Globe  depicted several instances of sexual harassment and accusations of an "entrenched locker room culture" at the network – SI said it was clear that Disney had picked Skipper as the “point person to change the narrative.”

Skipper had done a lot to promote diversity both in the workplace and throughout ESPN’s content. A former magazine executive – he worked at Rolling Stone and Spin before joining the Worldwide Leader in Sports in 1997 – Skipper launched ESPN The Magazine and has been instrumental in boosting the network’s budget for investigative journalism. Skipper also launched website The Undefeated, created to explore the intersections of race, sports and pop culture.

He also brought new faces and voices to the channel, promoting women like Doris Burke, Jessica Mendoza, Beth Mowins, Sam Ponder and Jemele Hill to positions that had normally been dominated by men. Even Hill, who Skipper suspended as Sports Center anchor for two weeks in October for a series of tweets that were critical of President Donald Trump, still considered her boss a mentor and champion of her career.  

John Skipper is one of the finest people I’ve ever worked for. He’s been incredibly supportive throughout my career at ESPN. This isn’t company-speak. I seriously cannot express how much respect I have for him.

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) December 18, 2017

ESPN and ESPN News anchor Stan Verrett offered an anecdote to show Skipper’s compassion for employees.

2 years ago my dad died right before the NBA finals. He was my hero. My mom insisted he would want me to do my job. So I did. At game 1, John Skipper asked me "are we doing all we can for you?" That's the kind of man he is. I wish him the best as he conquers this challenge.

— stan verrett (@stanverrett) December 18, 2017

But there were missteps too. Skipper abruptly ended ESPN’s relationship with Barstool Sports after just 10 days when its late-night interview/comedy show “Barstool Van Talk” struck some at the network as inappropriate. And though Skipper was said to be a champion of diversity and inclusion, ESPN was grappling with harassment scandals for years before he came on board. Whether there is more to come in this story remains to be seen.   

And then there is the controversy over ESPN’s rapid loss of subscribers – 13 million in the past six years – as viewers cut the cord or modified their programming packages to not include sports.

ESPN has tried to rectify the situation by preparing its own direct-to-consumer offering – ESPN Plus, which will include games and programming not aired on its linear channels – and by modifying its existing carriage deals. It’s Altice USA renewal agreement reached in October is often cited as an example – Altice USA agreed to increase the mandatory carriage minimums for the networks after it was allowed to drop some channels (ESPN Classic) and received some rate relief.

The Los Angeles Times mentioned that there were rumors for months that Skipper was on the hot seat and could be let go, but they cooled off after the ESPN chief signed a contract extension. According to the paper, there was talk that ESPN was going to extend that deal even further. And then came Monday’s announcement.

Already several names have been cast about as possible replacements for Skipper – EVP of sales & marketing Justin Connolly and EVP of Content Connor Schell are reportedly the front-runners. But the list is varied – in addition to the usual suspects of Disney and ESPN execs are some top women – including ESPN CFO Christine Driessen and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Some have even said George Bodenheimer, the former ESPN president who retired in 2011 and was brought back to serve as Acting Chairman for 90 days, could be convinced to take the helm again. While Bodenheimer was well liked and had an enviable run at the sports network, the climate is extremely different today and only will get harsher as time goes on. It is probably a long shot to speculate that he would want to take that bull by the horns again at this stage. Over the next three months -- sources at the company say the timing has nothing to do with the launch of ESPN Plus -- Bodenheimer will have both hands full enough looking over resumes. Hopefully, he'll pick the one that has both the old school negotiating skills and the technical savvy to lead ESPN through the right chute. 

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017

Since then, ESPN has been playing defense most of the week, initially distancing itself from the outspoken Hill’s comments and saying they did not represent the network's views.

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 12, 2017

Yesterday the White House chimed in, with White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Saunders stating that Hill’s comments were “certainly something that I think is a fireable offense.”

Hill later in the evening tweeted out another response by saying her initial Twitter comments “expressed my personal beliefs” and that her comments “painted ESPN in an unfair light.”

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 14, 2017

ESPN then released a second published statement on the matter: "Jemele has a right to her personal opinions, but not to publicly share them on a platform that implies that she was in any way speaking on behalf of ESPN. She has acknowledged that her tweets crossed that line and has apologized for doing so. We accept her apology." 

Whether or not you agree with Hill’s comments or how ESPN and the White House handled the situation, it certainly furthers a debate the country has been wrestling with recently regarding the intersection of sports and race during one of the most politically partisan, racially-charged times in the country’s history.

Should athletes and sports journalists on either side of the political aisle keep silent on social and cultural issues and just stay within the sports arena, or should they be free to participate in the discussion, regardless of how uncomfortable or controversial those comments may be to some?

Should those in positions of power, such as corporate media entities – afraid of alienating a portion of their viewers – all the way up to the Oval Office be able to influence and effectively advocate for the silencing of athletes and/or sports journalists over any and all dialogue revolving around race?

How we finally answer those questions will go along way toward navigating through the difficult and potent mix of politics, race and sports.

