Weekend Watch: Running Point
Kate Hudson's basketball diaries
Image Credit: Netflix
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, where I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Kate Hudson inherits a sports legacy. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite, Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite and Blue Sky: @jammerwhite.bsky.social
I’ve never been all that much of a basketball fan; sports as a whole tends to pass me by. So it was mostly via short-lived HBO series Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty that I learned about Jeanie Buss, who inherited the Lakers organisation from her late father.
Buss’ life is the inspiration for the new Netflix comedy Running Point –– she’s also friends with star Kate Hudson and credited as an executive producer, so you know she’s okay with the show –– but it’s fairly loosely based on her running the team.
The show itself focuses on Hudson’s Isla Gordon, who in her past has been something of a hard-partying socialite. These days, she mostly runs the charitable arm of her late father’s storied professional basketball franchise, the LA Waves, whose president is her brother Cam, played by Justin Theroux.
When a scandal forces her brother to resign, Isla is appointed the latest president of the Waves, her family business. Ambitious and often overlooked, Isla will have to prove to her sceptical brothers, the board, and the larger sports community that she was the right choice for the job…
Running Point hails from Mindy Kaling, David Stassen and Ike Barinholtz, who co-created and co-write the series (they previously worked together on shows such as The Mindy Project), and their comedy style is clear from the whistle here.
There are zanier elements (such as Scott MacArthur’s endlessly weird Ness Gordon), Isla having strong female support (in this case, Brenda Song’s Ali as the company’s marketing maven) and plenty of the main character having to navigate a male-dominated world.
Yet there’s also some heart to be found here; for all the silliness, a lot of the laughs come from character, including the fact that Isla’s other brother Sandy (Drew Tarver) struggles in his relationship with boyfriend Charlie (Scott Evans) and the travails of one other character whose identity I’ll conceal for now as it’s a spoiler.
At home, Isla has fiancé Lev Levinson, played by New Girl veteran Max Greenfield, whose usual intensity is dialled down to worthwhile effect, though he has his moments.
It won’t be running up the ranks of Greatest Sitcoms any time soon, but it’s entertaining and sweet, and has one or two inspired moments.
All episodes of Running Point are on Netflix now. I’ve seen the whole season.