Hoops Talkback (SPOILERS) Discussion Thread

[Orange Mo]

Well here's the trailer. Not impressed but trailers suck. Hope the actual show impresses me! August 21, 2020 all 10 episodes on Netflix.

From Lord and Miller (Bless the Harts, Lego Movie) and Jake Johnson.

 

[Perla Magica]

Official trailer:

Much better than the first trailer.

 

[Orange Mo]

Official trailer:

Much better than the first trailer.

Definitely. The first trailer was fine but felt too much like Family Guy.

Still not gonna diss this show until I check it out. Not fair to everyone at Bento Box who did an amazing job on it.

 

[Orange Mo]

So Hoops currently has a 17% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, so I hope for me it turns out at least decent. I didn't even watch Paradise PD so this might be a good show for fans of that or Big Mouth. We'll just have to see tomorrow.

 

[Orange Mo]

SEASON 1 REVIEW

This review does contain MAJOR spoilers, so if you haven't seen it and don't wanna be spoiled, go watch it first, and then come back. Also, this is just my opinion, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Anyways, Hoops is created by Ben Hoffman and stars Jake Johnson from New Girl as the lead character, an angry basketball coach who only cares about his ****** high school basketball team and nothing more. Hoops is also from Phil Lord and Chris Miller who are famous for working on Clone High, the Lego Movie, Into the spiderverse, cloudy with a chance of meatballs, the last man on earth, and most recently, Bless the Harts, which just got a second season at Hulu/Fox. These star people on it make it sound promising, at least that's what I thought when the show was announced. There are a lot of other great voices on this show too and all of them definitely contribute.

So the main character in Hoops is named Ben Hopkins, who recently just separated from his wife Shannon and is about to be fired from his job. He's not a successful guy, according to his dad, who financially supports him still even as an adult sometimes, and has some real anger issues. He does have a habit of cursing angrily, this show uses a lot of "shit" and "****", and I mean a lot, but he does have a soft side too. His best friend and assistant coach Ron, is now dating his ex-wife, which weirdly, Ben's cool with. Ben never legally separated from Shannon, thus why the show does show them interacting. In fact, their story is probably the most interesting thing on the show for me, which I will explain later on in the review.

One thing I do like about Hoops is that it doesn't fully follow the typical "shock humor" formula we all know from adult animation, which mostly gives it a bad name. Hoops has a wide ensemble of characters, even if some of them aren't fully developed yet. There's not much world building, which allows for the focus on recurring characters. Characters like Matty, Shannon, or even Ben have some interesting arcs that build on as the episodes go on, which makes for an intriguing watch. While the trailers were definitely misleading in how the show handles itself, it definitely isn't trying to be a Paradise PD/Crossing Swords/modern Family Guy type of show, as those examples of adult animated shows focus on shocking the audience with as much gore and slapstick as much as possible as their sources of comedy. I mean, come on, in the first scene of Paradise PD, the kid shoots his dad in the balls, for fucks sake and they actually show his bleeding dick. Hoops has almost none of that. The show while raunchy for its excessive cursing (PD and Swords also have this too), doesn't use shock humor for its comedy but rather the dialogue of its characters. There were some pretty funny lines that I even admitted to laughing in the show and some pretty subtle humor as well. The cursing is a bit excessive, but when they really need to use it, it shines there as well. The protagonist is unlikeable but that's kind of the point. No matter what others try to do, Ben can't be changed.

I'll give quick thoughts on each episode, with some getting more longer thoughts.

Pilot

The pilot is a decent start. People may have been offended by Ben offering to pay a hooker to get Matty on the team, but it's just a silly twist on "It's the thought that counts." Wasn't terrible by any means but wasn't great either.

3/5

My Two Dads

My Two Dads is the first solid entry in the series. It's funny how everyone enjoys Barry but doesn't like Ben, cause Barry has a huge ******* ego. So Ben tries to sabotage Shannon's relationship with his dad to get back at her for separating with him. He goes into his typical rage, but what did Shannon expect really. He's never gonna change. And the kids bond with Matty by drinking and doing drugs in his basement, which makes for a nice touch and montage.

3.75/5

Ethics

Ethics is good overall. I like the idea that Matty needs to pass his ethics exam so Ben tries to help him in the most unethically way possible. And he actually passes his test due to the teacher spying on Matty when he stands up to Ben for doing immoral things. The subplot with Opal singing at Barry's restaurant was alright but it was going to be obvious that she was so bad at it.

