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Home / Sport

Michael Jordan and Bulls documentary The Last Dance hugely popular in New Zealand

Luke Kirkness
By Luke Kirkness
Sport Planning Editor·NZ Herald·
21 Apr, 2020 10:30 PM3 mins to read

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Michael Jordan in action for the Chicago Bulls during the 1997/98 NBA season. Photo / Getty Images

Michael Jordan in action for the Chicago Bulls during the 1997/98 NBA season. Photo / Getty Images

Michael Jordan is used to winning, but not even "His Airness" could knock off reality television show Too Hot to Handle from its high perch on Netflix.

Daily rankings from Netflix reveal The Last Dance documentary was the second-most popular series in New Zealand today.

Meanwhile, true crime series Tiger King had fallen down to the fourth-most popular behind action series Outer Banks and in front of the drama Ozark.

Michael Jordan in action for the Chicago Bulls during the 1997/98 NBA season. Photo / Getty Images
Michael Jordan in action for the Chicago Bulls during the 1997/98 NBA season. Photo / Getty Images
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Netflix also revealed 64 million member households had chosen to watch Tiger King, the streaming service recorded in earnings this morning.

The Last Dance is a 10-part series which provided viewers with a behind-the-scenes look of the Chicago Bulls' final NBA championship run in 1997/98.

The first two episodes of the 10-part documentary aired on Netflix NZ on Monday, with two episodes to be released every following week.

Michael Jordan, regarded by many as the greatest basketball player of all time, was the central figure of the series about his team.

The ESPN documentary, which Netflix Australia and New Zealand had the rights for in the Oceania region, also broke viewing records in the United States.

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Data showed in the first two hours of the series, The Last Dance averaged 6.1 million viewers in the US - the most in the network's history.

The previous record-holder was the documentary You Don't Know Bo about baseball and football star Bo Jackson, which was watched by 3.6 million in 2012.

Originally due to air in June, ESPN moved the launch of the series to April due to the large shutdown of the live sport due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NBA season was suspended in March until further notice after players tested positive for the virus.

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The Last Dance series took a behind-the-curtain look at the Chicago Bulls and their 1997/98 season in what was their final championship year.

Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Photo / Getty Images
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Photo / Getty Images

It was using footage from on-court action throughout the season to clips from practice and even in the locker room.

The Bulls capped off a historic run with their sixth championship in eight seasons and marked the second time in that run they'd go back-to-back-to-back.

Not only is the series about that season, but it looks back into the lives of the central figures from Jordan to Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and even the mastermind head coach Phil Jackson.

NZ's most popular series on Netflix:

1. Too Hot to Handle
2. The Last Dance
3. Outer Banks
4. Tiger King
5. Ozark

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