First PITCH

Article first published as PITCH Review on Seat42F.

Disclaimer: This article is written by a non-sports fan. Nope, I don’t watch any of the sports.

FOX will be striking several chords with its new drama PITCH. It’s about the first woman in major league sports, as a girl becomes pitcher for the San Diego Padres. No, this is not a true story, and no, no woman has ever played for the MLB, NFL, NBA, or NHL (America’s four major professional sports leagues, according to Wikipedia; remember, I don’t follow sports), although the Padres are an actual team. But it feels like a true story, especially with the right to use actual logos, and hopefully reality will echo art in short order.

Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury, Twisted) always wanted to play baseball. She was great at it from a young age, and her father (Michael Beach, Sons of Anarchy) taught her how to compete with the boys. She finally earns her way into the minor leagues, and when an injury sidelines the Padres’ regular starter, she is called up to substitute in his steed.

Obviously, this is a huge weight to put on one woman, forced to represent her entire gender. The parallels are drawn between Ginny and Jackie Robinson, and PITCH portrays the sexism we’d all expect to happen right from the start. It’s easy to imagine all of the problems that would pop up when a woman finally makes that leap. PITCH gets a lot of them out of the way quickly, presumably so they can move onto other drama.

But PITCH isn’t just a preachy, big-picture show. Yes, showing a female in the big leagues is extremely important and long overdue. However, there is an actual woman for which this is happening, and a lot of the focus is on Ginny. We see how she handles things emotionally, and it feels authentic. Bunbury is terrific at making Ginny seem real, and as much as I feel her pain when she falls short, I also feel her pride when she succeeds, as we know she must.

In this way, PITCH is also a typical sports movie. Like many of the great films in the genre, it follows an underdog who overcomes adversity and naysayers to rise to the top of her game. This formula is incredibly familiar, and yet it rarely feels stale, even when the audience knows what to expect. Everyone likes to see sympathetic characters win, and Ginny fits that profile perfectly.

The cast is rounded out by a bevy of strong performers. Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Saved By the Bell, Franklin & Bash) is the abrasive team captain, Mike Lawson. Dan Lauria (The Wonder Years) is the coach who doesn’t want Ginny, Al Luongo. Mo McCrae (Murder in the First) is Ginny’s long-time buddy and now teammate, Blip. Meagan Holder (Born Again Virgin) is Blip’s wife and Ginny’s pal, Evelyn. Tim Jo (The Neighbors) plays social media guru Eliot, and Ali Larter (Heroes) is Ginny’s agent, Amelia. Finally, Mark Consuelos (Alpha House) is the general manager of the team, Oscar Arguella.

Now, while the pilot is wholly a typical sports movie, I’m assuming the series will be more of a soapy drama over time. I feel like there are already the makings of a romance between Ginny and Mike, and Oscar is definitely after Amelia. There will be ups and downs as the season unfolds, and while the games will probably frequently be shown, there’s also going to be plenty of character stuff.

I think PITCH will be good at that. The pilot was very strong, other than a scene in which Mike seems to play savior to Ginny, which I found a little patronizing, but also kind of necessary to the plot. If it can avoid those, and it did for the rest of the hour, I think PITCH could definitely be a series worth watching. Though I think it’s too soon to crown it, as some already have, the next Friday Night Lights, which remains the definitive TV sports drama of our time.

PITCH premieres Thursday, September 22nd on FOX.

LEGENDS Anything But Legendary

Article first published as LEGENDS Review on Seat42F.

Morris Chesnut, Sean Bean and Ali Larter | LEGENDS

TNT’s newest drama is LEGENDS, premiering this week. Rather than some epic tale rooted in mythology, as one might guess from the title, LEGENDS refers to the secret identities that deep cover spies have. It is based on a book by Robert Littell. A premise like this should still lend itself well to a large, serial story, in my opinion, but LEGENDS goes in the opposite direction, basically making a case-of-the-week show, or so it seems from the pilot, squandering both an interesting setup and an excellent cast.

At the forefront of LEGENDS is Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as Martin Odum. Martin is one of those people who gets super intense about his mission, supremely focused on his goals, ignoring rules that might get in his way and a family, including a son (Mason Cook, The Lone Ranger), that could humanize him. This is a very familiar type of protagonist to TV viewers, as it seems that any character that carries a show cannot be average in any way.

In the pilot, Martin is approached by a mysterious man who tells him that the Martin persona is yet another Legend, and the real man is buried deep within by a shady part of the government. This is intriguing, of course, making viewers question both the truth in what we’re seeing and Martin’s mental stability. I could easily see a show or season-long story being focused on this, but the pilot barely glances across it, seemingly destined to be developed in tiny pieces, rather than played up as it should be.

