In an age of conglomerates, there are still professional sports teams under private ownership, often with one family as the face of the franchise. That’s the premise of the buoyantly entertaining Netflix comedy “Running Point,” starring Kate Hudson as one such nepo-baby who is suddenly thrust into the top job running the whole shebang.
She plays Isla Gordon, a reformed party girl in Los Angeles relegated to a basement office of her family’s professional basketball team (called the Waves; the show conspicuously avoids the letters “NBA”) where she handles charitable endeavors. She has a real understanding of the game, but it’s her brothers who occupy the executive suite — Justin Theroux as team president, Scott MacArthur as GM and Drew Tarver as CFO — and they are oblivious to her potential.
When circumstances abruptly change, Isla is named president, to everyone’s surprise, including her own. Hudson is giving the kind of sparkling performance that harkens back to the era of her rom-com dominance. The team has a losing record and a point guard who is causing PR headaches. Can Isla turn things around? She’s tasked with putting out one fire after another, whether it’s replacing a lost sponsor or finagling a player who wants to be traded.
The 10-episode series comes from Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen (who previously worked together on “The Mindy Project”), and it is loosely based on Los Angeles Lakers president Jeanie Buss, who is also an executive producer on the show. I suppose this means we now have a nascent Lakers television universe that includes HBO’s “Winning Time” (about her father, team owner Jerry Buss, and his over-the-top antics).
But the Buss of it all is the least interesting thing about “Running Point,” which giddily envisions the inner workings of a team’s front office. This is a sunny, glossy, fast-paced story of ambition and surmounting challenges. It brings to mind “Entourage” or “Ballers,” but is several cuts above either because it’s not predicated on bro-y energy.
It’s such a relief to see a show actually respect, and take advantage of, the television form! Hudson has an eye-catching wardrobe (courtesy of costume designer Salvador Pérez Jr.) and the episodes have a thematic and visual brightness that is an essential component: The show is an easy watch and the aesthetics subconsciously tell your brain “relax, this is fun.”
When the Gordon siblings belatedly learn they have a younger brother they never knew about (played by Fabrizio Guido) whose mother was a housekeeper for their father 20 years back, and Isla hires him to work as her assistant. Brenda Song plays the no-baloney best friend, who also works for the team, and upon Isla’s promotion she offers these words of advice: “On behalf of all women, don’t ever make a mistake — looks bad for all of us.” Chet Hanks plays aforementioned point guard; Toby Sandeman is the veteran player who is the glue that holds the team together; Max Greenfield is Isla’s finance who supportive of her new role, but only to a point; and Jay Ellis is the head coach with whom Isla has some low-key flirtations.
I like shows about work — not just as a setting, but as the primary driver of a show’s drama and comedy — and “Running Point” excels at this enough that it convinces you to overlook some of its flaws, including Tarver’s CFO, who has been written with no redeeming qualities as a person (it’s unclear if this is even intentional). I’m also perplexed by the unexplored disinterest among the siblings when it comes to their new brother, who is naive and sweet and so clearly desperate to connect. Why introduce a new relation and tease the potential complications that might bring, only to mostly wall him off in his own storyline? And there’s a scene wherein Isla finagles a deal by juggling phone calls with GMs from two different teams that is less homage than blatant ripoff of a similar scene in “Moneyball.”
Isla was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and has zero experience as an executive. You’re rooting for her all the same. Her brothers are not above sabotage when it comes to her new role, but MacArthur’s simple, knucklehead of a GM is impossible to hate. The motivations driving Theroux’s slippery character are harder to read, which feels right, as well. But ultimately “Running Point” works because while Isla may be in charge of a team worth several billion dollars, she actually has a moral compass. That feels conspicuously, alarmingly, unique at the moment.
“Running Point” — 3.5 stars (out of 4)
Where to watch: Netflix
Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.
