"The League," a new semi-improvised, half-hour comedy on FX, is in some ways a perfect companion to its lead-in, the cult favorite "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Both shows skirt the boundaries of political correctness and laud the rhythms and patterns of a boys' club. Though the titular league of "The League" is centered on fantasy football, the show works best when, like "Sunny," the gang is left to its own crude devices.
The show's first episode, which aired two weeks ago, introduced five male friends in their early 30s inaugurating the fifth season of their fantasy football league. And though the guys certainly care about football — Nick Kroll's Ruxin, for one, goes so far as to manipulate children in pursuit of a successful draft — the league really serves as a kind of manly oasis to the desert of the rest of their lives.
By any classic definition, this is a show for men. Emotion and sympathy don't seem to exist. Ruxin's marriage and new baby are sources of inconvenience and frustration rather than affection, and genitalia jokes outnumber sports comments by about four to one. For the most part, every woman is hot, annoying or both. This is a show that, above all, values the sacred male space.
Even football, in comparison, takes a backseat to the pro-dude atmosphere: The show's second episode is nearly free of talk about the actual league, and the only football joke is a reference to Chad Ochocinco's favorite catchphrase (delivered hilariously by Paul Scheer). If a viewer comes to "The League" looking for a show about fantasy football, he or she will most likely be disappointed.
Mumblecore indie auteur Mark Duplass plays Pete, who has fallen into a rut with his wife of eight years, Meghan (Leslie Bibb). By day, she attempts to pressure him into starting a family; by night, she dominates and emasculates him in the bedroom. She can be seen as representing every other shrill, nagging, bossy sitcom wife. When she goes behind his back to give away his lucky fantasy draft t-shirt (which reads, "I shaved my balls for this?"), it's the last straw, and Pete ends the episode as a single man.
The rest of the league is in varying states of romantic commitment. Ruxin is a new father whose sexual frustration serves as the focus of much of the second episode. Andre (Paul Scheer) is a wealthy plastic surgeon whose dorky nature keeps him an affirmed bachelor. Freewheeling stoner Taco (Jonathan Lajoice) is also single, but he's a master of the casual hook-up: In the span of the first two episodes, he has sex with at least four girls off-screen.
Taco's older brother Kevin (Stephen Rannazzisi) is the character that comes closest to having a happy marriage. His wife Jenny (Katie Aselton) secretly helps him run his fantasy football team — even though the guys really know what's up — and the two seem to be on the same page in their relationship. But most of the time, Jenny is still reluctantly relegated to Wife World, polarized from the rest of the league.
It's a shame that "The League" is so aggressively about — and directed towards — white, 30-something men, because it is funny enough to appeal to a wider demographic. The writing is sharp, though it dips to the lowbrow more often than not; the lax restrictions at FX let these characters say things and make observations others can't.
There's no reason that the division between the stresses of real life and the liberating openness of the league has to be so clearly divided along gender lines. With a few more wry and a few less penis jokes and immature put-downs, "The League" has the potential to be a fun, post- "Sunny" diversion.
For now, show's solid cast is mostly given stereotypes of the dude and chick persuasion, with a few bad penis jokes balanced by a couple of good ones. Then again, for both the league and the viewers at home, it's still only the beginning of the season.
