07:53 AM EDT on Monday, April 4, 2005

By BRIAN MORAN / Special to WCNC.com

While the onlookers were pleading to “stop the fight” to cap off another great episode of ‘The Contender’, there’s concern the same fate could befall the show itself because not nearly enough of the country is tuning in to see it.

If Rob and Amber weren’t doing everything short of running opponents off the roads to a fiery death, ‘The Contender’ would be by far the best show on television. The buzz is growing, as are the ratings, but I still have an inner fear that another great series will die an avoidable death long before its time. I’ve been down this road before and it stings.

My sophomore year of college, ABC premiered a new show that had critics raving. It featured a young Claire Danes giving a performance that no one else in the world could have pulled off as well. It was called ‘My So Called Life’ and due to the ratings not meeting the hype, it was yanked after one impressive year.

I remember getting to my Thursday night hangout and sneaking upstairs from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. As I began to realize just how good this show was, I recruited some others who could appreciate the internal conflicts and be absorbed by the complex and some times slow dialect. (Translation: stoners) By the end of the season, my little group had grown and I was sure the series had seven strong years ahead. I was legitimately upset when it didn’t get picked up for a second installment. They reran the season for years on MTV which only made it worse. I was forced to relive another bad decision made by big time execs with itchy trigger fingers that lacked the patience to allow something ground-breaking to bloom to fruition.

Like I said, ratings for ‘The Contender’ are slowly improving but without a great ratings push, I’m guessing a second season is nowhere near guaranteed and we could have another MSCL on our hands. A few weeks back, just finishing this season wasn’t a given. 'My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss' still lay in ruin while the mystery boss pulling the strings is still tucked neatly behind the curtain so anything’s possible.

If you haven’t jumped on board yet I’m imploring you to get in the ring. If you hate boxing, don’t worry, it’s actually a small portion of the show and the fights are edited so well that even boxing haters could enjoy it. If you hate reality TV, don’t worry, these aren’t spoiled, great looking stage hogs searching for their big break with commercials and Playboy appearances. They’re quiet and humble and jaded by a sport that doesn’t respect them. Each week we see contestants fighting for their lives. In one dreadful week, we saw that literally with the ensuing suicide of young Najai Turpin.

The same life experiences made this episode great as all those that came before it. You’d think watching a grown man tough as nails sobbing aloud in a dim locker room while his family consoled him would get old, but it doesn’t. You’d think watching the winner celebrate with his young children wouldn’t still make you smile, but it does. You’d think the drums beating down the suspense would get stale and contrived, but it won’t. They still give me chills.

The interaction between the contestants is always engrossing, but this week we had our first ‘Survivor’ moment. Anthony was on deck for the West and he assured his team he would select Joey, a much taller fighter. He bragged all week of putting Joey’s head on a platter only to disguise his true intentions of selecting the much smaller Brent. The selection sent a rift through both teams alienating the devoted father who claimed he did it to better feed his family.

As fight time drew near, Anthony bawled when he received a surprise visit from his kids. Brent and his wife prayed, drawing strength through the Lord. As the drums beat, I faced the same conflict I experience every week: I didn’t know who to root for. How do you root against someone when you see the decay that lies before them? The answer is you don’t. You just watch.

NBC

In his own locker room, Anthony broke down in tears as his children made a surprise visit. Anthony said that he was now even more determined to win.

As the fight began, Anthony, 33, fighting what he called his last hurrah, came out blasting. Brent’s face quickly swelled up and his eye was darkened. Both teams were openly rooting against Anthony. He only had his kids and his mom on his side. The beating became so severe in the third that even his mother covered her mouth to hide the horror as the gym beseeched the ref to stop the fight.

The tears that followed were very heartbreaking and very real. It just doesn’t feel like reality TV, it feels like true voyeurism which makes this show great.

You’d think the country would realize these things and religiously jump on board, but they haven’t. And they should.

I said my heartfelt goodbyes to Angela Chase, Rayanne and Brian Krakow many years ago. They were characters I felt I came to know much like the guys on ‘The Contender’. I dreamed of someday writing for a show just like that one where the characters were genuine and complicated. They were insecure and self-deprecating as they dealt with their own limitations. All qualities I appreciate. And it all disappeared right before my eyes having no voice to the mistake that was being made. I gave drunken oratories to indifferent party-goers, but finally resigned myself that sometimes that’s life.

That’s not the case anymore. I don’t want to go through that again without a fight. So please, next Sunday at 8 p.m., put any prejudices aside and give these hardened men a chance for one hour.

You’d think it’s just another shameless money-making reality effort with artificial conflict created by greedy producers. You’d think it’s just buff guys going shirtless with substance less outlooks on the world. You’d think that this was just a short vacation, just a small blip on the radar screen of these guys’ lives launching phony opportunists into undeserved fame.

I realize that for all non-watchers, you’d have to think all those things. But you’d be wrong.