This review contains spoilers.

The latest addition to the Mindy Kaling Television Universe landed on Netflix last week, and it’s called Running Point. Starring Kate Hudson, the sports-comedy series was co-created by Kaling, Ike Barinholtz, and David Stasse. The trio took over the production from the original creator, Elaine Ko. The show is loosely based on the life of Jeanie Buss, the controlling owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers. 

The series follows Hudson as she plays Isla, a reformed party girl and only daughter of the famous Gordon family as she is appointed the president of the (fictional) Los Angeles Waves following her eldest brother, Cam’s, arrest and rehab stint. Hudson is joined by Brenda Song (Ali), Justin Theroux (Cam), Drew Tarver (Sandy), Scott MacArthur (Ness), and Fabrizio Guido (Jackie) as her best friend/chief of staff, three brothers, and (revealed at the end of the pilot) secret half-brother, respectively. 

The series was given the (apparent) max number of episodes a streaming show can have these days, 10, and I believe they use all 10 episodes wisely. The show’s pace is impeccable, jumping from plot to plot well. I was immediately a little skeptical of the show because I was wary of watching a sports-comedy version of Succession. I wasn’t interested in watching the privileged (white) Gordon siblings fight over control of a basketball team. But my skepticism was proven wrong by episode 2, as Sandy and Ness jointly attempt to overthrow Isla and are comically shut down by a series of smart business moves by the president herself. From there, the conflicts within the team are about everything except trying to oust Isla, which I appreciated. 

I was pleasantly surprised by how the show handled Guido’s character, Jackie. As the secret love child of the deceased Gordon, Jackie isn’t even aware that he’s a biological Gordon until the end of the pilot. His mother, one of the Gordon family’s former housekeepers, recently passed away and ensured that his biological father wouldn’t be revealed to him until her death. The kicker? Jackie begins the series as a concessions worker for the Los Angeles Waves.  

This plot could have easily gone so wrong. In the wrong hands, it would have been insensitive and perpetuated harmful stereotypes. Does anyone else remember the Arnold Schwarzenegger scandal? Just me?) But the RP writing team treats the complex topic with care. While Jackie is initially presented with a $2 million payday if he signs an NDA and agrees to never pursue a relationship with any member of the Gordon family, he doesn’t want to sign it. After the death of his beloved mother, he wants to get to know his biological family. The Gordon siblings initially reject him and only show up to an in-person meeting to get Jackie to sign the deal. Naturally, Isla breaks first and tells Jackie not to sign the deal. Jackie then joins the family business alongside his siblings – he’s once again working for the Waves, this time as Isla’s assistant. 

The series also features a Kaling universe favorite – a good old-fashioned love triangle. Isla is engaged to Dr. Lev Levenson (Max Greenfield), a kind and supportive pediatric doctor. They’ve had a long engagement (because of COVID and both of their mother’s getting facelifts, of course). In one scene we watch Isla talk through her work problems with Lev, and in the next, she is eyeing Waves head coach Jay Brown as he does (admittingly, impressive) pull-ups. The two men are mostly unaware of each other and don’t interact – I mean, Jay attends Isla and Lev’s engagement party in episode 5. So far in the series, this triangle only exists in Isla’s mind, but anyone who has seen a romance movie knows where this plot is going. 

Onto basketball. Let me preface this portion of the review by saying that I am not a big sports person. The only team I keep up with is my college alma mater, and that’s only for football. I don’t know much about basketball, but I’ve seen a lot of One Tree Hill, so I know what basketball should look like on screen. 

The team dynamic on RP is giving Ted Lasso. We have Toby Sanderman as Marcus, the star player who starts off the series as a Roy Kent shadow. Chet Hanks (yes, of THE Hanks family) is Travis, an obnoxious sexist but great player who has a strange amount of chemistry with Isla. Dane DiLiegro is Badrag, the player who gives us the most amount of funny one-liners. Honestly, the team plotlines are a little lacking. This is something that should be reworked in a potential second season. 

Ben Travers of IndieWire gave Running Point a C+ rating and pointed out that “a shocking number of Waves players look better suited for the NFL, but you’re able to suspend disbelief because you don’t have to see them hoop… until the finale decides to spend one-third of its run-time watching stiff and stout actors do their best impression of agile and altitudinous athletes.” I have to agree. When I saw that there were less than 10 minutes left of the season finale and the team was still playing, I knew we were in for a rushed ending. Chet Hanks isn’t even in the finale, dammit! 

If I were to go the IndieWire route, I would give the first season of Running Point a solid B. It’s fun, mostly silly, and has the perfect amount of drama. I like a lot of the cast, (Tarver is a particular favorite of mine from his last show, The Other Two) and I particularly like Hudson when she’s doing comedy. I love to see Song getting some airtime on a platform as big as Netflix. The writing is snappy and I was never outright bored during an episode. But there were some weak plotlines, great characters being brushed aside, (Max Greenfield, you deserved more screen time) and odd time jumps that briefly confused me. 

All that said, I’m looking forward to tuning in for a second season of Running Point. Netflix, hurry up and renew this, I know you want to. 

Catch the first season of Running Point, streaming on Netflix now.