Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Mayne Street Debuts: Kenny Maye Is Funny (But Scott Van Pelt Might Be Even Funnier)

Very solid -- and slickly produced -- premiere episode of ESPN's new digital short series "Mayne Street." It was billed as "Office"-ish, but it's more "This Is SportsCenter," Extended Cut.

(That's not to say it isn't funny -- btw, Mayne is highly respected as a funnyman, but Van Pelt actually steals the scene.)

And it comes in at a highly digestible 5 minutes. (Just curious: It took 3 credited writers to script 5 minutes? Can I get in on that gravy train?) Anyway: If ESPN was ever going to get into sit-coms, this is the way to do it.

(Solid, mildly related DS trivia: Six years ago, I had a pitch meeting with ESPN Original Entertainment for a sit-com. Complete with a pilot script! Lamentably -- for me -- even though it preceded it by years, it was sort of close to "My Boys" on TBS -- without the female lead character. It had a different recurring female character, but she was more periperhal. When that show came out, I came close to weeping at the missed opportunity.)

But I digress! Good start for Mayne and Co.

-- D.S.

1 comment:

Ankiel Comeback Tour said...

Funny enough, but do they plan on pulling all their plot devices directly from SportsNight?