Charles Barkley.JPG

Charles Barkley

A television network's announcement of a new show doesn't usually stir much more than yawns outside of media industry folks. But the news that Charles Barkley would be hosting a new series on TNT--called The Race Card, no less--piqued all sorts of reactions, especially among people often outraged by his raw, usually against-the-gain opinions about, well, just about anything.

Here are just a few thoughts from our own commenters:

Charles Barkley may be outspoken and controversial but he isn't very informed, educated, or intelligent which are traits one would need to lead this discussion.

Another democrat racist.

So who really cares what Barkley has to say?

My Facebook page prompted even more vitriol:

NO PLEASE. Why is he letting himself be a pawn like Omarosa? This is not good news.

A disaster in the making I'm afraid. He only makes sense about 10% of the time.

He's off to a great start, "Race Card" is a pejorative used to delegitimize minority grievances, something Sir Charles does frequently.

Of course, these thoughts bother the NBA Hall of Famer and TNT basketball analyst not one iota.

"I never worry about what everybody else thinks," he told me on Monday. "People say they want an honest opinion but they only want me to be honest when they agree with me."

Many regular readers know that I've known Charles since his earliest days in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers in the mid-1980s when I was covering the NBA for The New York Times. We later worked together to co-author a book, appropriately called Outrageous: The Life and Times of Basketballs Irresistible Force, published in 1993.

Since his retirement he's become arguably television's most irascible voice not named Bill O'Reilly.

He's rankled people on all sides of all aisles, which, in truth, makes him a perfect host for a show on race--the most vital subject in our nation for several centuries, and a hot-button topic where people of all sides of the aisle probably should be rankled about a bit.

"We got too many white folks making money on black ignorance and too black folks who ain't really for the cause," Charles said.

TNT said Barkley will bring together people who typically retreat "to corners of the like-minded, where views are reinforced and ideas are distorted into angry, unexamined groupthink conclusion."

And then, TNT/TBS president Kevin Reilly told Philly.com Barkley will "take a provocative position that's usually not necessarily predictable,"

Well, that's predictable.

In its announcement, TNT said the series expects to launch in early 2017. But Charles, who serves as the show's Executive producer and host, said he hopes to debut 'Race Card' prior to the Presidential election in November.

That's because he wants to explore reasons for the historic support of Democrats by African Americans and their overwhelming disdain for Republicans.

"I've voted Democrat every day of my life, and I'm not sure why," Barkley said, adding that he's never been a registered Republican. "Every Democrat I've known has been poor."

"Neither party's anything to write home about. But I want to give people an opportunity to explain why they do or don't vote for one party or the other."

"For years, blacks voted Republican because of [Abraham] Lincoln. Then Dr. [Martin Luther] King told all blacks to vote for JFK due to the Civil Rights Act [of 1964}/ Well, that don't mean --- to me. Exactly that have you done for done for me since? What are doing for my people? That is the question I need answered.

"I voted Democrat because my grandma voted Democratic, but that's not enough anymore."

Finally, he added: "It doesn't mean I'm going to vote Republican."

Barkley says he and TNT began discussing the concept months ago, long before the nation reached a racial abyss this summer after the murders of Alton B. Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of policemen in Baton Rouge and Falcon Heights, Minn., and the murders of policemen in Dallas and Baton Rouge--all senseless, all tragic.

The impetus was the success of Barkley's 2002 best-selling book, "I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It," which traversed a variety of topics, including race and politics.

Barkley was approached by producers wanting to do a documentary on the book, but he passed. "I don't trust anybody with my name unless I'm hands on," he said.

He formed a production company and held discussions with various figures in Hollywood, which also did not prove fruitful. "Hollywood wants you to put trash on TV to make money on it," he said. "I'm not trying to make money, I'm trying to make a difference."

Finally, Barkley found a kindred collaborator in Emmy award-winning producer Dan Partland, who produced "Intervention" in which participants battling substance or addiction are subjected to an intervention by a family member and/or friends. Partland will serve as a Race Card producer.

"I am very aware of who I am," Barkley said. "I can't make everybody happy; I'm cool with that. I've known that for long time. I also know that I always try to do the right thing.

"Even if I am wrong," he added. "I try to do the right thing."

I have to admit that I chuckled a bit myself when I first learned about Race Card, both at the irony and the perfectness of Barkley being the face of such a project.

And yes, I was skeptical, concerned that TNT might not build the type of team around him capable of producing the kind of programing that moves us forward in this all-too-volatile area and not set us back, which we simply cannot afford.

But as I shared on Facebook, Charles is smart, has a great heart and has both the ability to get people of all opinions to speak frankly and to say what the hell he wants on TV without professional repercussions. I'm willing to give it a chance--even if I have to watch with one eye closed.