Like the '80s Lakers, 'Winning Time' scores with an unconventional playbook

DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm TV critic David Bianculli. This Sunday, HBO presents the premiere of a new 10-part series from executive producer Adam McKay, whose high-energy attention-getting credits include "The Big Short," Netflix's "Don't Look Up" and HBO's "Succession." His subject this time is a sports dynasty, The Los Angeles Lakers, who dominated basketball in the 1980s. But it's a scripted series, not a documentary, and has as much comedy and flashy touches as straight drama.

The series is called "Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty." It chronicles the fiery team up of Lakers veteran Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and charismatic rookie Earvin Magic Johnson, and how their coaches established a new fast break style of play that propelled the team to victory after victory. That style of play and that Lakers team came to be known as Showtime, which was the name of the Jeff Pearlman nonfiction book on which this series is based. For HBO, it's called "Winning Time" instead.

And I do think this show is a winner, even though it showboats with its tone and approach and goes out of its way to be out of the ordinary. Think of the extraordinary appeal and success of ESPN's "The Last Dance" back in 2020. That series told of the rise of a later basketball dynasty, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, who ruled the sport in the '90s. And it found as much drama off the court as on, diving into the backstories of the individual players, arguments among the coaches and owners - and lots of side stories about racism, about sex and sexist attitudes, and about the growing commercialization of sports endorsements. "The Last Dance" covered all that dynamically, but as a documentary.

"Winning Time" takes the based-on-fact dramatic approach, hiring actors to play the familiar roles and taking dramatic license with certain events. In fact, "Winning Time" takes a lot of license in a lot of ways. Eight of the 10 episodes were provided for preview. And like a hot dog athlete, they're consistently asking for, almost begging for, attention. Period music propels many scenes and almost every montage. Sex scenes tend to be more graphic than expected. Split screens and other busy visual tricks are plentiful. And many of the characters break the fourth wall, addressing the audience directly, then slipping back into the scene. It could all be too showy and distracting. But the performances pull you in and keep everything afloat. That's especially true of the show's central star, John C. Reilly. He plays Jerry Buss, the ambitious new owner of the Lakers. And when we meet him, he's watching a basketball game on TV while in bed with a coed.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "WINNING TIME: THE RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY")

JOHN C REILLY: (As Jerry) Basketball, I mean, look at it. It's like great sex. It's always moving. It's rhythmic. It's up close and personal. There's no pads or helmets for protection. It's just you and these other guys out there, trying to get the ball into the hoop. It's a beautiful thing. And every single one of those guys plays that game with their own unique pizzazz and style. It's sexy. Come on. I mean, if there's two things in this world that make me believe in God, it's sex and basketball, you know? Hon? Honey?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) I'm sleeping.

BIANCULLI: The coaching staff is portrayed by actors who, like Reilly, can play for comedy and for drama with equal effectiveness. Jason Clarke is explosively funny as the temperamental Jerry West. Adrien Brody is a different kind of funny, quiet and sad, as Pat Riley. And the actors portraying the well-known Lakers stars - especially Quincy Isaiah as Magic and Solomon Hughes as Kareem - pull off their impersonations with exceptional flair off the court as well as on. One of the nicer surprises regarding "Winning Time" is how, as the episodes roll out, other strong actors join in on the fun - like Michael Chiklis from "The Shield," who cuts a fierce figure as Boston Celtics owner Red Auerbach.

And another nice surprise is how much attention "Winning Time" devotes to its women. From company employees to players' mothers, wives and girlfriends, they're all given their own chances to shine and have their say. That's especially true of Sally Field, who shows up in Episode 2 virtually unrecognizable, sporting a blonde wig and a long cigarette holder as Jerry Buss' accountant and mother. When she shows up, both she and John C. Reilly, as her son, start the scene by talking to the audience, then shift into dialogue to engage in some caustic mother-son by-play.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "WINNING TIME: THE RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY")

SALLY FIELD: (As Jessie) I know where the bodies are buried.

REILLY: (As Jerry) Because she's the one who buried them.

FIELD: (As Jessie) A lot of thanks I get. Make my Bourbon and soda.

REILLY: (As Jerry) You've had enough.

FIELD: (As Jessie) Since when?

REILLY: (As Jerry) 1962?

(LAUGHTER)

FIELD: (As Jessie) You want me old before my time (vocalizing).

REILLY: (As Jerry) I did it. I poured you one. You don't have soda.

FIELD: (As Jessie) You're just lazy. Gerald. Gerald. And why the Lakers? There's no lakes around here.

REILLY: (As Jerry) I can't believe you're not excited. This puts our family in a very elite club, OK, tycoons - you know, the people who actually run the country, captains of industry.

FIELD: (As Jessie) What industry, sweat socks?

REILLY: (As Jerry) No, show business. Forget Louis B. Mayer. We're going to be the next moguls in this town. You, me, Jeanie, the boys, when they come back, we're going to be a dynasty.

FIELD: (As Jessie) And then you'll be satisfied?

REILLY: (As Jerry) I'm going to be thrilled.

FIELD: (As Jessie) Hooey - then you'll just start chasing something else.

BIANCULLI: I suspect, because of the cast, the subject and McKay's approach to the story, that "Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty" will draw a large and enthusiastic crowd, just as the Lakers did after drafting Magic Johnson in 1979. And just like those Lakers, HBO seems to be hungry for more and already is talking about the possibility of extending "Winning Time" for additional seasons. The Lakers won by approaching the game differently. And this new HBO series seems to be drawing from the same unconventional playbook.

On Monday's show, we talk with David Sipress, who has been a New Yorker cartoonist since 1998. It's his dream job. But it took 25 years of New Yorker rejections before getting in the magazine. He's written a new memoir. Hope you can join us.

FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham, with additional engineering support by Joyce Lieberman, Julian Herzfeld and Al Banks. For Terry Gross, I'm David Bianculli.

(SOUNDBITE OF JAKE SHIMABUKURO'S "143 (KELLY'S SONG)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.