Today (Feb. 6), ESPN sports journalists Michael Smith and Jemele Hill will debut as hosts of SportsCenter’s 6 p.m. show, the first African-American tandem to host a regularly scheduled daily block of the iconic sports-news program. Smith and Hill, formerly hosts of ESPN2’s daily sports talk show His & Hers, spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about their new SC6 show. Here’s an edited transcript.

MCN:Will theSC6show differ much from what viewers are used to seeing from you onHis & Hers?

Michael Smith: Well, it’s not going to be as different as the switch makes it seem. I would say SportsCenter is going to be more different. We’re doing the same [His & Hers] show — it’s just going to look different. And by that I mean it will look better: better facilities, better design, better presentation and better execution. We would never for a second think that there wasn’t room for improvement on His & Hers, but the powers that be were clear that they do not want us to come and just update the news, deliver the highlights and set the table for the Duke-North Carolina game coming up after us on ESPN. They wanted us to continue doing exactly what we’d done on His & Hers practically verbatim. It’s going to be an adjustment for some hardcore viewers of SportsCenter who strictly just want the news and what happened during the day while they were at work and away from the Internet, but we’re going to be here to entertain. We think we’ll win over those who may be skeptical rather quickly.

Jemele Hill: This will be more relaxed and informal. And I think one of the things that has been a hallmark of our partnership is that we can talk about serious issues, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I think that will be the underlying sprit of this new SportsCenter.

MCN:Having said that, if there is breaking news during that time period, will the show take a more traditionalSportsCenterlook and feel?

JH: Absolutely. For those not familiar with [His & Hers], we had breaking news happening on our show all the time — our show was surely up to the minute. And we did just as good as anyone in terms of not only breaking that news, but then immediately rotating it to discussion mode. I think what will also make this SportsCenter unique is that I think we’ve seen previous SportsCenters where if some breaking news happens, then the next pivot is to an expert or to someone closely associated with that story. That’s not to say there won’t be room for us to do that, either, but we can immediately pivot into the mode of being analysts. So it’s like you’re reducing a layer that used to be there on SportsCenter. We’re not going to deviate from giving you news — His & Hers was a news-of-the-day sports show. SportsCenter will be a news-of-the-day show.

MCN:What does the transition from sports talk show hosts to hosts ofSportsCentermean to you?

MS: For us, the SportsCenter brand and what it represents to the company and to sports in general is self-explanatory, but what it means to me and Jemele is really a confirmation and a culmination of a lot of dedication. It’s also a destination that we never would have anticipated reaching in only four years when we did our first podcast. We started that podcast because nobody was falling over themselves to pair us together on television. We did it because we wanted to put our voices together and create something unique, and to think that four years later we would not only have a show but have, with all due respect, the show, which is SportsCenter — I can’t even call it a dream come true because we never dreamt it.

MCN:His & Herstackled some very hot topics on race and sports. How important is it to you to continue to do that onSportsCenter?

JH: We never shy away from those topics and issues. We do them not because we feel obligated, but because they are important to us. So that will definitely continue on [SC6]. I realize that for some of the traditional SportsCenter viewers that will be a bit of a departure to see the hosts of the actual show have opinions on those issues, but this idea that sports needs to remain completely separate from politics is a lie and has always been a lie. And I think you know by discussing some of the issues all we’re doing is bringing to light and getting a perspective on things that are relevant.

The immigration ban is as much of sports story as it is a news story because of the ties to certain Olympic athletes and the fact that most sports leagues have some kind of international base. So not surprisingly, those leagues are concerned about what it means for their athletes. We have had some of the most thoughtful conversation about race and gender, and there’s no reason that that won’t continue in that time slot.

MCN:What are the biggest challenges facing the sports news and talk genre right now?

MS: I would say fear to embrace something new and something different and fear to stay the course. In the beginning for us, how many people thought that we were hurting our viewership or we weren’t going last very long by keeping it 100, as they say. And not only did we last, but we’ve been promoted. I say all of this to say that the decision-makers have to give people an opportunity to know the talent, learn to like the talent and learn to embrace the talent, but also to encourage the on air personalities to get better at being themselves. So I guess I would just like to see more people stop trying to do what you think the viewer wants and just have the conviction to stay the course and put your on air talent in the best position to succeed.

Smith and Hill, who currently host ESPN2’s His & Hers daily talk show, will take over the 6 p.m. SportsCenter anchorslot in February from current anchor Lindsay Czarniak, who will go on maternity leave in early November and return in a new role to be announced at a later date, according to the network.

During Czarniak’s absence, the 6 p.m. SportsCenter program will be hosted by Zubin Mehenti and Matt Barrie  and other current SportsCenter anchors until Smith and Hill’s debut, said network officials.

Hill and Smith will continue to host His & Hers for the immediate future with their final show date to be determined.

“Jemele and Michael have unique chemistry and impressive journalistic credentials, and we look forward to bringing their entertaining mix of perspective and passion to SportsCenter,” said Rob King, ESPN senior vice president of SportsCenter and News. “We’ll build a new version of our program that amplifies all that makes them special.”