3.5/5

The Sponsor

One of the early hitters of the show is The Sponsor. When Ben's dad sponsors the school's gym, Ben gets upset because the gym is all about his dad and not him, so he makes it his goal to win so his dad is forced to give free food at his restaurant. Just a basic moral of teamwork and family makes it a nice conclusion, and it proves that Ben cares for his team. The subplot with Shannon, Ron, and Kirk trying to expose Ben of a lie is amusing too, and they conclude that cause the kid acts like Ben, that Ben had a kid, which was pretty funny how they were bickering at each other in the end.

4/5

Matty Gets a Girlfriend

Matty Gets a Girlfriend really is the only appearance of Matty's girlfriend Wendy, not sure why she stopped appearing aside from a cameo in the finale. Ben thinks girlfriends are making Matty lazy so he breaks them up by telling lies to Wendy's mom. Matty's performance slumps and it's a typical sitcom approach to fix the situation. It's interesting but typical.

3.5/5

Zen

Zen makes use of great animation moments that remind me of shows like the Midnight Gospel with its wild and absurd, yet interesting animation moments. This one sees Ben try to control his anger after accidentally injuring a mascot at a game by taking anger management classes. And Ben standing up to the bullies was nice too. Again, it proves his cares for the team.

3.75/5

The Strike was alright. Ben joins the teacher's union to avoid a yearly bet with a rival who has a good relationship with his dad. He makes the strike worse. As predicted, I'd knew Ben would lose the bet because his rival is always a ******* step ahead of him.

3/5

Death

Death is the flashback episode for the main characters. After mourning the death of an old high school teacher, the school hires a psychiatrist to help kids deal with yet, only the adults use the resource more. Opal, Ron, Ben, Shannon, and even the psychiaitrist all share brief flashback scenes, which all expand into the characters in funny, sweet, and even interesting ways. We learn here that Ben got his angry traits from meeting Shannon as a kid. And when she got drunk and got arrested, she realized that she had to turn her life around by volunteering and eventually owning the farm. And she knew Ben wasn't gonna change so she had to move on from him. The flashback with Opal saving the people on the plane was quick but nice and Ron was pretty badass in the war zone. The only cons I really had with this episode was that the flashback with the psychiatrist wasn't really necessary and that I wish the episode would have took the moment between Ben and Shannon more seriously. When Ben says the only reason he's doing whatever stupid thing he's doing for Shannon and that he's so dedicated because he still has feelings for her, the episode then disregards all of that quickly afterwards, leaving somewhat of a buildup that leads to nothing. It does show they still complain and ***** but also disregards that as well, leaving the viewer questioned with what actually happened between them.

4/5

The Road Game

The Road Game is by far the best episode of the show, so I'll talk about this one the most. The episode is definitely typical sitcom of people who don't want to spend time with each other are lost and have to make it out together without shredding the other to pieces, but it does offer more insight into Shannon and Ben's relationship as well. After Ben and his team get invited to a Cincinatti conference for basketball, he gets drunk the night before the bus arrives and misses the bus, forcing him to get a ride with his ex-wife Shannon. Luckily, Ron said he went on the bus because he wanted to be there before to surprise her on her birthday. Shannon originally declines but lets Ben go with her. Ben obviously does some stupid shit along the way. First, he tells Shannon to hop off the freeway and they get lost. Then, when Shannon has to stop for gas and the restroom, Ben talks to some guy and leaves the keys in the car so some teenage girls steal it, and then tosses his phone out the window. There are some nice throwbacks to previous episodes, with the most notable one being that Shannon used to love bullriding according to her flashback sequence in the last episode, so she hops on to beat the record to win money so her and Ben can get a ride to Cincinatti. The two subplots are decent. The kids want to spend time with some cheerleader girls so they tell them they're gonna have a pool party. But the pool is closed and dirty (they're actually staging a crime scene), so they use cleaning equipment and water to clean the pool and have the pool party. But, the chemicals burn their eyes, forcing the tournament to be cancelled as it also affected the cheerleaders and almost everyone in the hotel. Opal basically pretended to be Shannon since she obviously wasn't gonna make it and basically got the entire treat that Ron was going to surprise Shannon with. The 2020s joke with LGBT+ was legit relatable and hilarious. But it isn't until Shannon sees an envelope in Ben's shirt that we see that Ben actually signed the divorce papers, his birthday present for her. In the past few episodes, Ben doesn't want to legally divorce because then Shannon is out of his life forever, but it's sweet here that he's finally thinking of someone other than himself. Ben's obvious characteristic is his self-centered personality. He doesn't care about others, just himself. So it is different here and makes him at least sorta likeable here.

