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Photo Ben Affleck, left, and Bill Simmons on Mr. Simmons's new talk show on HBO. Credit Jordan Althaus/HBO

You can take Bill Simmons out of the sports network, but you cannot, apparently, take the sports obsession out of Bill Simmons.

Or even dilute it, based on the Wednesday night debut of his HBO talk show, "Any Given Wednesday With Bill Simmons." It has been billed as "spanning pop culture and touching on everything from sports and entertainment to arts and technology." Yeah, right. Mr. Simmons opened with five minutes of gushing about LeBron James, who on Sunday led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the National Basketball Association title. Then he brought on Charles Barkley, the former N.B.A. star, for another nine minutes of basketball talk.

Then came a set piece on Stephen Curry, the one-man scoring machine for the Golden State Warriors, the team that lost to the Cavaliers on Sunday. Finally, at the 19-minute mark of the half-hour show, out came Mr. Simmons's second guest, Ben Affleck. They did about three minutes on Mr. Affleck's acting and directing career, then plunged into a tag-team assault on the National Football League over the Deflategate scandal.

Maybe next week Mr. Simmons will get around to the pop culture, arts and technology material?

The show had been hotly anticipated in some circles, largely because of the way the host came to have it. Mr. Simmons became a star during his 14 years at ESPN, where he wrote a column, had a popular podcast, helped create the acclaimed "30 for 30" documentary series and was editor of the now-defunct Grantland website. But after assorted clashes with manage ment — some involving his disparaging remarks about the N.F.L. commissioner, Roger Goodell — his contract was not renewed last year.

So HBO scooped him up, but if the hope was that he would bring his lively, attention-getting style to a broader variety of subjects and thus a general audience, that wasn't realized in the premiere. Mr. Simmons stayed in his comfort zone almost exclusively, and the result was largely a televised version of what you might hear on sports talk radio, only with cursing.

The cursing was the best part, actually. Mr. Affleck did most of it. Mr. Simmons, who flaunts his Boston roots regularly, introduced him by explaining that of course in his premiere he had to have another Boston guy as a guest.

"Whitey Bulger couldn't make it," he said, "so here's Ben Affleck."

The two seemed at first as if they were going to do the usual Hollywood interview, Mr. Affleck talking about directing "Gone Baby Gone" and a coming "Batman" movie and such. Then the subject switched to Deflategate, the scandal involving the New England Patriots; the team's quarterback, Tom Brady; and some underinflated footballs. And Mr. Affleck, a Patriots and Brady fan, went off.

Mr. Simmons's comments on the scandal contributed to his troubles at ESPN, and he probably hoped to reiterate them in the relatively unfiltered safety of HBO, but he could barely get a word in amid Mr. Affleck's profanity-laced rant. It was pretty hilarious.

It also hinted at what Mr. Simmons needs to work on as he evolves into a TV personality. While he is a former N.B.A. analyst and did some television for ESPN, Mr. Simmons is primarily known as a writer and podcaster; some of his detractors have suggested that this background would not translate well to a talk show. So far, they are right. He's not a natural yet on camera, or adept at keeping up with guests who are going at the speed of Mr. Affleck. But dial up some early footage of, say, Conan O'Brien. Hosting is a learned skill.

Other ESPN alumni have had at least some success making the kind of transition Mr. Simmons is attempting. People forget that the host's chair on "The Daily Show" was filled initially not by Jon Stewart, but by Craig Kilborn, a former ESPN anchor. And of course there is Keith Olbermann. Those men were already seasoned television performers, however.

Mr. Simmons has another new project, theRinger.com, that casts the wide net promised by HBO's description of "Any Given Wednesday." (Mr. Olbermann has already written for it.) There is plenty of sports coverage, but also technology articles, "Game of Thrones" recaps, assorted podcasts and more.

The TV show needs to be just as inclusive if Mr. Simmons wants anyone but sports ad dicts to watch it. He could do worse than to make the show a haven where all sorts of guests could feel free to curse about all sorts of subjects.

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Source: Review: Bill Simmons as TV Host: Heavy on Sports and Cursing