Did you love the 1993 dramatic comedy “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray? Were you on the edge of your seat wondering if jaded news anchor Phil Connors would ever find a way out of his existential prison?
If so, you’ve surely been pining over the years for a sequel that almost certainly will never come. But fret no more! Who needs the silver screen when the theater’s otherworldly allure appears in real life — in our very city, no less?! Such is the fate of Clint Hurdle, who, no matter what he does, has woken up every day for more than eight years now to find he is still manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Of course, moviegoers know the tale far too well of sequels that try to leech of the success of their predecessor, often making for a semi-likable but equally forgettable follow-up.
Well, guess what? Plot twist!
Hurdle begins each day familiarly enough, rising from bed to discover he is still employed by one of the most miserly teams in baseball, but unlike the movie, the world around him keeps changing! That’s right, other organizations alter their strategies, shuffle personnel, and do what they think will help the club reach the World Series, but not those troublesome Pirates, headed each and every day by the forlorn 61-year-old.
“Usually theater and movies take elements of real life and dramatize them in an attempt to create a lasting experience for the viewer,” said film critic and historian Jamal Hoover. “Incredibly, though, it’s Hurdle’s real-life struggle within this unchanging cycle of misery that pushes the ‘Groundhog Day’ concept to the next level. Honestly, you look at this story of time marching forward for everybody but one man and the baseball team he seems forever bound to manage, and you realize, wow, you really can’t make this stuff up.”
Curious to see how the story further develops? You’re in luck! Be sure to catch one of the upcoming 162 three-hour episodes that chronicle Hurdle’s tribulations, premiering Monday, April 1.
