When The League was first advertised on FX about one year ago as the lead-out to the latter half of 2009's spectacular Always Sunny season, I was annoyed and uninterested. Like every college-educated white American man under the age of 40, I play fantasy football with all of my friends. I've done so for years. But if there's one thing I've learned about fantasy football, it's that any stories about any other person's team are completely boring. I therefore figured a show based on other (fictional) people's (fictional) fantasy teams would be absurdly uninteresting. But I was wrong! This show is actually pretty funny. And more importantly, very little of the humor is actually fantasy football related. To dismiss The League as nothing more than a show about a fantasy football league would be like dismissing Sunny as nothing more than a show about some friends who own a bar. I managed to catch the six-episode first season in a marathon a couple of months ago and decided to add The League to my regular viewing schedule and to buy the first season for repeated viewing pleasure. And to be honest, the 2010 season of The League has been at least as good as Always Sunny so far this year. But I'm not here to talk about the second season of The League; I'm here to discuss these inaugural six episodes. And I won't be dishonest or mislead you, dear readers; they weren't always spectacular. But each one felt better than the last. And the first wasn't even terrible! As it turns out, the five actors had literally just met each other about three hours before they began filming the first episode. So their lack of chemistry, in hindsight, makes perfect sense. Watching the first season, therefore, is kind of like watching a group of acquaintances grow closer and become friends. (Aww.) The other thing about the first season that struck me as odd was that despite being just six episodes long, it managed to tell the tale of an entire season of fantasy football. So the first two episodes handle the draft and Week 1 and thus take place in early September. But the final two episodes entail the two playoff weeks (either Weeks 15 and 16 or 16 and 17) and happen in late December. To the show's credit, the first two episodes clearly happen in the summer time and the last two are very much set in the winter. So, yeah. Production value. Still, it's just a little weird to cut out almost the entire regular season like that. But that's just a by-product of a shortened first season. The second season has already had a number of decidedly autumnal episodes, complete with pumpkins and Halloween. I also expect a nice Thanksgiving episode, and probably soon. Anyway, I've spoken at length about the show now and haven't really told you why it's funny. And the answer is simple: the characters. They're not outlandish or ridiculous, and for the most part they remind me of my own friends in some ways. And that's really why this show works. It's relatable. The scenes are largely ad-libbed and unscripted. It just feels very natural, albeit some improbable plot points put in for comedic value. Every episode really just boils down to five guys ragging on each other week in and week out. The five guys just happen to be played by professional actors and comedians. What's not to love?
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