Me and "My Boys"

I don’t watch much TV and generally don’t watch sitcoms, but I actually found one I could relate to. “My Boys,” which premiered on TBS last night, centers on a young, cute female sports writer named P.J. who covers the Chicago Cubs for the Chicago Sun-Times. Her closest friends are guys, and when the gang gets together to play poker or drink beer, they talk about dating and relationships. But despite her looks, her male friends, and her job as a sports reporter, P.J. has a hard time meeting guys to date. When I saw the previews for the show, I thought, “My God, this is me. This is my life.” Naturally, I had to tune in to see what the show is about.

There’s a lot of voiceover commentary throughout the show, and P.J. tries to draw comparisons between dating and baseball. Some comparisons are a bit of a stretch. Others, however, do make sense, such as trying to read signs of interest from a potential date much like reading the signs a coach is giving a player whether to steal base or not. If you miss the sign, chances are you’re thrown out at second base or picked off at first. Neither is a promising way to get a relationship off and running, if you get my meaning.

P.J. is a character I can relate to. We both love sports, and like P.J., my closest pals and baseball buddies are guys. While we don’t get together to drink beer and play poker, we have learned much from each other about relationships. And like P.J., it’s a lot easier for me to talk to a guy about sports than it is to, well, reach first base.

When she meets Bobby, the new beat reporter for the Chicago Tribune in the first episode, there is an immediate attraction, and viewers follow their awkward relationship through the ensuing episodes.

However, the show does lack logic and realism at times. For example, as a beat reporter, P.J. probably would be interviewing the players and coaches before or after the game, but we never see her doing that. When she shoots the bull with the other beat reporters after a game, they don’t talk about the game or the players. I would think that would be part of the day-to-day business of sports writing. I know it would be in my world. And wouldn’t a beat reporter travel with the team to cover road games? The show has yet to cover that. It’ll be interesting to see how the show’s writers attempt to handle the difficulties of dating, let alone having a social life, while you’re on the road most of the time.

Also, during the first episode, she and her guy friends get together to watch a Bears game on TV. Obviously, it has to be September, right? We all know it can’t be later than that because the Cubs never play in October. So if it’s September, why would any major newspaper start a new beat reporter at the end of the season? Why not introduce the Bobby character at the beginning of the baseball season, or even better, in spring training? Why introduce the story and these characters when the baseball season is nearing an end? How will the show’s writers handle P.J.’s off-season when she’s not at Wrigley Field covering her beat? It seems more logical to begin the show and story line during spring training.

Overall, I think “My Boys” has great potential, and I like the premise of the show. But it does need some tweaking. While the characters are fairly well developed, I’d like to see a little more depth to them. The writing is a bit weak, and some of the conversations among P.J. and her friends seem stilted at times. Yet there is an undeniable charm about this show. Besides, the guy who plays P.J.’s college friend Brendan is an absolute hottie.