Metro skeds sports specs, adds talkshow

Subway series specials highlight baseball in Gotham

Metro, the 24-hour network reaching about 3.8-million cable subscribers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, is beefing up its local-sports programming, launching a weekly hourlong series called "Gameface" and scheduling five hours of original sports specials between June 8 and 10 to coincide with the weekend when the New York Yankees play the New York Mets.

"Gameface," slotted for Thursday at 8 p.m., beginning June 8, is a live sports-talk series hosted by Dave Sims. It will feature give-and-take between athletes and sportswriters. Studio audiences will participate, as will fans in selected sports bars throughout the city rigged with remote cameras. Home viewers will be able to e-mail comments and questions during the show.

One-run subway series shows

The original one-shots that will run during what Metro calls subway-series weekend:

"Dynasty: The New York Yankees," a 90-minute history narrated by Robert Klein focusing on Yankee teams from the 1920s through the 1960s. It premieres June 8 at 9 p.m.
"New York's Love Affair With Baseball," a one-hour roundtable hosted by Mets announcer Fran Healy and featuring Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, Mets manager Bobby Valentine, New York Times sports columnist Dave Anderson and Yankees scout (and former player) Gene Michael. It runs June 8 at 10:30 p.m.
"Dem Bums from Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Dodgers," a 90-minute documentary profiling the Dodgers through the eyes of the team's fervid fans in Brooklyn. June 9 at 11 p.m.
"The Greatest Season: The 1969 World Champion Mets," a 90-minute documentary tracing the fortunes of the team from its debut season in 1962, when it lost 120 games, to its World Series victory against the Orioles in 1969. June 10 at 10 p.m.