From creator
John Eisendrath and ESPN comes this gritty and compelling drama
that follows a group of professional football players during a
season and delves into the dark side of professional sports and
the downside of fame. The show concentrates on the
behind-the-scenes action before and after the game (and even at
halftime) and immerses the viewer in the off-the-field lives of
these flawed but talented men.
The episodes
revolve around a small group of these football players, the coach, the
owner, and the families, girlfriends, and associates of these
players. The various pressures and temptations that they are faced
with being professional athletes and the media scrutiny that follows a
professional sports team are the main focus of the series.
The series has
engaging and compelling storylines. There is an aging running back
coming off a horrible injury and now has to deal with a up-and-coming
rookie running back trying to steal his job with more talent, more
attitude and the vicious owner on his side. The star linebacker is
going to counseling because of his anger issues and the fact that his
father had a hand in his brother’s death.
The rookie back is
a junkie who needs a hit before he starts every game and still runs
around with a posse of friends from his hood who are still getting
into serious trouble. The star receiver has a secret that could end
his career. The quarterback is on so many meds his career could be
ruined at anytime with one bad hit (and he is a serial ladies man who
gets one of his groupies pregnant). The coach is hiding something
from the team that could put the whole team in jeopardy.
With each episode,
the storylines delve into the darkest sides of professional football
and the drama that surrounds these players.
Playmakers is an
engaging, intense and provocative series with a strong dramatic story
arch, great episode rhythm, and well developed characters. The show
was cancelled after one season on ESPN not because of quality or low
viewer-ship (in fact it had garnered critical praise across the board
and had a huge audience) but because of pressure from the NFL. The
NFL did not care for the clichés being perpetuated by the series, and
the fact that in every episode there was some dark aspect of
professional football being the center storyline. Well, that is what
made this series so intriguing.
Playmakers does
exactly what Law and Order does, it takes “ripped from the headlines”
stories, mixes that in with it’s own characters’ issues and
motivations, and adds some extra drama where necessary with each new
episode. So with each new episode, the drama that unfolds is in
reference to a past headline in professional sports. It makes the
show tremendously compelling and addicting. If you follow sports, you
can relate each episode to the infamous event it is drawing upon and
then get a back seat to all of the drama that unfolded on the team
when it happens (in this case, it happens to the same team over and
over).
The characters are
all well developed and, for the most part, are terrifically acted.
The rivalry between the aging running back Leon (Russell Hornsby) and
the all-attitude rookie back D.H. (Omar Gooding) is engaging and is
the true connecting story between all the episodes. These also happen
to be the two best performances in the series and the reason you want
to keep watching. Another central character, linebacker Eric Olszyk,
is one of the glaring weak points; the character is pivotal and is
unconvincingly played by Jason Matthew Smith.
Some of the other
underdeveloped characters tend to come off as clichéd and a bit
ridiculous at times, such as the always evil and manipulative owner.
But that is all part of the fun of the series. The clichés only add
to the ever increasing and intense drama. I enjoyed the fact that the
owner was played as evil as he was because each time he enters the
room you know something some bad news is about to befall one of these
guys.
The pacing and
rhythm of each episode is expertly done and contributes to the overall
satisfaction of this series. The episodes have a great flow to them,
the storylines bounce around in time during the particular game day or
practice day in which they are happening but always tie it all
together at the very end of each episode. They also mix in a voice
over narration of each of the characters to get more insight into
their personal demons and their thoughts on the events unfolding,
which is a big plus at times and is also a weakness at others.
The show definitely
hits the bulls-eye on concentrating on only the pre-game, post-game,
and halftime action. It keeps the energy squarely on the pressure
these guys face off the field, which helps focuses the entire series
on the intense human drama not the actual games (if you want game time
drama just watch a real game).
Sometimes the voice
over narration is a bit too much and hinders the story progression or
is too cliché riddled (some of the narration sounds like a Gatorade
ad). And the fact that something outrageous and horrible happens to
at least two players every week can feel over the top, but I think it
also adds to the ever-increasing tension. You know something is going
to go wrong for one of these main characters at any moment and it
increases the intensity of each episode. It does play like a football
soap opera yet it remains edgy, gritty and intense enough to rise
above it.
THE VIDEO
The video
transfer is outstanding, crisp, clear and vivid in color. I was
impressed by the enhanced DVD transfer, time was obviously put
into it.
THE AUDIO
Buena Vista
Home Entertainment presents Playmakers in Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Sound and the audio is phenomenal. The music is an
integral part of this series; it sustains and enhances the
intensity of the series so it is important that the sound be
outstanding, which it most certainly is.
THE EXTRAS
The extras
are brief and limited:
"On Set With Snoop
Dogg" – Behind the Scenes of Episode 10, “Tenth of a Second” – This is an
extremely short, strange extra which is basically a short interview
with rapper/actor Snoop Dogg on his experience with Playmakers in
which he was a character with about 3 minutes of screen time.
Playmakers
Behind-the-Scenes Featurette – Not unlike most other behind the scenes featurettes, yet
an effective and informative extra with interviews and discussions
with almost everyone involved. I don’t like those behind the scenes
extras that do not interview all the main actors and discuss the
creative process in bringing it all to fruition. This extra goes
through the whole creative process and gets input from each and every
main actor or actress.
Pilot Episode Audio
Commentary by Executive Producer John Eisendrath
– Eisendrath, a former football player and TV writer, provides some
insightful yet quirky commentary. He is somewhat aloof and a bit
strange but he does provide some entertaining commentary and he makes
sure he touches on all areas of the creative process.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Playmakers is a
riveting, intense drama that, despite the flaws, creates a strong,
interesting story on the pressures and motivations of professional
football players. This is compelling drama at its most provocative and
fascinating. Here’s hoping another cable network picks up the rights
and continues this great series.
