#watched #Ballers S1E1+E2
WHAT-IS: "Ballers is an American series created by Steve Levinson and starring Dwayne Johnson. The series premiered on the American cable television network HBO on June 21, 2015. The pilot episode was written by Levinson and directed by Peter Berg." (Wiki)
Big Stars. Big Money. Big Life. Ballers.
Without any prior knowledge of the series' existence, I clicked on the image of The Rock AKA Dwayne Johnson (seen up top) out of curiosity to see what he was doing on television (this is his first small screen drama by the way, "wrestling" notwithstanding), and downed two episodes back-to-back. The testament of "star power" and "recognition" in this day and age has become an important aspect, in any language or country, and this is no different.
And it was a decent ride through the daily chronicles of the multiple characters, whose life intertwines, and in many cases affect one another, directly or indirectly. A conversation at a car dealership leads to a testimonial somewhat for recruiters of a player, for example.
The thing for me is, this is very American-orientated tale, to which IMDb states is "A series centered around a group of football players and their families, friends, and handlers." - and is a concept foreign to me. You might argue the "sci-fi" genre in relation to my live habits, but that is a "personal interest" and fascination I always had, sayeth the slacker non-sporty me LOL
Sure I've partaked of sports-genre related movies like Oliver Stone's ANY GIVEN SUNDAY and The Replacements, Remember the Titans,
I can attempt to pretend I know what's going on - and the script does not necessarily rely on just "terms of play", instead also showcasing the "true life" of sportsmen and post-sportsmen - but I remain an outsider looking in, and somehow I find it harder to feel for the subject matter, and somehow harder to relate to the characters, even though they have their own core personal issues like any other human being … but the thing is, these athletes are not necessarily "any other human beings", unless they are on their way spiralling down their Big Life, Big Money, Big Star lives?
And while I do not intend to continue watching the series after Ep.2, I hope that "Spencer Strasmore" (played by Dwayne Johnson) somehow turns nastily manipulative and perhaps even morally evil, because I doubt yet seeing a goody-goody "The Rock" would rock any boats on the small screen or big, IMHO.
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