'Players,' trying
too hard to talk dirty
The Spike sitcom could work as a workplace comedy
By Tom Conroy
Mar 1, 2010
These days it’s rare to find a show that fails by not being tasteless enough.
Spike’s new sitcom “Players” certainly has plenty of outrageous moments, but they’re not enough to disguise the fact that it’s basically a run-of-the-mill workplace comedy. Though well acted and occasionally funny, the series provokes a sad feeling of déjà vu.
Premiering on Tuesday, March 2, at 10:30 p.m., “Players” stars two members of the critically adored comedy troupe the Upright Citizens Brigade, Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts, as two brothers who run a sports bar in Phoenix. Bruce (Walsh) is easygoing, while Ken (Roberts) is buttoned-up and meticulous. This is because mismatched partners are pure comic gold.
One of the waitresses, Krista (Danielle Schneider), is abrasive and promiscuous, while the other, Barb (June Diane Raphael), is soft-spoken and sensitive. (See above.) In the episode Spike provided for review, Barb is upset because she has just slept with Bruce and he isn’t treating her any differently.
Rounding out the usual suspects, the young bartender, Calvin (James Pumphrey), is dimwitted.
Though the echoes of “Cheers” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” are almost deafening, some of the jokes are fresh. Krista says the fact that she has had so many one-night stands “means that guys think I’m pretty.”
In a running gag, an older employee, Hickey (Jack McGee), keeps buying overpriced sports memorabilia, like Jackie Robinson’s economics textbook. When Ken objects to that purchase, Bruce accuses him of being racist, saying, “I suppose black guys can’t get college educations.”
The actors generally fill out the characters, even when the script leaves some blank spaces. Roberts shines in two scenes in which Ken tries to loosen up but only offends people.
But too much of the writing consists of half-hearted attempts at outrageousness. After Bruce makes Barb clean up a blocked toilet, she graphically describes the experience for us viewers. A handicapped woman is knocked off her scooter. And Bruce wants to offer a drink special called a fart sandwich.
Since so many current shows are specializing in this kind of humor, the writers will have to go farther than that to achieve any real shock value. And they’ll have to be cleverer to get real laughs.
When one of the staffers takes the handicapped woman home, we expect an outrageous or witty twist, but we get neither.
Meanwhile, the bleeped-out obscenities merely remind viewers that they can hear the same words on pay cable without the distraction.
The actors are skilled enough that “Players” could succeed as a character-driven comedy, but the writers are going to have to clean up their act. Making your way in the TV world today takes everything you’ve got.
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