The surprising moment did not really bother me, but some of the construction of the new series, centering around the management team of a San Diego sports arena, did. That is a total shame considering one of my favorite actors, Allison Janney (The West Wing), is one of the lead characters, Crystal, and Perry is a decent performer.
Getting past the fact that I work in sports and know that it is completely ridiculous for a significantly sized arena which is portrayed in the show to be apparently privately owned (by Crystal), the situations were not very well presented as they tried to haphazardly introduce all the characters in what seemed like was only 15 total minutes of show when you take out the commercials. There were basically two segments in like the last 10 minutes of the half hour that were just a joke each as if the writers had two endings to the show and chose to use both because they did not have any other material or could not make up their mind.
Perry’s character was made out to be this kind of stereotype self-centered male, Ben, that is afraid of commitment, which came off completely against his type. His assistant, Alonzo (James Lesure), is supposed to be an ex-basketball star, but Lesure just does not fit that bill. I know why they cast him because he was good with the banter on Las Vegas opposite Josh Duhamel, but he certainly is not the image of a pro athlete. I also thought it was a shame they treated Lost’s Jorge Garcia (Hurley) so poorly in another act of Perry pretending to be a jerk, a stupid move considering the guy was a beloved character to the network's viewers. And it looks like Andrea Anders may be cursed when it comes to working with ex-Friends actors as she was also on a short-lived show, Joey, with Matt LeBlanc.
Allison Janney, though, was brilliant. Her character was kind of a snotty, clueless, rich woman who does not care about anyone around her, including her son, whom she publicly ‘forgets’ or intentionally ignores having during a press conference for a kids charity event in which she was completely insensitive. There are very, very few actors who could have pulled this character off, let alone expertly deliver the physical comedy featured in the debut episode, particularly as she shielded herself from a pack of axe-wielding clowns by picking up one of the kids at the press conference. Janney’s performance was so good that it rose so far above the rest of the show in quality that it made the rest of the mediocrity excruciatingly obvious.
I don’t think there is any saving of this show, which sucks because I like watching Janney. In fact, I think Perry, who came up with the concept and is a co-writer/producer, completely screwed this show up. I actually think they should have cast Janney in the role that he is playing because I think she would be great as the manager mistreating the janitorial and operations staff while dealing with an arrogant, witless owner. But because he had to star in it, the writing kind of has gone off the rails. Hopefully, this show can crash quickly and Janney can return to a better show or do more guest appearances on In Plain Sight with her former West Wing cast-mates.
As for other sports mistakes, not very many facilities actually allow cars of the staff to drive directly into them, and that was right at the top of the show as well. Sure, cars and trucks can go in, because they have to unload stuff, but the staff does not park in there, especially when there is a circus and they completely take up every space available. Oh, and clowns using axes to chop up the ice that can’t be melted due to a malfunction? Sure, it was a funny visual, but give me a break.
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