Suit Up

I have never heard of Marc Evan Jackson, the actor who plays Jim Dunnigan, but I watched a couple hours of this show on Crackle and I was blown away by Jackson and the show. You know how it is when you come across an actor in a role and you are sure he is playing himself and not acting? That's this guy. Also, the show's humor is subtle, wry, dry, sarcastic -- and brilliant. The story line is original and fascinating. We get to see the underbelly of the college sports business. "Luther" on the show is a scene stealer with his gangsta wanna-be behavior (I might be wrong about his name, but ya can't miss him). This is the first time I have been inspired to write about a TV show. The last time I raved this much to friends about a little known show it was "Seinfeld." "Suit Up" is a diamond sitting in plain view not being seen by passers-by, so I give you this review and wish you happy viewing.

The key to quality entertainment is to take some subject matter and make people who wouldn't care about it, care about it.

This show is about football. I don't care about football. 45 minutes into this, I really didn't care about football. Nor did I care about the lead character, who has the charisma of a jar of mayonnaise. Nor, did I care about his cookie cut-out stereotype of a corporate bitch love interest. She's young and hot - he's middle aged with no discernible signs of any sex appeal. So, naturally she wants him. Nor did I care about the various man-child side characters. ...Or the strippers.

Strangely enough, there are no women writers for this show. And though I can't be bothered to check, I strongly suspect all the writers are white ... and middle aged ... with no discernible signs of any sex appeal.

The irony is, this show begins by Mr. Bad-Ass Crisis Manager walking into a boardroom meeting of banking executives and saying how they should re-brand their current image of being rich, white guys who cheat people out of their money. This show then goes on to be about a bunch of rich white guys cheating me out of 45 minutes I'll never get back. (Yawn.)

These 13 minute "skits," with the writers capitalizing on every attempt to work in DirectTV or it's corporate sponsors (even mentioned them as a TV sponsor for the team), are an odd hybrid of most every football movie or show about football in the south, mixing in a little bit of Varsity Blues with some Friday Night Lights and a dab of the Bad News Bears (second version) and even a little bit of the Replacements thrown in for grins...it even touches on the Allstate "mayhem" commercial that had the fans rioting and chasing the official.

Dunnigan (Jackson), is great. His deadpan sarcasm almost makes you forget some of the other horrible acting, most notably Luther and the annoying TV announcer.

If you are looking for 30 minutes of very very odd humor, this is your show. If not, I'd recommend staying away.

Clever writing, great casting. The writers seemed to go a little astray towards the end of the series but this was probably the most underfunded program on TV. Living in South Carolina where football is a religion, I appreciated the candid behind the scenes action. It was actually based on true events from many different schools. It was timely in that many schools are rethinking their football programs. I think the writers needed to change the environment and situation perhaps having the "fixer" recruited by another school or having him removed from his position by his arch enemy and going on to another scenario like his former life. The lead actor was perfect. The dialogue could have been a little less graphic.

Where is the next season Direct TV? Are you going to let Netflix have all the fun?