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We Were Too Hard on Winning Time
Running Point extends Jeanie Buss’s Lakers branding to a forgettable Netflix sitcom.
Buss’s counter-charm offensive comes in the form of Running Point, a new Netflix series following wealthy heiress Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson) as she takes over her family’s beloved pro basketball team, a cardboard cutout of the Lakers known in the show’s universe as the Los Angeles Waves. We watch as she outmaneuvers the misogyny-laced skepticism of others — including her other brothers Sandy (Drew Tarver) and Ness (Scott MacArthur), who immediately try to oust her — while navigating a steady stream of crises that naturally arise over the course of managing a sports franchise: incalcitrant players, departing sponsors, new broadcast deals. Then again, when the show decides to swing hard for a secondary character, you really wish it wouldn’t, as in the case of Chet Hanks’ Travis Bugg, an obnoxious white player who’s presented as a moron, a creep, and a moonlighting rapper whom the script later tries to make sympathetic because that’s what you do in a heart-warming comedy.
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