Besides Bean, many other talented people are wasted on this project. Martin’s co-workers are played by the likes of Tina Majorino (Grey’s Anatomy, Veronica Mars), Steve Harris (The Practice, Justified), Morris Chestnut (Nurse Jackie, V), and Ali Larter (Heroes, Resident Evil). None of the characters they play really stand out in episode one. They’re mostly there to alternately back Martin up and get in his way, making up a very standard ensemble for such a show.

What is really troubling is that Bean’s characters inevitably die in just about every project he’s involved in. Because the rest of the characters are so under-developed, LEGENDS as it currently is would not work without its star,

There really isn’t much about LEGENDS that is original or impressive. The acting is top notch, to be sure, but the writing is not. There are hokey situations such as when Larter’s character has to pose as a stripper at the last minute, ostensibly to slyly get to Martin past the bad guys, but in reality, probably just to show off some of Larter’s skin to the viewers, who tend to like a little sex with their action. But it seems designed to be the equivalent of a popcorn flick, sort of like a crime-genre Falling Skies, rather than make an impact on the television landscape or win any awards.

In comparison to other procedurals, LEGENDS holds up well enough. The production looks good and there are no obvious problems. As I said, it copies the structure of other projects quite copiously, but so does everyone else, which is how we end up with so many versions of what is basically the same show all on the air at the same time. It’s not that there’s anything glaringly wrong with LEGENDS or the peers it borrows from. They just aren’t anything special either.

One wonders if we’ve reached a tipping point for this kind of show. Many of the procedurals currently running have either started to skew more serial or incorporate serial elements into their format. However, as long as Bones, NCIS, and others like them rule the airwaves and get the biggest ratings, I don’t see simple escapism entertainment going anywhere any time soon. That is disappointing to the critics, who watch a lot of TV and quickly tire of this junk food-like product, but maybe not to the casual viewer, relaxing with a favorite they stumbled upon and like to check back in with.

LEGENDS premieres this Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on TNT.

Heroes finally finding footing

     Way back in October when I last wrote about NBC's Heroes, I lamented that the show was struggling, but celebrated a few bright spots on the horizon.  After having just viewed Monday's two-parter, I am happy to report that Heroes has found it's stride again.  If you had written Heroes off, now is the time to get back on board.  Catch up online, then read on.

     As before, there has only been limited Hiro (Masi Oka) and Ando (James Kyson Lee), who used to be just about the only part of the show worth watching.  As their names did not even appear in the latest installment's opening credits, one must assume that the plummeting ratings forced the main characters down to limited episode counts.  Not that Hiro has become uneccessary to the show.  He still should have a hand in the showdown, and he has not yet resolved his plot to rescue Charlie (Jayma Mays, Glee).  However, I am gratified to see Heroes mess with time travel and changing the timeline, but not have things go disastrously wrong, as is the norm for science fiction, and have to have it put back.  Ando's new standing is welcome.  There has also been very little seen on Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy), who popped up only briefly in the fall, before disappearing again.  Similarly, another less popular character, Tracy (Ali Larter, Final Destination, Varsity Blues) has appeared in just five of the first thirteen episodes this year.

     Meanwhile, while Claire (Hayden Panettiere, I Love You Beth Cooper) has not gone into lesbianism, as I thought she might, she has gone through a lot, being lied to by her adopted father, loosing her biological father, and almost falling prey to a cult.  She is staying interesting and relevant to the plot.  Speaking of her biological father, it appears that Nathan's (Adrian Pasdar, Judging Amy) plot, months after his death, has finally played out and he will no longer be a part of the show.  This is mostly welcome, though he had gotten more engrossing last season.  The character I most miss at this point is Matt (Greg Grunberg, Alias), who had a hell of an episode battling the villain in his brain, but hasn't been seen since.

     Speaking of villains, has Sylar (Zachary Quinto, 24, Star Trek) finally met his match in newest main cast member Samuel (Prison Break's Robert Knepper)?  Their showdown this week gave me chills, and made me yearn for more.  If the two ever fought head on for long, or teamed up, it would be quite a show.  Samuel is easily the most complex, compelling enemy to grace television screens in quite some time, and his carnival slash cult has given much drive to Volume 5: Redemption, the title for this fourth season.  The place had introduced a slew of new heroes with unusual abilities, and brought a few old ones back out of the woodwork.  Plus, what the heck was up with Sylar's new tattoo of a familiar face?  With only six episodes left, Heroes doesn't have much this spring, but what it does offer will surely be worth tuning in for.