UPFRONT SHOWCASE - "BACK IN THE GAME"

I've fallen behind in taking a look at the various new TV shows coming this Fall to the networks.  So I better get cracking!

'BACK IN THE GAME'

Centers on Terry Gannon, a recently divorced single mother who temporarily moves in with her estranged father, a beer-swilling former baseball player. She reluctantly starts coaching her son's underdog Little League team and is drawn back into the world of sports she vowed to leave behind. [Written by ABC]

Here's the trailer for "Back In The Game":

I have a knee-jerk antipathy towards this show, only because it's taking Maggie Lawson away from her role as Detective Juliet O'Hara on 'Psych'.  It also doesn't look like it can really expand far beyond the basic premise - sometimes these TV show concepts would make better TV movies.  (Another good example was 'The Brian Benben Show'.)

But I did laugh a couple of times while watching this preview and I don't think you can go wrong with James Caan on the small screen.  It's also nice to see Lenore Crichlow taking a stab at a Hollywood career after her great stint as the first ghost on the original 'Being Human'.  

There were a few things that kicked in the Toobworld feel for this show......

THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY

I think Terry Gannon, Jr. could be the half-sister of Juliet O'Hara, the product of yet another case of infidelity.  But who was the scoundrel?  Did Terry Gannon, Senior schtup Mrs. O'Hara?  Or did Frank O'Hara commit serial canoodling with Mrs. Gannon?

Both men can be considered reprobates and not above that type of amorous activity.  And the fact that their careers (Terry a former pro baseball player, Frank a con man) would have taken them all across the country, they would not have been tied down by geography in getting their family trees to branch out.

The fact that Terry carries her father's name makes me think it would be better Toobworld-style if her biological father was Frank O'Hara.

GAME OF THE NAME

With a last name of "Gannon", could it be that the family is somehow related to Detective Bill Gannon of 'Dragnet' and the TV Crossover Hall of Fame?  Perhaps Terry Sr. was his nephew.  It looks like the series will take place in California, so that helps.

I wish it well for the sake of Lawson, Caan, and Crichlow.  But I get this feeling Jules will eventually be returning to Santa Barbara.....

BCnU!