Starring: John C. Reilly, Quincy Isaiah, Solomon Hughes, Jason Clarke, Jason Segel, Adrien Brody,
Gaby Hoffmann, Hadley Robinson, Sally Field, Tamera Tomakili, DeVaughn Nixon, Tracy Letts, Michael O'Keefe, Michael Chikilis
The disclaimer at the end of each episode of Winning Time which insists scenes have been dramatized hasn't stopped Hall of Famer Jerry West from demanding a retraction and apology for how he's portrayed as a hard-drinking, obsessed, irascible SOB of a Lakers' head coach. West probably only viewed the first couple of episodes. After he resigns as head coach shortly after Dr. Jerry Buss (Reilly) purchased the Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke (O'Keefe), Jerry West stays on as scout and front-office employee advising Buss and the coaching staff on how to keep the Lakers winning. Following the initial episodes, West is kept mostly on the sidelines. Will that mollify the real-life West? We will find out, but I doubt it.
I take what's depicted in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty with a grain of salt. When new coach Jack McKinney (Letts) is hospitalized following a near-fatal bicycle accident nine games into the 1979-80 Lakers season, Jack's longtime friend and assistant coach Paul Westhead (Segel) takes over and further infuriates Jack when he refuses to relinquish the role when Jack is ready to return. The Lakers' other assistant coach Pat Riley (Brody) manipulates Westhead into keeping the job even though Westhead feels as if he's in way over his head. Riley does this not for Westhead but to ensure his own future employment.
As Winning Time opens, Dr. Buss purchases the Lakers despite having most of his fortune tied up in real estate. He is about as liquid as a desert, but through slick maneuvering and balls, Buss is able to buy the Lakers and set up shop. He installs his daughter Jeanie (Robinson) as an intern to L.A. Forum operations director Claire Rothman (Hoffmann) and keeps up the facade that his money stream is endless when in reality he is causing his business partner apoplexy with his outrageous expenditures.
Buss' vision is to make the Forum the place to be and for the Lakers to have an extended playoff run in order to break even. He envisions celebrities in the front row and a Playboy club inside the arena. He is forever the life of the party, until a dinner meeting with the arrogant Boston Celtics' owner Red Auerbach (Chiklis) lights a competitive fire under Buss which results in the Lakers' first championship in eight years.
Aiding in Buss' and the Lakers' quest is the drafting of the always-smiling Earvin "Magic" Johnson (Isaiah) as the team's top draft pick, a move of which West disapproves. Johnson, who had recently won the NCAA championship with Michigan State, was seduced by the flash and glitz of Los Angeles' nightlife. As Winning Time opens in 1991, Johnson had just tested positive for HIV and the series reverts back to 1979. The opening scenes are not referenced again...maybe in another season this will be dovetailed. Johnson quickly learns being the nice, smiling guy isn't going to get it done. He has at first a cold relationship with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Hughes), who never smiles and appears to not even enjoy basketball at all. Kareem and Magic later develop a friendship, or at least tolerate each other.
Also touched on in the series is Dr. Buss' mother's (Field) fading health, the head-coaching controversy, Pat Riley and Jerry West trying to reclaim glory now that their playing days are long behind them, Johnson's on-again, off-again relationship with girlfriend Cookie (Tomakili), Westhead's strained friendship with his mentor Jack McKinney, and I'm sure I'm missing a few subplots which will come to me later. The series is produced by Adam McKay, who also directs the pilot episode. The fourth wall is broken often with other distracting storytelling devices thrown in for good measure. Once we are able to acclimate ourselves to these McKayisms, then we can enjoy the soap opera that follows.
John C. Reilly shows his versatility as Dr. Buss, whose lively, partying exterior belies the pressures and conflicts inside, especially when coming to terms with his mother's deteriorating health. Reilly is a joy to watch and is clearly having a good time. The Magic Johnson storyline is not as compelling. Isaiah has a winning personality, but the story surrounding him doesn't have the juice Buss' does. Segel and Brody inhabit the Westhead and Riley roles well, even though it takes time for us to move past our familiarity with them as actors. Tracy Letts is developing quite a niche as an actor who can play abrasive characters like Jack McKinney or Henry Ford II in Ford v. Ferrari (2019). Under normal circumstances, we would feel sorry for someone like McKinney losing his job in such a manner, but his coldness does not allow us to do so. His threatening presence looms large even in scenes in which he doesn't appear.
The Lakers were indeed the Showtime Lakers in the early 80's. They were a hell of a basketball team with Hollywood glamour mixed right in on the surface. I assume the title Winning Time takes the place of Showtime because Showtime is a rival network. But underneath it all is a current of pressure and desperation. When Buss and the Lakers win it all, there is a muted pleasure behind it. The expectations of future success are weighing on everyone's shoulders, even though Dr. Buss does his best to hide that.
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