Friday, September 17, 2010

The League 201- Strippers and Kickers

Spoiler alert...Below are some thoughts on last night's season premiere of The League, 'Vegas Draft'. So watch the ep, try the veal...child, then read what I had to say.

Pete- "You can body cavity search me all you want, all you're gonna find is Tennessee running back Chris Johnson!!!"

A decent start to the second season for a show that got much better throughout season one. When chatting about The League on their Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, Alan Sepinwall and Dan Fienberg mentioned how they see promise in this show because it has funny people on it. I couldn't disagree more. By all means, many of these guys are occasionally humorous, but if I'm going to compare it to It's Always Sunny (which is easy because it airs right after it), none of these light a candle to the big three of Charlie, Frank and Dennis.

What makes this show work for me is, once again, the fantasy football elements. A scene like the one in which these five friends fight their way through the airport security line would have been nice and cute on its own. But add to it the fact that they're doing it for the number one pick of a fantasy draft makes it actually funny. Then throw the quote about finding Chris Johnson in the security's cavity search and it totally works as a hilarious scene. The fantasy football elements were much more prevalent in this season premiere than many of the episodes last year, and that is a good thing.

Although Chad Ochocinco didn't bring much to the table himself, his presence gave the other characters much more to play off of. If you're a fan of the Ochocinco or even the NFL, you're aware of his catch phrase, "Child please", so when Andre tries to use it over and over again, it was funny. To a common tv viewer, this wouldn't have worked, but the show is now catering to it's audience. Good work.

Another moment from the premiere that I liked was the fact that Andre used the term "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" and I didn't get angry. This phrase, like the other characters explain, is so played out I was ready to slap them for even integrating it into the episode. It worked though. Andre, much like Matthew Berry of fantasy football fame, is the type of guy that runs things into the ground. If anyone else had said it, it would have been awful, but in this case I actually got a chuckle out of it.

The draft itself wasn't very good and the rapping scene with Taco and Ochocinco almost ruined the entire episode for me, but overall it was a promising start to the second season. If you enjoy fantasy football, it's definitely worth watching again.

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