4.5/5

The Scout (FINALE)

The finale however, was dissapointing. I felt like it wrapped up things too poor and quick, although it does leave a cliffhanger and possible questions that fans could wonder. It starts out fine with Shannon feeling regret after having sex with Ben in the last episode, and that she still wants to stick with her decision, and she actually dumps Ron too, which makes him depressed and angry. But once the Prep school guy comes, the episode starts to fall apart in the second and third acts. Ben is so concerned with trying to get the assistant coach position that he pushes Matty to do something he doesn't want, yet Ben doesn't understand why his team means so much to him, as the ending has the students wondering if their coach really likes them or not, as Ben's departure from Lenwood was adrupt without any goodbyes to each member of the basketball team. It's just too rushed overall and could have been improved if it answered the problems between Ben and Shannon and Ben and his team. I personally would have preferred that for a season 1 closure. I'm not saying everything should be a happy ending, but this feels like a quick and lazy way to end an otherwise promising season.

2.5/5

So overall, would I recommend Hoops. Maybe not if you're not a fan of swearing, you might be turned off by it, but if you don't mind the swearing and want something more than just slapstick shock humor, it's definitely not as bad as the internet has made it out to be, at least in my opinion.

Hoops is a decent, solid watch overall. There's definitely too much swearing and the finale is a dissapointment, but I have to say I was overall interested in the character arcs, the show is pretty funny when it needs to be, and there are some pretty deep moments in the show as well. Am I impressed? Not quite, but I would watch a second season if there is one next year. Anyways, here's what I thought about the individual episode grades, as you can see most of them aren't very high, but I think Hoops shows a lot of promise in future seasons. We also have to remember other shows like Bojack Horseman didn't start out as strong either, so this may be the case where the show gets better if it gets more seasons, as with almost every adult animated show. There’s
still lots to improve but I know this show has promise.

+ Some great episodes

+ Decent characters and comedy

+ Some heart

- But the heart moments are poorly executed

- Comedy can be a bit weak due to excessive cursing

- Dissapointing season finale

Overall season grade: B- (7/10)

Episode grades:

Pilot - C+
My Two Dads - B
Ethics - B
The Sponsor - B
Matty Gets a Girlfriend - B-
Zen - B
The Strike - B-
Death - B+
The Road Game - A-
The Scout - C

 

[Perla Magica]

I am not surprised AT ALL.

‘Hoops’ Canceled By Netflix After One Season

Netflix's adult toon Hoops will not return for a second season.

deadline.com

 

[Zanneck]

SEASON 1 REVIEW

This review does contain MAJOR spoilers, so if you haven't seen it and don't wanna be spoiled, go watch it first, and then come back. Also, this is just my opinion, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Anyways, Hoops is created by Ben Hoffman and stars Jake Johnson from New Girl as the lead character, an angry basketball coach who only cares about his ****** high school basketball team and nothing more. Hoops is also from Phil Lord and Chris Miller who are famous for working on Clone High, the Lego Movie, Into the spiderverse, cloudy with a chance of meatballs, the last man on earth, and most recently, Bless the Harts, which just got a second season at Hulu/Fox. These star people on it make it sound promising, at least that's what I thought when the show was announced. There are a lot of other great voices on this show too and all of them definitely contribute.

So the main character in Hoops is named Ben Hopkins, who recently just separated from his wife Shannon and is about to be fired from his job. He's not a successful guy, according to his dad, who financially supports him still even as an adult sometimes, and has some real anger issues. He does have a habit of cursing angrily, this show uses a lot of "shit" and "****", and I mean a lot, but he does have a soft side too. His best friend and assistant coach Ron, is now dating his ex-wife, which weirdly, Ben's cool with. Ben never legally separated from Shannon, thus why the show does show them interacting. In fact, their story is probably the most interesting thing on the show for me, which I will explain later on in the review.

