Rob’s Review:
I’ve been waiting to write this review until I was certain. A few weeks ago we talked about the Hank Azaria Tv show “Brockmire,” on IFC in which he plays washed up alcoholic Major League Baseball announcer Jim Brockmire, who lost his gig as a result of his addictions to sex, drugs, alcohol, and crude candor, amongst other things. Season one was one of the funniest 8 episodes of modern day television I’ve seen. It was crude, offensive and hysterical, carried by Azaria and a brilliant supporting cast led by Amanda Peet. Season two elicited the same reaction but in reverse. It was God awful. They lost their way and, in my mind, ruined the series.
Lo and behold, Brockmire has been resurrected, both the show and the character.
In Season three, now airing, Brockmire is sober and fighting every bit of it. But, he’s also back in the majors calling Spring Training games for “the cheapest organization in all of professional sports,” the Oakland A’s. Flanked by an almost entirely new supporting cast, anchored by heavyweight J.K. Simmons, this show is back and as good as ever. Three episodes in, I declare it a laugh-out-loud victory as Simmons and “that guy” Richard Kind of Spin City and countless other supporting roles, bolster Azaria’s fantastic portrayal of an absolutely defective human being trying to hang on while reclaiming his dream. In season 2, they got too dark. Clearly, there are undertones to the show that are meant to be both difficult and sweet, but in the end, it’s a comedy. There were no laughs in season 2, this season is filled with them!
