Hey folks, sorry for the long hiatus from posting, but I've been pretty busy lately. Busy watching tv that is! Ok, that's an exaggeration, but I have been catching a decent amount of some new tv recently. One show that has caught my attention is FX's new show, "The League", which debuted last thursday night after "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" Now, the FX network has long been searching for a comedy to follow the wildly popular "It's Always Sunny..." and so far it's been nothing but failure (anyone remember "testees"?...didn't think so). So given FX's track record, I went into "The League" with low expectations. Make no mistake though, "The League" is a pretty solid show that's also driven by a pretty entertaining ensemble cast.
The basic premise behind "The League" is a group of friends (all males, all in their early 30s) who compete against each other in an annual fantasy football league. As one of millions of americans who play fantasy football, I was instantly drawn to this story. However, in this show, the focus isn't so much on football itself, but on the lengths these men go to defeat and humiliate each other, and about how their obsession with fantasy football creeps into their personal lives. In order to pull this off, the show put together a very versatile and hilarious cast, which each friend bringing something interesting to the table.
Episode One of the show depicts "the draft", which is when everyone in a fantasy league gets together and takes turns picking out their team. Rather than going with a straight summary of the episode, i'll give you a quick look at the main characters, which should illustrate that this comedy is very much character driven:
Pete- If there is a central character of this show, Pete is probably the guy. Episode one establishes Pete as the alpha dog of the fantasy league, having won the championship 3 out of the 4 years of the league's existence. Pete really seems to relish his fantasy football superiority, and tries to rub it in his friends' faces any chance he can get. Unfortunately for Pete, his real life isn't as perfect as his fantasy team, his main problem being a wife that not only tries to dominate him in his personal life (picking out his clothes, dragging him to bogus charity events) but also dominate him in the bedroom (after one awkward bedroom session, she gets up out of bed, slaps him on the ass, and goes, "good show old boy!") The main question Pete grapples with in the first episode is how will he let his seemingly ill-fated relationship affect his participation in the league.
Kevin- Kevin is Pete's best friend, and league commissioner. As league commish, it's up to Kevin to come up with the draft order, and he does this with a competition. Not a competition between the guys, but a competition between his own daughter and her friends during her birthday party. Kevin gives each kid a number, like a race runner, and has the kids do a potato sack race in the backyard, with each of the guys drawing a random kid's number. After the guys draw a number they comment that Kevin didn't even draw his own child, to which Kevin replies, "That's good, because she's not that fast." Also, like Pete, Kevin is married, but unlike Pete, appears to be in a very supportive relationship. In fact, his wife, Jenni, appears to know more about football than he does, and the pair seem to approach the fantasy league as a team.
Jenni- "We didn't get our daughter did we?"
Kevin - "No, number 7"
Jenni- "COME ON #7!"
Ruksin- All the guys in the show seem to have pretty low scruples, but this is the guy with perhaps the lowest. At the aforementioned birthday party, Ruksin learns of a neighborhood boy who's a supposed "oracle" when it comes to fantasy football. Ruksin sees this young child as an opportunity to gain a competitive edge over his friends, and immediately starts to get friendly with the boy. Naturally, the relationship between the man and boy comes off as very creepy.
Boy's father (answering door): Hello?
Ruksin: Hey can Matthew come out and play?
Father: No, Matthew is getting ready for bed actually.
Ruksin: Yeah, you can just tell him that Ruksin's here.
Father: Absolutely not.
Ruksin: That's cool, I'll just hook up with him online.
Father: No you won't! (slams door)
Taco- He's the most aloof individual of the group, probably because he's high almost 24/7. He also doesn't appear to know anything about current NFL players. This is him during the draft.
Kevin: Taco, you're up, it's your pick.
Taco: Ummm...Geoffrey Reynolds.
Kevin: Who is Geoffrey Reynolds!?
Taco: Running back, Calgary Stampeders, he's really good.
Kevin: Taco, it's NFL players only, how do you not understand that?
Taco: Oh...(looking at draft cheat sheet) Darr-en Spro-lees.
Taco also writes and performs a birthday song for Kevin's daughter at her party, and believe me when i say, you have to see and hear the performance first hand.
Andre: Andre is the black sheep of the group, meaning that he's the butt of all their jokes. He tries very hard to come off as cool and smart in front of his friends, but all his attempts come off as lame and pathetic. I don't have to say much about Andre, just that he picks Keyshawn Johnson during the draft, and has a marijuana joint framed in his house, which was he explains was his first joint he ever smoked with his friends (a joint, the guys later explain to him, contained something other than marijuana. I don't want to spoil it though).
There's a lot more that goes on during the episode, but hopefully these character bits give you a taste of the show's humor (which is sophomoric, immature, yet delightfully amusing.)
Going forward it will be interesting to see how the show incorporates what's actually going on in real life football and how it affects the guys' league, which I think would be a pretty innovative for a television show. If that is the case, and the guy's fortunes are based on the current season, then our boy Pete is surely in for a rough ride. Here's his first two picks: Matt Forte and Calvin Johnson. Ouch! Also, I'd like to see an episode showing the origins of the league and how the group's rivalry began.
Overall, "The League" was a very enjoyable experience and showed a lot of promise. I'll give the show a solid "B" for it's first episode and encourage all of you to tune in.
Since, I haven't posted in a while, I might as well put in a few extra words, so here's a few other random musings on fall tv so far...
1) NBC's thursday night lineup is back on top as the best comedy lineup of the week. NBC has been given a run for it's money by CBS's monday lineup of "How I Met Your Mother" and "Big Bang Theory", but "The Office" has been resurgent this year and "30 Rock" has been as good as ever. But the difference maker for NBC has been "Community" which is an office like show starring Joel McHale (from E!'s "The Soup") as a ex-lawyer who has to enroll in community college. The show is absolutely hilarious, and features some great supporting performances from John Oliver ("The Daily Show") Ken Jeong ("Knocked Up", "Role Models") and Chevy Chase ("Fletch", "Fletch Lives").
2) After a sub-par fourth season (at least in my opinion) "It's Always Sunny..." is definitely back on form. My favorite episode so far has got to be the intervention episode, in which the gang debates the merits of drinking boxed wine out of diet coke cans.
3) I haven't seen it yet, because it's on Wednesday, and I only watch tv on mondays and thursdays, but I've heard nothing but good things about "Modern Family." If nothing else, I'll be watching that one marathon style once the first season comes out on DVD.
4) Jon Gruden joins the the booth for Monday Night Football, and right away you can notice Ron Jaworski rubbing off on him. Listening them talk during the game is like listening to a couple of cartoon characters, they're just extremely animated in the way they speak, and I must say it's downright distracting.
5) "House"...'nuff said.
-PG
No comments:
Post a Comment