"Brockmire" Is Dark, Daring, Defiant and Deliriously Funny

IFCamp8217s Brockmire spent its first season introducing us to the alcoholic drugabusing baseball announcer who after his wifeamp160Lucy Katie Finneranamp160cheatedamp160on him with like everybody hadamp160a potty mouthed meltdown while calling a live major league game amp160This resultedamp160in his getting fired and spending ten years in selfexile mostly announcing cockfights and going on sexual escapades in Asian countries amp160Eventually he returnedamp160to America thinking the world hadamp160long moved past the unfortunate events of yesteryear but heamp8217d forgotten about one little thing The Internet amp160His pain hadamp160gone viralHe foundamp160all this out after Jules James Amanda Peet the ambitious owner of a minor league baseball team hustledamp160him into becoming the field announcer for her extremely mediocre Morristown Frackers amp160She also introducedamp160him to Charles Tyrel Jackson Williams pictured below rightamp160with Azaria a young baseballilliterate digital media guru and Jimamp8217s assistant in the booth amp160With no other options left Jim reluctantly choseamp160to make the best of what he had left and maybe get back to the majors amp160or die barely tryingTheamp160first season acted more as a semilove story between Jim and Jules and had a plot that was similar to the movie Cars amp8220aamp160hotshot racecar baseball announcer named Lightning McQueen Jim Brockmire gets waylaid in Radiator Springs Morristown PA where he finds the true meaning of friendship and familyamp8221amp160 The narrative arc balancedamp160the lows of Brockmireamp8217s depravity with the levity that came with his having possibly met his match in Jules amp160She could drink him under the table never really judged him and owned her sexuality big timeamp160amp160The dissolution of that balance was depicted during the season finale when after helping her save the Frackers Jim toldamp160Jules he wasamp160leaving for a better announcing gig in New Orleans amp160She of course said she would not leave the hometown sheamp8217s dedicated to saving and deep down I think he knew thatThe severity of the break up wasamp160embodied in Julesamp8217 final words to Jim amp8220About a year from now youamp8217re going to realize the colossal mistake you just made amp160Youamp8217re going to come crawling back amp160Youamp8217re going to want to fix it amp160Youamp8217re going to try to sweet talk me amp160Let me save you the time and tell you right nowamp8230 go fck yourself amp160Youamp8217re dead to meamp8221Ouchamp160 Hard to believe the second season gets even darker than that but yepThroughout Season One Jim had been building a pretty damn successful podcast with Charlesamp160 The fruits of their labors well Charlesamp8217 labors Jim mostly drank become abundantly apparent in the second season amp160No spoilers but we do end up seeing exactly what makes Charles and Jim such a great team amp160We also see exactly what doesnamp8217tMake no mistake amp160Jim is an addict battling depressionamp160 That much has been obvious from the startamp160 Without Jules in the picture however the levity that came with their titfortat relationship has left room for something a little less fun the truth about himselfThat said structurally this is a tighter season amp160The monologues the bits and gags the musical cues even the gravity of the topics dealt with in the series and how they are dealt with all feel like theyamp8217ve been stepped up a notch amp160For example Season One of Brockmire didnamp8217t get me to literally laugh out loud until about two thirds of the way through the first episode amp160Season Two pulled it off in the first two minutesThe opening shot of the second season finds Brockmire lying on the floor his head resting on the naked bottom of a wellendowed black woman amp160He then begins what turns out to be a very elegant monologue about America39s transition from a amp8220boob countryamp8221 to an amp8220ass countryamp8221amp160 Designating breasts as the preference of the white man he then correlates the rising popularity of the derriere with the growing influence of nonwhite and nonstraight cultures amp160It is aamp160hilarious and unapologetic commentary on an overlooked trend in society and serves as the perfect example of the showamp8217s growthThe beauty of Brockmire is the emotional nuance and comedic timing of the character coupled with the unbelievably quotable jokes and super solid plot amp160There is no Jim Brockmire without Hank Azaria but there is no Brockmire series without the writers amp160If Azaria provides the steak then the sizzle definitely comes from the writersamp8217 room Casting did a hell of a job as well indicated by the fact that I canamp8217t imagine anyone other that Amanda Peet as Jules or Tyrel Jackson Williams as Charles amp160Kate Finneran as Lucy reallife sportscaster Joe Buck as himself Hemky Madera as Pedro Uribe one of my faves and the additions of Dreama Walker and Utkarsh Ambudkar in the second season make for what I would call amp8220best case scenariosamp8221amp160 If I could recast this show myself I wouldnamp8217t change a thingBrockmireamp8217s sophomore season surpasses its predecessor by leaps and bounds which is saying a lot because itsamp160freshman season was amazingamp160amp160Itamp160is undeniably one of the best shows on TV amp160Apparently IFC feels the same way because itamp8217s already been greenlit for two more seasonsIn the words of Jim Brockmire himself amp8220Justice sweet justiceamp8221Click on the social media tiles above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively those of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160

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"Brockmire" Is Dark, Daring, Defiant and Deliriously Funny

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Ainsley Andrade

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"Brockmire" Is Dark, Daring, Defiant and Deliriously Funny

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