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REVIEWS | ESPN's
"PLAYMAKERS"
(Aug 26, 2003)
  "'Playmakers'
is well written and well acted, but it is professional football as
observed by Joan Didion rather than John Madden. Set in locker rooms,
living rooms, examination rooms and psychologists' offices, this show
about a fictional team, the Cougars, ignores the thrill of victory and
the agony of defeat. Instead it bores in on hairline emotional injuries
and jagged personality conflicts." (NY Times)
"Just
because the show deals with clichés doesn't make it unbelievable or
unwatchable. 'Playmakers' is superbly cast. The acting and writing are
well above average. This is a serial that -- dare I say it? -- men might
fall for, one that the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network might
call a keeper." (Houston Chronicle)
"If
pro football bores you, are you likely to find anything intriguing
in 'Playmakers'? Surprisingly, yes. It's well enough acted and written
to sustain interest as a story of professional people under almost preposterous
pressure." (Washington Post)
"If
anything, 'Playmakers' is too dark, so full of brooding hulks that
there's no room left for the 'ain't we still havin' fun' approach of the
inspired Mac Davis in 'North Dallas Forty.' Critics may call the pros
the No Fun League, but cheating and angst alone could not have made football
the nation's most popular sport." (Denver Post)
"Intelligently
scripted and convincingly acted, this series is akin to open heart
surgery in its unsparing depictions of pay-for-play gladiators." (Dallas
Morning News)
"If
nothing else, it's nice to see a drama about sports and know you're
not going to end up sitting through a scene where a father and son tearfully
play catch as the violins crescendo." (Salon)
"What's
interesting, ultimately, is that ESPN is actually trying to defuse
its viewers' relentless hero worship. What's more interesting is, were
this show to be successful, the network's ratings on other evenings would
plummet." (LA Daily News)
"If
'Playmakers' is a hit, will the ESPN empire eventually resemble MTV,
which pays lip service to music but is really just about youth marketing?
Could we see a future where the actual sporting events are confined to
ESPN2, while the main channel schedules a steady diet of movies, dramas,
talk shows and reality series?" (Newark Star-Ledger)
"'Playmakers'
feels obliged to explain itself to us through narration -- assuming
that we're too stupid to follow the story without help. Never mind that
this mind-numbing drone never resembles the way anyone really thinks or
speaks, let alone a group of people who are not renowned for being philosophical
or introspective. But what exactly is the purpose?" (USA Today)
"The
characters are about as unpleasant a bunch as you can imagine. There's
hardly anyone to root for. If real pro teams are like this, it's hard
to imagine anybody would have any interest in watching them. Ever." (Salt
Lake Deseret News)
"In
an odd way, ESPN may be exactly the wrong network for 'Playmakers.'
Although the producers keep the series mostly off the field -- a smart
move because nothing looks more fake than acted-out sports -- much of
the show will ring Hollywoodish with ESPN viewers, starting with the size
of the stars, who, though not small men, don't look like NFL players.
Real players are on ESPN every week, and they are seriously huge." (Sacramento
Bee)
"The
series looks as if it might have something important to say about
what it means to be a man. Olczyk's sessions with his psychiatrist and
subsequent decision to take the anti-depressant Zoloft will remind some
viewers of Tony Soprano in HBO's 'The Sopranos.' And, well, it should."
(Baltimore Sun)
"The
biggest fault of 'Playmakers' isn't that the show is one long cliché
beaten into our heads with the worst second-person voice-over narration
ever put on tape -- it's that the real-life world of sports that ESPN
documents every day is so much more interesting than 'Playmakers.'" (SF
Chronicle)
"Despite
a strong cast and an interesting look, 'Playmakers' is undermined
by writing that's thoroughly condescending in both its predictability
and in the way it assumes viewers are too dumb to get what's going on
without it being drummed into their heads. The result is not a total bust,
but a major disappointment." (Chicago Sun-Times)
"You
find yourself thinking the series would be significantly better without
the flow of self-analytical, cerebral monologues, an example of which
goes like this: 'You hate the game, but you don't have the strength to
leave it, so you play angry. Someone's going to pay for this. And that's
what makes you good.'" (Boston Globe)
"For
the writers and producers behind "Playmakers," the game has to be
about getting better. In football terms, the series is starting its first
season playing like an expansion team full of promise yet plagued by uncertainty
and lack of experience." (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
ESPN's
VP of programming and production: "For ESPN to evolve, for us to reach
a new level, we're going to have to commandeer those broad, casual sports
fans that are interested in human emotion and drama that sports bring
to the table. Our dramatic series will allow us to test just how far we
can stretch our brand."
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