REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL Returns to HBO Tonight

Now in its 19th season, REAL SPORTS WITH Bryant Gumbel, TV's most honored sports journalism program, presents more enterprising features and reporting when its 192nd edition, available in HDTV, debuts TONIGHT, MARCH 19 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

Other HBO playdates: March 19 (3:20 a.m.), 22 (2:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m.), 24 (8:30 a.m.), 27 (4:00 p.m., midnight) and 30 (8:30 a.m.), and April 1 (10:30 a.m., 2:30 a.m.), 4 (5:45 p.m.) and 13 (12:15 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates: March 20 (11:30 a.m., 9:30 p.m.), 25 (1:30 p.m., 11:15 p.m.), 28 (4:30 p.m.) and 31 (7:40 a.m.), and April 6 (1:00 p.m.)

HBO On Demand availability: March 25-April 15. The show will also be available on HBO GO.

Segments include:
*The Transformation of Tyson. Once dubbed "the baddest man on the planet," and a fearsome presence in and out of the ring, former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson enjoyed massive success as a knockout artist, reportedly earning more than $300 million in purses, all of which is gone. Following memorable roles in Hollywood films, including the "Hangover" franchise, the 46-year-old has reinvented himself yet again. Tyson has taken his talents to the stage as the star of a one-man show full of anger, humor and tears. In this REAL SPORTS/Sports Illustrated collaboration, correspondent Bernard Goldberg goes one-on-one with the pugilist as he sets off on a North American tour and uncovers an introspective side of Mike Tyson few have seen before.

Producer: Nick Dolin.

*Gabrielle Ludwig. One of the most polarizing players in women's college basketball today, 51-year-old Gabrielle Ludwig towers above the competition at six feet, six inches. The last time Ludwig competed in college basketball more than 30 years ago, she was playing on a men's team, as Robert Ludwig. The Desert Storm veteran underwent sex reassignment surgery last summer, reenrolled in college and has become the only known person to play college ball as both a man and a woman. Ludwig sits down with host Bryant Gumbel to discuss becoming the person she always believed she was and explains how basketball helped her through the hardest times.
Producer: Maggie Burbank.

*Pushing the Limits. Millions tuned in to the snowmobile freestyle finals of the 2013 Winter X-Games and witnessed the accident that led to the tragic death of 25-year-old Caleb Moore. As the sport grows, so do the money and attention, along with the danger. In recent years, high-flying events such as snowboarding and skiing have resulted in brutal injury and even death. While the very premise of extreme sports is to test the limits, REAL SPORTS' investigative team explores how far is too far as correspondent Jon Frankel asks the question: Have extreme sports gotten too extreme?
Producer: Jordan Kronick.

*Being Lolo Jones. Prior to her quest for gold at the London Games, Lolo Jones captured headlines across the country in May 2012 when she told correspondent Mary Carillo that she was still a virgin at age 29. That moment of honesty only intensified the public's fascination with the beautiful, skilled hurdler who overcame a hardscrabble past and tough luck to make her Olympic debut at the 2008 Beijing Games. In this all-new REAL SPORTS segment, the 30-year-old reconnects with Carillo to talk about the 2012 London Games, where she failed to win a medal, and her new foray into bobsleddinG. Jones joined the U.S. national bobsled team shortly after London and is now vying for an opportunity to represent the U.S. at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Producers: Chapman Downes, Beret Remak.

REAL SPORTS has won the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Journalism 15 times and has received 23 Sports Emmy Awards overall. It is the only sports program ever honored with the duPont Award for excellence in broadcast journalism, having first been recognized in 2005. In Jan. 2012, REAL SPORTS received its second duPont Award, for a series of investigative reports on concussions, highlighted by the Aug. 2010 story revealing the scientific link between sports concussions and the onset of ALS. In April 2012, the show received the Emmy in the category of Outstanding Sports Journalism for Bernard Goldberg's 2011 report on the college bowl game money trail. In Jan. 2013, REAL SPORTS won the Producers Guild Award for Outstanding Sports Program.

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The executive producer of REAL SPORTS WITH Bryant Gumbel is Rick Bernstein; Joe Perskie is senior producer.

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