One thing I do like about Hoops is that it doesn't fully follow the typical "shock humor" formula we all know from adult animation, which mostly gives it a bad name. Hoops has a wide ensemble of characters, even if some of them aren't fully developed yet. There's not much world building, which allows for the focus on recurring characters. Characters like Matty, Shannon, or even Ben have some interesting arcs that build on as the episodes go on, which makes for an intriguing watch. While the trailers were definitely misleading in how the show handles itself, it definitely isn't trying to be a Paradise PD/Crossing Swords/modern Family Guy type of show, as those examples of adult animated shows focus on shocking the audience with as much gore and slapstick as much as possible as their sources of comedy. I mean, come on, in the first scene of Paradise PD, the kid shoots his dad in the balls, for fucks sake and they actually show his bleeding dick. Hoops has almost none of that. The show while raunchy for its excessive cursing (PD and Swords also have this too), doesn't use shock humor for its comedy but rather the dialogue of its characters. There were some pretty funny lines that I even admitted to laughing in the show and some pretty subtle humor as well. The cursing is a bit excessive, but when they really need to use it, it shines there as well. The protagonist is unlikeable but that's kind of the point. No matter what others try to do, Ben can't be changed.

I'll give quick thoughts on each episode, with some getting more longer thoughts.

Pilot

The pilot is a decent start. People may have been offended by Ben offering to pay a hooker to get Matty on the team, but it's just a silly twist on "It's the thought that counts." Wasn't terrible by any means but wasn't great either.

3/5

My Two Dads

My Two Dads is the first solid entry in the series. It's funny how everyone enjoys Barry but doesn't like Ben, cause Barry has a huge ******* ego. So Ben tries to sabotage Shannon's relationship with his dad to get back at her for separating with him. He goes into his typical rage, but what did Shannon expect really. He's never gonna change. And the kids bond with Matty by drinking and doing drugs in his basement, which makes for a nice touch and montage.

3.75/5

Ethics

Ethics is good overall. I like the idea that Matty needs to pass his ethics exam so Ben tries to help him in the most unethically way possible. And he actually passes his test due to the teacher spying on Matty when he stands up to Ben for doing immoral things. The subplot with Opal singing at Barry's restaurant was alright but it was going to be obvious that she was so bad at it.

3.5/5

The Sponsor

One of the early hitters of the show is The Sponsor. When Ben's dad sponsors the school's gym, Ben gets upset because the gym is all about his dad and not him, so he makes it his goal to win so his dad is forced to give free food at his restaurant. Just a basic moral of teamwork and family makes it a nice conclusion, and it proves that Ben cares for his team. The subplot with Shannon, Ron, and Kirk trying to expose Ben of a lie is amusing too, and they conclude that cause the kid acts like Ben, that Ben had a kid, which was pretty funny how they were bickering at each other in the end.

4/5

Matty Gets a Girlfriend

Matty Gets a Girlfriend really is the only appearance of Matty's girlfriend Wendy, not sure why she stopped appearing aside from a cameo in the finale. Ben thinks girlfriends are making Matty lazy so he breaks them up by telling lies to Wendy's mom. Matty's performance slumps and it's a typical sitcom approach to fix the situation. It's interesting but typical.

3.5/5

Zen

Zen makes use of great animation moments that remind me of shows like the Midnight Gospel with its wild and absurd, yet interesting animation moments. This one sees Ben try to control his anger after accidentally injuring a mascot at a game by taking anger management classes. And Ben standing up to the bullies was nice too. Again, it proves his cares for the team.

3.75/5

The Strike was alright. Ben joins the teacher's union to avoid a yearly bet with a rival who has a good relationship with his dad. He makes the strike worse. As predicted, I'd knew Ben would lose the bet because his rival is always a ******* step ahead of him.

3/5

Death

Death is the flashback episode for the main characters. After mourning the death of an old high school teacher, the school hires a psychiatrist to help kids deal with yet, only the adults use the resource more. Opal, Ron, Ben, Shannon, and even the psychiaitrist all share brief flashback scenes, which all expand into the characters in funny, sweet, and even interesting ways. We learn here that Ben got his angry traits from meeting Shannon as a kid. And when she got drunk and got arrested, she realized that she had to turn her life around by volunteering and eventually owning the farm. And she knew Ben wasn't gonna change so she had to move on from him. The flashback with Opal saving the people on the plane was quick but nice and Ron was pretty badass in the war zone. The only cons I really had with this episode was that the flashback with the psychiatrist wasn't really necessary and that I wish the episode would have took the moment between Ben and Shannon more seriously. When Ben says the only reason he's doing whatever stupid thing he's doing for Shannon and that he's so dedicated because he still has feelings for her, the episode then disregards all of that quickly afterwards, leaving somewhat of a buildup that leads to nothing. It does show they still complain and ***** but also disregards that as well, leaving the viewer questioned with what actually happened between them.

