Worth: $17.50
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Cast:
Abbi Jacobson, D'Arcy Carden, Chanté Adams, Roberta Colindrez
Intro:
… a joyful, uplifting portrayal of women supporting women, and will have audiences cheering from the stands before the end.
Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson teams up with co-creator and fellow producer Will Graham (Mozart in the Jungle) for this eight-episode reimagining that breathes new life into the beloved 1992 Penny Marshall film.
With Jacobson herself taking on the lead role of wannabe professional ball player Carson Shaw, this tale of the founding of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League takes the liberation and female solidarity explored in the film and swings for the fences. The iconic, scene-stealing coach played by Tom Hanks in the original is now a recurring cameo by Nick Offerman. Gone are the days where audiences were told they needed a relatable everyman to frame the women’s narrative, this time around the story belongs entirely to the women of the Rockford Peaches.
The awkward charm of Jacobson’s humour weaves its way throughout the dialogue, lending an almost modern feel despite the period setting. Thankfully her fellow castmates, notably The Good Place’s D’Arcy Carden, are more than up for the challenge of meeting that energy, and the result is a dynamic blend of 1940s technicolour palette with a contemporary edge.
The soundtrack fuses hits from the ‘60s and ‘70s alongside 1940s swing, Heart’s “Barracuda” and Iggy Pop’s “Real Wild One” making for a seemingly irreverent music choice, but in fact work as a reminder that the feelings and subject matter being explored are timeless, as relevant today as they ever were.
The series is refreshingly bold in addressing the social issues that Marshall’s 1992 audience wasn’t quite ready for. The queer representation is diverse and sensitively portrayed, touching on the struggles of lesbianism during a time when being outed could end in a prison sentence or worse. Happily, Jacobson and Graham refuse to let the show fall into the trap of so many other LGBTQIA+ narratives that have come before which choose to focus on the pain and heartbreak of queer identity, instead placing equal importance on the softer, more joyful experiences of falling in love and finding yourself.
While the racial constraints enforced by the time mean that the All-American Girl’s Professional Baseball League is a typically white affair, the show recognises this is above all a story about friendship and striving to achieve your dreams, and so aspiring ball player Max (Chanté Adams) and her best friend, comic book nerd and devoted housewife Clancy, embody the voice for Black women who were fighting for even a crumb of the recognition and opportunities afforded to the white women of the time.
Ultimately, the series can’t be labelled as simply a “remake” — there’s still room for the original and its die-hard fans — this just opens up the story, allowing space for those voices that were hidden away or kept silent to finally have their moment in the spotlight. It’s a joyful, uplifting portrayal of women supporting women, and will have audiences cheering from the stands before the end.
