Monday, September 27, 2004
I watch baseball-related TV so you don't have to
I just watched my TiVo recording of the new CBS drama "Clubhouse," which premiered last night. In this show, we are led to believe that there is a baseball team in New York called the New York Empires, the reigning world champions of a baseball league called the ABA, in which there is also a Boston team that wears red-and-black road uniforms. The Empires play in a stadium in Brooklyn, or perhaps Queens (somewhere along the route of the F train), that looks a lot like Dodger Stadium with the seat colors changed, some of the details missing (e.g., the right field scoreboard and the roofs over the bleachers), and apartment buildings in the background instead of palm trees. Also, the team equipment manager is Doc Brown from "Back to the Future." And judging by the promos for the second episode, the Empires are going to be changing their uniforms within the first couple weeks of the season. (The truth: the Yankees complained about the pinstriped uniforms used in the pilot. There was talk the producers were going to digitally remove the pinstripes, but the pinstripes were there in the broadcast.)
The pilot involved steroids, and the second episode involves corked bats. I'm not sure if they can come up with 22 episodes' worth of baseball-related issues, so surely some of the later episodes in the season are going to deal primarily with the home life of the central character, batboy Pete Young, and his sister Betsy, who is clearly named after my aunt Betsy, who in the mid-1960s, was an impostor on "To Tell the Truth" for a Baltimore Orioles ball girl. But the Betsy on "Clubhouse" seems like she cares more about sneaking out of the house to meet her boyfriend than she does about baseball.
Oh, and among the producers are Aaron Spelling and Mel Gibson. In fact, the show was created by a writer for one of Aaron Spelling's other shows, "Charmed," so I'm hoping for a crossover episode, perhaps involving a demon attacking during a game between the Empires and the San Francisco Cable Car Dodgers, or whatever they're going to decide the ABA's San Francisco team is called.
In conclusion, there will probably be more drama in the baseball playoffs starting next week than there is in "Clubhouse," but I'll watch the second episode on Tuesday before deciding whether or not to take it out of my TiVo Season Pass list.
Dan: This was on in a bar I was in last night, but the sound was down and closed captioning off. Sounds like I missed just what I thought I missed.
What about Hustle? Anyone see that on ESPN? I keep meaning to set the TiVo, but wonder if its worth my time.
Jim: "Clubhouse" was being shown in a bar? Was it a lazy bar where they hadn't changed the channel away from CBS after the football games, or was it a bar where a lot of Kirsten Storms fans hang out?
thatbob: Episodes later in the season might deal with Doc Brown's comic attempts to rectify problems in time-space caused by bookies with access to his Delorean.
Dan: It more in a bar by default. No cable and the person who really cared (the football games were over) flipped around and left it on that because there was good reception.
The pilot involved steroids, and the second episode involves corked bats. I'm not sure if they can come up with 22 episodes' worth of baseball-related issues, so surely some of the later episodes in the season are going to deal primarily with the home life of the central character, batboy Pete Young, and his sister Betsy, who is clearly named after my aunt Betsy, who in the mid-1960s, was an impostor on "To Tell the Truth" for a Baltimore Orioles ball girl. But the Betsy on "Clubhouse" seems like she cares more about sneaking out of the house to meet her boyfriend than she does about baseball.
Oh, and among the producers are Aaron Spelling and Mel Gibson. In fact, the show was created by a writer for one of Aaron Spelling's other shows, "Charmed," so I'm hoping for a crossover episode, perhaps involving a demon attacking during a game between the Empires and the San Francisco Cable Car Dodgers, or whatever they're going to decide the ABA's San Francisco team is called.
In conclusion, there will probably be more drama in the baseball playoffs starting next week than there is in "Clubhouse," but I'll watch the second episode on Tuesday before deciding whether or not to take it out of my TiVo Season Pass list.
Original comments...
Dan: This was on in a bar I was in last night, but the sound was down and closed captioning off. Sounds like I missed just what I thought I missed.
What about Hustle? Anyone see that on ESPN? I keep meaning to set the TiVo, but wonder if its worth my time.
Jim: "Clubhouse" was being shown in a bar? Was it a lazy bar where they hadn't changed the channel away from CBS after the football games, or was it a bar where a lot of Kirsten Storms fans hang out?
thatbob: Episodes later in the season might deal with Doc Brown's comic attempts to rectify problems in time-space caused by bookies with access to his Delorean.
Dan: It more in a bar by default. No cable and the person who really cared (the football games were over) flipped around and left it on that because there was good reception.
