Why the Bill Belichick-UNC Hulu docuseries fell apart

The planned University of North Carolina football docuseries for Hulu was scrapped over concerns that the program was going to be a “deep dive” into Bill Belichick’s “home life” and not focus on the football.

News first broke earlier this month that the team scrapped the plans for the series, though no explanation was ever revealed. That was until Thursday, when People published a report that pointed to the concerns by Belichick. 

“Jordon, Bill and UNC all agreed that Hulu’s vision of the project was not in alignment with Hulu’s,” a source told the outlet. 

Documents related to the project revealed the temporary name of the project was the “Untitled Bill and Jordon Project,” according to the report. Belichick and his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordan Hudson, refused to sign appearance releases. 

According to the source, Belichick “was enthusiastic to give unprecedented access to the program; it’s too bad Hulu wanted to dive deep into his home life.”

Nevertheless, another source close to the streaming service appeared to push back in comments to the outlet, telling People that the original concept was not what the unaired show turned into. 

“The project that was originally pitched was not the series that was coming together, and the series that was coming together was not up to standards. The decision was ultimately made to part ways,” the second source said. 

Though the People report indicated that the project was on the back burner, Belichick told reporters earlier this week that it was “still a work in progress” and that “we’re working through a few logistics on it.”

“No real update at this time, but there will be something,” he said. 

The UNC program has been engulfed in controversy surrounding the state of the team. 

The team is 2-3 and has been blown out in each of its losses this season, and during its bye week, reports surfaced of issues ranging from in-fighting between players to questions about the culture of the program. 

It was also reported that the university was exploring exit strategies regarding Belichick’s role as head coach. 

Belichick was forced to deny those reports this week. 

“Some of the reports out last week about my looking for a buyout and trying to leave here and all that is categorically false,” he said on Monday.