'Hoops' Review
TV-MA
Runtime: 22+ minutes per episode (10 episodes)
Production Companies: Lord Miller Productions, Bento Box Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Television
Distributors: Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Network: Netflix
Created by: Ben Hoffman
Voice Cast: Jake Johnson, Rob Riggle, Natasha Leggero, Ron Funches, Cleo King, A. D. Miles
Release Date: August 21, 2020
Hoops is an animated comedy sitcom that centers on a hot-headed, foul-mouthed high school basketball coach (Jake Johnson) who thinks turning around his god awful team will take him to the "big leagues" and turn his miserable life around.
If there’s anything I like about Hoops it’s the intro and the theme song. It perfectly displays the show’s premise in 30 seconds. Ben dribbles down the state of Kentucky and passes all the people who get under his skin — from his ex-wife who can’t stand him to his own dad who was once a famous player and now owns a steakhouse restaurant to the high school kids from the basketball team that he coaches — before trying to slam dunk his ball into victory… only to reveal that he’s actually dreaming on the floors of the school gym surrounded by pills and spilled Pepto Bismol. It’s a decent intro. What? I’m trying my best here, this show sucks!
Fox’s adult animated sitcoms are the bane of my existence. As someone who didn’t grow up with cable, I spent most of my Sunday nights watching animated shows on Fox’s “Animation Domination” block. Whenever a series got cancelled or moved to a different network (Futurama, American Dad), Fox would have an open slot to make way for the next big adult animated sitcom, especially during the 2010s. There was an abundant amount of forgotten non-Seth MacFarlane animated shows on Fox that were absolutely terrible. Remember Sit Down Shut Up, Bordertown, or Jonah Hill’s Allen Gregory? Maybe it’s best that we don’t. My younger sister said it best when she referred to those shows as “trial runs.” However, once in a blue moon, Fox manages to hit it big. Look at Bob’s Burgers. That was the only Fox program that hit it big during its respective decade and has become one of the most beloved shows on television today. Hell, there’s a Bob’s Burgers movie coming out next year. Unfortunately, Ben Hoffman’s Hoops is one of those shows that escaped a time capsule from the 2010s and somehow ended up in 2020 where adult animated sitcoms are supposed to be nuanced and FUNNY.
Hoops was not created for Fox, but for Netflix. However, it’s still a Twentieth Century Fox Television animated production. That being said, its overall tone exudes the same energy as those terrible Fox shows that rely on crass humor, shock value, and unbearable obnoxiousness. Even the character designs look like Seth MacFarlane knock-offs. The main difference is that Seth’s shows had to deal with FCC censors, but since Hoops is a Netflix show, they’re allowed to curse and do raunchy things and it simply doesn’t work. The opening minutes of the first episode dive straight into crassness as Ben Hopkins has a vulgar meltdown while spewing insults. This never lets up throughout the entire duration of the series. I like the word fuck but when it’s every other line of dialogue, the laziness of the writing becomes more transparent. Is it supposed to be funny because it’s animated? “Oooh, my animated character said ‘fuck’ a dozen times within the first 12 minutes.” Maybe in a pre-South Park era it would’ve been funny, but there’s a wide variety of adult animated shows now so that novelty has worn off.
Hoops is completely unfunny. There’s no other way to say it. All the jokes fall flat, the storylines are distasteful, and the lead character is unbearable. I hate Ben as a character because there’s not even one redeeming quality to him. Ben Hopkins is a selfish, self-centered, hot-headed, foul-mouthed asshole who, by the end of each episode where most situations get out of control because of his selfishness, faces little to no consequences. And to reiterate, he curses every other line of dialogue. I get that the foul, hot-headed lead character is supposed to be detestable, but at least make him funny. Look at Bojack Horseman or Frank Murphy from F is for Family. They’re funny, there’s a bit of humanity to them, and they face situations with stories that have great subtext about the human condition. But Ben isn’t funny, he’s just an unlikable asshole. The pilot literally centers on Ben getting a woman to have sex with a student so that student can join his basketball team because he’s tall. He refuses to sign the divorce papers for his ex-wife because he believes he can win her back even though she’s moved on.
The supporting characters are also assholes because they enable Ben while delivering their own vulgar humor. The only sort of likable characters are the ragtag group of kids Ben coaches who are actually way funnier than any of the adult characters. It’s a show that likes to be crass for the sake of being crass instead of having any sort of cleverness, imagination, or well-written jokes to balance it out.
For some reason, the voice acting seems phoned-in. Jake Johnson voices Ben and you know the guy has great vocal range if you’ve seen him in… well, just about anything. But he’s hamming it up in Hoops, doing some sort of a hick/Jersey-ish accent throughout the series. Because of this, most of the comedic timing and delivery is one-note. I do enjoy Ron Funches as Ben’s friend Ron, who is a mild-mannered teacher/assistant coach and is currently dating Ben’s ex-wife. He’s the only character who made me constantly chuckle. And Ron Funches just have an innocent voice, it fits best with this character.
If you wanna see a good adult sitcom about a coach, watch Ted Lasso on Apple TV+. It’s absolutely charming and, most importantly, funny. Hoops just sucks on every degree. Netflix, you cancelled great shows like Tuca & Bertie and Bojack to make way for this shit? You should be ashamed of yourselves.
