BACK IN THE GAME

** (out of ****)

Back in the Game isn’t the kind of pilot that makes you furious while you’re watching it, wondering if television will ever again reach the heights of “your day,” whenever that was. It’s hard to be furious, not because it’s any good, but because it does such a good job of sucking. Let me explain. Back in the Game does not have a single original bullet in its chamber. Every single tool is a tool that has been successful for decades, either on other sitcoms or from Bad News Bears. It does a fine job picking its tropes and having them interact. The idea that you can take something cliche or archetypal and put a spin on it is something that has, and seemingly never will, enter Back in the Game’s head. But it also doesn’t feel the need to have some wiseass character stand up in the background and shout “Hey, isn’t this just like that movie Bad News Bears?” Sure they stole. They don’t care. The people who would like a show like this don’t care. Let’s move on.

Maggie Lawson, who seems familiar but I’ve never seen anything she’s ever been in, plays Terry, an ex-softball superstar whose husband just left her. She takes her very non-jock son and moves in with her very ex-jock dad, The Cannon, played by James Caan. After some plot points that find an incredibly organic way for the worst team in Little League history to be created, Terry and the Cannon find themselves the coaches of this team full of misfits. Also, the show is on ABC. Is there any wonder whether or not this show is for you?

It’s not, but it does have it’s moments. The dialogue can sometimes be pretty snappy, without becoming overly reliant on the speed of it. I’m mostly thinking of an interaction between Terry and the requisite douche bag Coach of the Other Team. I laughed twice. Who saw that coming?

-Ryan Haley