While I’m not crazy about the too-inside basketball title, Netflix’s sports comedy Running Point is off to a fast start.
The series stars Kate Hudson as reformed party girl Isla Gordon, who vaults from being the overlooked coordinator of charitable endeavours to becoming the very hands-on president of the Los Angeles Waves pro basketball team.
How you may ask? The Waves are a family owned and run organization. When her eldest brother Cam (recurring star Justin Theroux) is forced into rehab, he strategically appoints low threat Isla as his temporary replacement over the heads (and objections) of his two younger half brothers, Chief Financial Officer Sandy (Drew Tarver) and General Manager and former player Ness (Scott McGarver). A third half-brother, eager beaver Jackie (Fabrizio Guido), is discovered working at one of the concession stands as the late founding father’s will (and proclivities) are revealed.
The casting all around is excellent. Hudson, at 45, steps up as a confident series lead a decade removed from a string of romantic comedies in the early 2000s. The daughter of Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson, she comes by her comedy chops naturally, getting sock-it-too-mee’d into glass doorways like her Oscar-winning mom in her prime.
She’s in great hands with Mindy Kalling among the writer/executive producers. Running Point captures much of the same comic spark (and even some residual supporting casting) as Kalling’s high school sitcom Never Have I Ever. That shows up right down to the occasional narration, although why Charles Barkley wasn’t brought in the way John McEnroe killed it narrating Never Have I Ever I’ll never have I ever know.
Another Kalling collaborator, Ike Barinholtz, co-created the series and also writes and exec produces, an asset that shows up especially in the naughty character of Ness. McGarver, occasionally seen on The Righteous Gemstones, could be Barinholtz’s brother and is very effective in the role of the family’s privileged yet loveable bro dog.
advertisement
Tarver, here occasionally channeling David Hyde Pierce, has more work trying to make outraged younger sibling Sandy sympathetic but he gets there when his own love life falls apart. Guido is less dimensional yet still effective as the surprise brother who winds up on the inside (sort of) of the family business. Max Greenfield pops in-and-out with charm as Isla’s patient pediatrician fiance Lev Levinson.
Some viewers will see parallels with HBO’s Winning Time, which took a more dramatic take on the real life adventures of the Los Angeles Lakers in the era of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Running Point doesn’t have the same retro baggage and also doesn’t have to apologize for playing fast-and-loose with the facts.
There is some on-court basketball game energy here, however, with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson’s son Chet Hanks off the bench as the Wave’s problematic point guard Travis Bugg. Toby Sandeman plays no-nonsense veteran star Marcus Winfield; Jay Ellis is the team’s focused and handsome head coach.
Also off the bench are some effective guest stars, including former Mad-TV original Nicole Sullivan as Bugg’s pain-in-the-ass mom Bonnie.
All ten episodes were quickly consumed over three nights in our household. It is not a series that necessarily stays with you, but it is an entertaining distraction for those who, say, may be looking for any reason to divert their eyes from current news reports. There is that 20-second cliffhanger tease at the end of each episode to keep you keen, including a rather predictable one that sets up the next season, which has already been ordered by Netflix.
And no wonder: Running Point was the most-watched show around the globe the week of March 3-9 on the streaming service. Full credit goes to Hudson, who has found a role where she can strut all her talents. Kudos also to a terrific supporting cast, and a top writer-producer team in Kalling, Barinholtz and fellow showrunner David Stassen. The series was also co-created by Elaine Ko (Modern Family; Only Murders in the Building).
