Review: 'Running Point' is a cozy comedy that's 'Ted Lasso' meets 'Succession'
Starring Kate Hudson, this Netflix comedy centers on a family running a Los Angeles basketball team called the Waves.
Created by Mindy Kaling, with her âMindy Projectâ co-star Ike Barinholtz and producer David Stassen, âRunning Point,â which premieres Thursday on Netflix, is an adorable workplace family sports comedy set around a fictional Los Angeles basketball team, the Waves.
The shorthand pitch might have gone something like âTed Lassoâ meets âSuccession,â but itâs less sentimental than the former, much, much sweeter than the latter and less ânaturalisticâ than either â by which I mean, it lives in that particular cozy unreality known as situation comedy.
Kate Hudson stars as Isla Gordon, who, with two brothers and a half brother, is part owner of the franchise, passed down from their late father, a âcreepâ under whose stewardship the team nevertheless won a lot of trophies. Under oldest brother and team president Cam (Justin Theroux), the streak has extended ⊠until lately. (Team with a problem â needs solving!) It was Cam who brought Isla into the organization, as its coordinator of charitable endeavors, as a remedy for embarrassing rich-girl behavior, including a Playboy spread, a 20-day marriage to Brian Austin Green and general hard-partying. (Itâs a job at which sheâs seen to be good, being good.)
Ironically, itâs Camâs own bad behavior that kicks the series off. Smoking crack and driving fast and furiously along the coast, he runs into a family of Dutch tourists (unseen, unharmed) and appoints Isla interim president while heâs in rehab, trusting neither of his brothers to handle the job. Brother Ness (Scott MacArthur, consistently amusing), the teamâs general manager, is a lovable lunkhead of no discernible abilities â and no portrayed responsibilities â but is âthe only Gordon who could actually play ballâ (and the players like him). Younger half brother Sandy (Drew Tarver), who is as well put together as Ness is disheveled, is the CFO; his apparent primary qualification for that job is that heâs cheap.
As in âTed Lasso,â and innumerable stories in myriad settings, this is a tale in which the seemingly wrong person chosen, or forced, to lead an enterprise is revealed to be exactly the right person. (After some missteps and seasoning, naturally â chief of staff and best friend Ali Lee, played by Brenda Song, is her Jiminy Cricket: âOn behalf of all women,â says Ali, âdonât ever make a mistake. It looks bad for all of us.â) What makes Isla the right person, besides her lifelong love for and knowledge of basketball, which the men in her family have dismissed, is that â like Ted Lasso â her heart is (relatively) pure, a âweaknessâ she will have to leverage as a strength.
Chet Hanks, right, stars as Travis Bugg, one of the Wavesâ basketball players.
(Kat Marcinowski / Netflix)
Her appointment is greeted skeptically, to understate the case, by her brothers, the team, the sports commentator played by Jon Glaser and Vegas oddsmakers.
I have no idea how basketball works apart from the dribbling and throwing the ball in the net, and the business of picking and trading players is an impenetrable fog to me; you donât need to know those things to enjoy the show. But Isla understands, and we understand, that whatever she doesnât know yet, sheâs cleverer than the doubters give her credit for. (This doesnât keep her from repeatedly walking into a glass door, or falling off her exercise bike; Hudson is a game clown.)
More troublesome are the big personalities sheâll have to manage, including Travis Bugg (Chet Hanks), a rude, crude, tattooed player with a sideline in rap; and Marcus Winfield (Toby Sandeman), the teamâs aging star, who carries himself like royalty and has a line of wellness products at Target. A smaller personality who will also need managing is rookie Dyson Gibbs (Uche Agada), brought up from the Wavesâ development team, the Long Beach Raccoons.
Into this congregation comes Jackie Moreno (Fabrizio Guido), a Boyle Heights teenager who sells peanuts and popcorn at the Wavesâ stadium and suddenly learns that he shares a biological father with the Gordons â his mother was the housekeeper â and that heâs entitled to a share in the business, which he regards as a community. Is he therefore a problem to be made to go away? An opportunity for growth? An avenue for comedy? That last one, certainly; Jackie is a sweet, innocent goof and Guido is very funny playing him.
Anyway, thereâs a lot going on; 10 episodes afford plenty of room for episodic adventures to feed the longer arcs. Itâs more than a sports story, of course â the team will win or lose, but winning isnât everything and losing isnât the end of the world. Family is the greater subject, as will be made explicit from time to time. Apart from the sibling relationships, Isla has a longtime fiancĂ©, Lev, a pediatrician (Max Greenfield, in a more relaxed role than he often plays); Ness has a wife, Bituin (Jessalyn Wanlim); Sandy has a boyfriend, dog groomer Charlie (Scott Evans), whom he is not bringing around to meet the family. And thereâs Jackie, and the team itself, which is, it will be said at least once, part of the family. Obviously, not everything will run smoothly. Itâs a hectic show, full of disaster even as itâs full of love.
The series begins with Isla offering a more profane version of the oft-quoted Tolstoy observation that all happy families are alike, but each unhappy one is unhappy in its own way. But in the world of situation comedy, unlike that of prestige drama, unhappy families are all potentially happy families, or actually happy if only they knew it. The work of the sitcom is to waken them to this fact â as often as it takes.
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Gene Hackman is being remembered for his legendary career in the wake of his death at the age of 95. Hackman is known for his iconic roles that earned him five Oscar nominations and two wins. But in 1999, he got candid about the one regret he had when reflecting on his decade-spanning career.
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Nie ?yje legendarny aktor Gene Hackman. Zosta? znaleziony martwy wspĂłlnie z ?on?
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Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and their dog were found dead inside their Santa Fe, New Mexico home.
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Jodie Whittaker and Aimee Lou Wood lead the cast of British drama series Toxic Town, based on the true story of the Corby poisonings.
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New Mexico police discovered the pairâs bodies on Wednesday alongside their dog. The two-time Oscar winner was 95, and his partner was 63.
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Goldie is back, sharing news of an incoming album. One of DNB's defining figures, the producer is set to go back to where it all began on his incoming
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The couple - who were paired together on Strictly in 2018 - live near Brighton
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HEART-wrenching new detail has emerged spelling out how police officers came across the lifeless bodies of Hollywood legend Gene Hackman, his wife, and their pet dog. Police discovered the Oscar wiâŠ
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He also rapped to Goldie Lookin Chain during a visit to Wales
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Two-time Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, his musician wife Betsy Arakawa and their pet dog were discovered dead at their home in New Mexico, police said.
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Gene Hackman died alongside his wife, Betsy, in February 2025 and is survived by his children. Meet the legendary starâs kids, here.
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Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa and their beloved dog were tragically found dead in their home in New Mexico on Thursday
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Gene Hackman and musician Betsy Arakawa had been married since 1991. Learn about their romance, as well as his past marriage to Faye Maltese.
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The two-time Oscar winner enjoyed a glittering silver screen career that spanned over four decades.
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The last photos and video of Gene Hackman obtained by The Post were on April 5, 2024. In them the retired Oscar winner, then 94-years-old, was spotted enjoying a stroll, clad in a baseball cap, vesâŠ
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