James Caan is back on television, and this time he's aiming for laughs. ABC's latest family-friendly comedy stars Caan as the gruff father to Maggie Lawson's Terry. She's a recently-divorced single mom who moves back in with her dad. Only her relationship with her father has never been the strongest. But the one thing he did help Terry with was softball -- she was a one-time all-star softball player.
When her son, Danny, showed interest in trying out for the community league, Terry was reluctant but supportive. Of course, Terry "The Cannon" Gannon, Sr. -- yes, she's named after her father -- was all about it. As for Danny, he just wanted to impress a girl. But his skills on the field were less than impressive. So bad, in fact, that he didn't even make the league, thus setting up the concept of the show.
Terry decided that she would coach a team made up of all the kids rejected by the league, and these kids are awful. In the end she even agreed to let her father help out, despite his overly-aggressive approach. Oh, and the Terrys still have plenty of issues they need to work through.
“Baseball is a little blonde girl who loses her mother and has to go to go to Mexico with her father to watch him coach and then disappears, so she has to live with the parrot mascot never knowing if he was coming back for her," Terry shouted at her father during one of their little talks.
“I told you, I was in jail," Terry Sr. told her.
“And baseball is never going to the prom, because the boy you like mysteriously gets hit by a car on the way to pick you up," Terry continued. But maybe it will be baseball that can bring these two back together again.
TV.com's Kaitlin Thomas thinks "Back in the Game" is one of the more relatable family sitcoms this fall. "On paper, that premise sounds more sleep-inducing than downing a bottle of Nyquil. But since the series revolves around the game of baseball—which as we all know is America's Favorite Pastime—it boasts familiar, feel-good sense of nostalgia that its peers don't have.”
Zap2It's Laurel Brown agrees, seeing a distinct place for this show on television. "While passionate, devoted fans are unlikely with a show like this, at least viewers can have an easy and pleasant half hour," she wrote. "‘Back in the Game’ is not going to change the world. It might, however, be enough to keep viewers from changing the channel.”
Will you come back for more "Back in the Game"? The sitcom continues on Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
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