4/5

The Road Game

The Road Game is by far the best episode of the show, so I'll talk about this one the most. The episode is definitely typical sitcom of people who don't want to spend time with each other are lost and have to make it out together without shredding the other to pieces, but it does offer more insight into Shannon and Ben's relationship as well. After Ben and his team get invited to a Cincinatti conference for basketball, he gets drunk the night before the bus arrives and misses the bus, forcing him to get a ride with his ex-wife Shannon. Luckily, Ron said he went on the bus because he wanted to be there before to surprise her on her birthday. Shannon originally declines but lets Ben go with her. Ben obviously does some stupid shit along the way. First, he tells Shannon to hop off the freeway and they get lost. Then, when Shannon has to stop for gas and the restroom, Ben talks to some guy and leaves the keys in the car so some teenage girls steal it, and then tosses his phone out the window. There are some nice throwbacks to previous episodes, with the most notable one being that Shannon used to love bullriding according to her flashback sequence in the last episode, so she hops on to beat the record to win money so her and Ben can get a ride to Cincinatti. The two subplots are decent. The kids want to spend time with some cheerleader girls so they tell them they're gonna have a pool party. But the pool is closed and dirty (they're actually staging a crime scene), so they use cleaning equipment and water to clean the pool and have the pool party. But, the chemicals burn their eyes, forcing the tournament to be cancelled as it also affected the cheerleaders and almost everyone in the hotel. Opal basically pretended to be Shannon since she obviously wasn't gonna make it and basically got the entire treat that Ron was going to surprise Shannon with. The 2020s joke with LGBT+ was legit relatable and hilarious. But it isn't until Shannon sees an envelope in Ben's shirt that we see that Ben actually signed the divorce papers, his birthday present for her. In the past few episodes, Ben doesn't want to legally divorce because then Shannon is out of his life forever, but it's sweet here that he's finally thinking of someone other than himself. Ben's obvious characteristic is his self-centered personality. He doesn't care about others, just himself. So it is different here and makes him at least sorta likeable here.

4.5/5

The Scout (FINALE)

The finale however, was dissapointing. I felt like it wrapped up things too poor and quick, although it does leave a cliffhanger and possible questions that fans could wonder. It starts out fine with Shannon feeling regret after having sex with Ben in the last episode, and that she still wants to stick with her decision, and she actually dumps Ron too, which makes him depressed and angry. But once the Prep school guy comes, the episode starts to fall apart in the second and third acts. Ben is so concerned with trying to get the assistant coach position that he pushes Matty to do something he doesn't want, yet Ben doesn't understand why his team means so much to him, as the ending has the students wondering if their coach really likes them or not, as Ben's departure from Lenwood was adrupt without any goodbyes to each member of the basketball team. It's just too rushed overall and could have been improved if it answered the problems between Ben and Shannon and Ben and his team. I personally would have preferred that for a season 1 closure. I'm not saying everything should be a happy ending, but this feels like a quick and lazy way to end an otherwise promising season.

2.5/5

So overall, would I recommend Hoops. Maybe not if you're not a fan of swearing, you might be turned off by it, but if you don't mind the swearing and want something more than just slapstick shock humor, it's definitely not as bad as the internet has made it out to be, at least in my opinion.

Hoops is a decent, solid watch overall. There's definitely too much swearing and the finale is a dissapointment, but I have to say I was overall interested in the character arcs, the show is pretty funny when it needs to be, and there are some pretty deep moments in the show as well. Am I impressed? Not quite, but I would watch a second season if there is one next year. Anyways, here's what I thought about the individual episode grades, as you can see most of them aren't very high, but I think Hoops shows a lot of promise in future seasons. We also have to remember other shows like Bojack Horseman didn't start out as strong either, so this may be the case where the show gets better if it gets more seasons, as with almost every adult animated show. There’s
still lots to improve but I know this show has promise.

+ Some great episodes

+ Decent characters and comedy

+ Some heart

- But the heart moments are poorly executed

- Comedy can be a bit weak due to excessive cursing

- Dissapointing season finale

Overall season grade: B- (7/10)

Episode grades:

Pilot - C+
My Two Dads - B
Ethics - B
The Sponsor - B
Matty Gets a Girlfriend - B-
Zen - B
The Strike - B-
Death - B+
The Road Game - A-
The Scout - C

Excuse me and try as you might to recommend this to me & others out there willing to still see it, I feel like I honestly dodged a bullet here. I only wish I had done the same for Duncanville, to go further into thinking about things - Adult animation from the US can always do better than either example.

I do know I'm still waiting for Final Space to come back someday, for another example.