'Back in the Game' review: 'Bad News Bears' scenario
ABC's "Back in the Game" stars Griffin Gluck as Danny Gannon, James Caan as Terry "The Cannon" Gannon, Sr., Maggie Lawson as Terry Gannon, Jr. Credit: ABC
The grandson being a complete klutz sets up a "Bad News Bears" scenario. But Terry Jr. -- yep, she's named after dad -- is herself an all-star athlete. She's got a competitive spirit so finely honed, she's itching to start coaching against a local Little League autocrat whose first name makes him the ideal insult target.
Who's on her team? All those kid sports castoffs -- the weird twins who speak synchronized, the fat boy, her own son. And her dad, who, if banned from dugout coaching, will do it barking into the game mike. Plus instant new BFF Lulu Lovette (Lenora Crichlow), also toting Scotch, a mordant mouth and the millions left by her late husband.
Their baseball team may be called the Angles -- yep, typo -- but it's really Revenge Inc.
Wednesday night's single-camera pilot can fairly be called family entertainment, yet it's got some quirks, or should we say kinks, that elevate the effort. Make Terry's son mad, and he won't hit the offending classmate, he'll kiss him: "He's scared of me now."
Add some nicely leavened sentiment -- Terry discovers her absent dad tenaciously followed her college career from afar -- and you've got a well-rounded effort needing only potent performances to prevail.
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