ABC rounds out its new Wednesday with BACK IN THE GAME, placed in the 8:30PM hammock slot between The Middle and Modern Family It’s pretty clearly inspired by the Clint Eastwood movie Trouble With the Curve, with a little Bad News Bears added for flavoring, about the grumpy relationship between an ex-ballplayer (James Caan) and his feisty adult daughter (Maggie Lawson). She’s a single mom who needed to move in with him after her divorce, and before long, she and gramps have to reluctantly band together to coach a Little League team of outcasts that includes her son.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Game trailer plays up Maggie Lawson at least as much as James Caan, and after years spent in support on Psych, it’s nice to see her get some leading woman attention. The show itself seems pretty well-oiled, if entirely predictable, as Lawson has to handle her cranky dad and misfit son. Weekly small victories for the family are likely. Game doesn’t seem terribly compelling, but it’s not a bad fit with The Middle, and against Revolution on NBC and X Factor on FOX (and likely Survivor on CBS), it could do a fair job of holding its lead-in audience.
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About the Author
Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."
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