Indecision. While deleterious when recurring over the course of a lifetime, dilly-dallying can kill even quicker on a basketball court. A belated pass leads to a turnover, the slightest hitch spoils a fast break, and a mistimed offense can never score enough to win. Indecision in comedy is equally unforgiving. Typically, it pops up when someone misses a punchline or rushes their set-up, but in the case of Netflix‘s “Running Point,” the problem is foundational. With so many broadly defined characters pivoting to do whatever the story requires, and so little investment in any one facet of the 10-episode first season, Mindy Kaling’s latest sitcom struggles to connect — sincerely or comedically. It tries to do too much and rather than sticking by the choices it makes, “Running Point” is simply overrun.
Kate Hudson stars as Isla Gordon, the black sheep of a basketball family simply because she’s the only woman involved. Her dad owned the Los Angeles Waves, a popular and prizewinning professional team; her eldest brother, Cam Gordon (Justin Theroux), took over operations when daddy died; her half-brother, Sandy (Drew Tarver), is the nerdy, ruthless, numbers-cruncher, aka an obvious CFO; and her middle brother, Ness (Scott MacArthur), played for the Waves… briefly, before taking his talents to the Philippines, quickly retiring, and returning home to be the team’s general manager.
Despite being brushed aside by her father at birth, Isla is on the Waves’ payroll, as well. She spent her younger years clubbing and posing for Playboy, but she always loved the game. She loved it before she started cooking up ways to get her father’s attention. She loved it when she was day-playing as a party girl, and she loves it now, as the Waves’ coordinator of charitable endeavors. It’s a cushy placement Cam gave her to help get Isla back on the straight and narrow, but it’s one that becomes important when Cam has to check into rehab and needs to name an immediate successor.
To the surprise of everyone, he picks Isla. Sure, she doesn’t have the front-office experience of her brothers, but Cam has always seen her in the same way her father couldn’t. “You know your shit,” he says. “You’re decisive, and you’re the best person for this job.” Of course, this doesn’t go over great with the passed-over bros, but managing their egos is just another challenge in a long list facing the new team president. The Waves are in second-to-last place in the Western Conference, their best player is an aging superstar, and the easiest path forward is to trade him for draft picks, punt on this season, and start rebuilding for next year (or the year after).
Except the Waves don’t have rebuilding seasons. That’s what the fans expect, and that’s what the team’s board of directors tell her. Clearly, it’s going to take some high-level basketball gamesmanship to save the team, her job, and her family. Is Isla up for the task?
The answer is as obvious as just about everything else in “Running Point,” an office comedy built with the general blandness of most broadcast TV (plus a few swears thrown in to make it seem more premium). Some of the throwback vibes work to its favor. The tone is generally easygoing and upbeat, the cinematography is colorful and clear, and Isla’s journey is nicely episodic, with half-hour arcs built around finding a new sponsor before a pivotal board meeting, trouble-shooting a player’s over-involved mom, and hosting secret talks for a new streaming deal during an owner’s conference.
But the broad comedy doesn’t bring out the best in its star. Hudson reminded audiences what they’d been missing in “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” by deliciously playing off her public image. Rian Johnson’s intricate script thrived on detailed dissections of its rich and awful suspects, including plenty of pointed jabs at Hudson’s oblivious model and tactless brand ambassador — two titles Hudson herself has held. With every gleefully inflated poke at her character’s toxic narcissism and too-oft-ignored ignorance, audiences could see that Hudson was in on the joke; a nepo baby Hollywood starlet who wasn’t above mocking the worst aspects of her entitled class.
“Running Point” was never going to be another “Knives Out,” but Hudson’s last prominent role helps illustrate what’s missing in her latest: namely, specificity. While Isla Gordon and the series itself are inspired by Jeannie Buss, the real-life owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers (who’s also an executive producer on the series), the character has been scrubbed of any identifying details. Instead, it’s as if every time Kaling and her co-creators Elaine Ko, Ike Barinholtz, and David Stassen introduced one characteristic, they had to immediately counter it with the opposite expectation. She’s blonde and beautiful, but she loves basketball. She’s smart, but she walks into a lot of glass doors. She has a colorful past, but she’s put all that behind her. She cares about her career and her family, herself and… everyone? She’s a girlboss who’s meant to be simultaneously identifiable and aspirational, yet who comes across as too conceptual to be either.
It doesn’t help that “Running Point” follows a similar zig-zaggy route to nowhere. Most of the time, the series wants to be a warmhearted family comedy, but then it inexplicably veers into “Succession” territory (via a seasonal arc that’s been labeled a spoiler). Later, despite introducing Isla’s fiancé in Episode 2 (played by the scene-stealing Max Greenfield), Hudson still can’t escape the gravitational pull of her rom-com history, which proceeds to drag down the season’s back half. (And I love rom-coms! This just isn’t built to support the rom, while it’s still figuring out the com.)
Then there’s the basketball: For nine of the 10 episodes, “Running Point” avoids showing much actual gameplay, which is obviously the right choice given they cast Chet Hanks as a professional point guard. Actually, a shocking number of Waves players look better suited for the NFL, but you’re able to suspend disbelief because you don’t have to see them hoop… until the finale decides to spend one-third of its run-time watching stiff and stout actors do their best impression of agile and altitudinous athletes.
Is it a family comedy? A family drama? A romantic comedy? A sports drama? “Running Point” is all these things, and its deficiencies in each are never more glaring then when its handful of genuine funnymen get to do their thing. MacArthur has the purest character among the leads — he really just wants his family to get along — and his ability to establish an easy rapport with anyone makes his jokes as affable as the man himself. Theroux treasures every silly little turn his cocky boss man gets to take. (He has a recurring bit where he looks over his scarf and calls people assholes, which just… kills, every time.) Tarver is essentially a nerdy version of Cary Dubek, a fame-obsessed aspiring actor on “The Other Two,” but that’s just fine, since he always hits his punchlines and elevates the zanier comic moments.
Brenda Song, as the Waves’ chief of staff and Isla’s best friend, largely gets hung out to dry. Early mentions of her penchant for swearing and closeness to Isla never really develop into anything. The same goes for Jay Ellis, a convincing basketball coach in stature if not execution (the gameplay scenes undermine the Pat Riley/Phil Jackson parallels) who never gets to have any fun. Greenfield does a lot with very little, and Fabrizio Guido shines in a role that can’t really be broken down without spoilers, but there’s simply too many balls in the air to keep the cast — and their comic contributions — from getting lost.
In the first season of a comedy series, there are worse problems to have than trying to do too much. Throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks is a tried and true strategy, and one that makes perfect sense in a series with plenty of proven talent in front of and behind the camera. Season 2 (and I’m just assuming there will be one) should be able to dial up “Running Point’s” strongest attributes while cutting the stuff that’s not working. It’s a functional franchise right now, but there’s a lot of work to do before it reaches championship levels.
Grade: C+
“Running Point” premieres Thursday, February 27 on Netflix. All 10 episodes will be released at once.
