Fantasy Football: The Television Series
New TV show centered on fantasy football league
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Would you watch a television show about the man behind this mask?
Michael Strahan's new show won't be the only football-themed sitcom hitting the air this fall. No, the long awaited Terry Bradshaw-starring remake of "Pee Wee's Playhouse" hasn't gotten the greenlight, although our fingers remain crossed, but FX has ordered a series based around a fantasy football league.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, "The League," which is being created by an executive producer from "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "centers on a fantasy football league and tackles issues of marriage, friendship, parenting and love in suburbia." It will feature some of the improvisational elements that have made "Curb" such a success, although the answer to the name of Larry David's own fantasy football team will remain a mystery.
The idea behind the show is pretty easy to see. Men love fantasy football, women like issues of marriage and friendship, put 'em together and you've got a show destined to live atop the ratings for the next decade. Except that even people who like playing fantasy football don't like hearing other people talk about fantasy football, unless the conversation is somehow going to give them an edge in that week's game with their college roommate. Otherwise, it's just a guy bitching about his kicker and that's really closer to torture than it is to laugh riot.
Based on the description above, it would seem that the show is actually the umpteenth take on a sitcom about married people, with the twist being that the henpecked husband gets berated for worrying about whether to start the Bears or Seahawks defense instead of being fat or bald or whatever. Even though that's not particularly original, it's still better than a show that's actually about the goings-on of a fantasy football league.
Just imagine how horrific an episode about Phil losing his two running backs to injury would be? There are only so many times that you can make jokes about pulled groins really pop, and no matter the pedigree of the men behind the show those times passed sometime in the middle of the Great Depression.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
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Posted Thursday, Jul 16, 2009 - 6:56 PM EST
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