Mindy Kaling’s comedy creations over the past 13 years, starting with The Mindy Project, have been reliably funny because she and her collaborators aren’t afraid to make characters terrible or sometimes downright offensive (OK, maybe they went too far with Velma). But she also has a knack for making female characters that are powerful in their own ways while showing that they still have the same vulnerabilities as anyone does. A new sitcom by Kaling and company takes place in the world of pro basketball, but has a lot of the same qualities as her previous shows.
Opening Shot: A woman walks towards an arena. We hear her in voice over saying, “What’s that quote? ‘All happy families are the same, but all fucked up families are fucked up in different ways’? I don’t know exactly. I dropped out of college.”
The Gist: Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson) is the president of the Los Angeles Waves, a pro basketball team that has won a bushel of championships, but seems to be on the downswing. Her father owned the team for decades, and when he died, a trio of his sons took over running the team. Cam Gordon (Justin Theroux) was the respected team president; Ness Gordon (Scott MacArthur) is the general manager, after a career on an overseas pro team; and Alexander “Sandy” Gordon (Drew Tarver), Isla’s half-brother, is the CFO.
Isla, who has been a basketball fan since her father used to bring her to the team offices when she was a kid in the ’90s, was in charge of the team’s charitable endeavors. Her path to the Waves was a bit more roundabout than her brothers’, involving a lot of partying and other wayward behavior. But Cam hired her, believing that being in the family business would be good for her.
Cam, though, has his own issues, like a love of crack cocaine. And when he gets into a serious car accident caused by him reaching for a dropped crack pipe, he thinks it’s the best PR move to step aside as team president. His choice for his replacement is a surprise, though: He thinks Isla is ready to take over, and she’s probably the most knowledgeable of his siblings. Besides, Sandy is too much of a bean counter and Ness is too close to the players.
Isla’s bestie, Ali Lee (Brenda Song), is also the team’s chief of staff. She’s excited for Isla, but knows that because she’s a woman, every move of hers will be scrutinized much more than if she was a man. “On behalf of all women, don’t make a mistake. It looks bad for all of us,” she tells Isla.
One of the first things that Isla has to deal with as the new team president is Travis Bugg (Chet Hanks), the Waves’ mercurial point guard. As the team’s fortunes have slid, he’s become a public relations nightmare. Ness and Sandy already have a trade in place that will send him to Miami, and they insist that Isla sign off on it. But Isla thinks that’s a sign that the Waves are giving up on the season. She knows she’s going to have an uphill battle to prove herself, but she’s also sure that one way to do that is to actually make a run for a playoff spot instead of tanking.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? With Mindy Kaling as one of the show’s executive producers (David Stassen, Elaine Ko and Ike Barinholtz created the series with Kaling), Running Point has the same tone as her other shows, like Never Have I Ever and The Sex Lives Of College Girls. Cross comedies like that with fictionalized basketball-based series like Clipped or Winning Time, and you have Running Point.
Our Take: One thing that distracted us right away as we watched the first episode of Running Point: The fake team names, not only of the Waves but of their opponents. Given that two of the show’s EPs are Jeanie Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Linda Rambis, the wife of former Laker player and GM Kurt Rambis, there would be a push to use real NBA teams on the show. Fake team names disconnect us from the show’s world, because we now have to believe that the Waves are essentially a substitute for the Lakers.
Then again, the choice may be on purpose. If the team were the Lakers instead of the Waves, then Isla’s story might be looked at as more of a thinly-veiled attempt at telling Buss’ story. By making the team fully fictional, Kaling, Ko, Barinholtz and Stassen have the freedom to do whatever they want with it. This includes making its best player, Marcus Winfield (Toby Sandeman) a prima donna who sends an assistant and a massive candle instead of attending a meeting requested by Isla, because he has to “conserve my energy” for playing. It also includes making Bugg a cartoonish player who’d rather rap than actually fulfill the potential his high draft position indicated (then again, is he any more cartoonish than, say, Kyrie Irving?).
While the first episode isn’t as rapid-fire funny as some of Kaling’s other shows have been, we thought Hudson did a credible job of playing a person who knew her stuff and also isn’t afraid to shake things up. Isla isn’t just trying to exceed expectations because she’s a woman, but her reputation as a screw up keeps dogging her, especially with her brothers. But nothing ticks her off more than seeing Ness and Sandy treating her like she’s going to be a rubber stamp for whatever they’re doing. Her chemistry with Song is especially fun to watch, but the entire ensemble — yes, including Chet Hanks — does their best to keep up with Hudson’s energy.
Sex and Skin: None in the first episode, with the exception of the men on the team being shirtless in the locker room, or head coach Jay Brown (Jay Ellis) working out without his shirt.
Parting Shot: We forgot to mention Jackie Moreno (Fabrizio Guido), who works in concessions and manages to get himself in front of Isla in a couple of scenes, connecting with her over her charity work. After his mother dies, he finds out in the last scene that his biological father is dead and (of course), was actually Isla, Cam, Ness and Sandy’s dad.
Sleeper Star: Justin Theroux isn’t going to be in every episode, but boy was he funny when Cam talked about how much he loved smoking crack.
Most Pilot-y Line: As we mentioned, the generic-sounding fake team names really bugged us. What’s even more annoying are the names of the teams the Waves play, like the Milwaukee Black Bears.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Kate Hudson is the best part of Running Point, but Kaling, Ko, Barinholtz and Stassen have built a winning ensemble around her, with a story that’s not only a workplace comedy, but one about family, as well.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.