FX has begun production on a pilot called “The League,” about a group of men in the same fantasy football league in suburban Chicago. Under-the-radar indie actor Mark Duplass will star in the main role.
“The League” follows the group as they deal with issues of friendship, relationships and parenthood. Duplass stars along with Nick Kroll (”I Love You Man”), Paul Sheer (“Human Giant”), Steve Rannazzisi (”Paul Blart: Mall Cop”) and Jon Lajoie. Also in the cast are Leslie Bibb (“Iron Man”), Katie Aselton (”The Office”) and Nadine Velazquez (”My Name Is Earl”).
In the pilot, Duplass plays Pete, a married man pondering whether to have a baby. “God bless fantasy football,” Pete says in the script. “There are many things a man can do with his time. This is better than those things.” [Variety]
I definitely don’t hate this. That’s a pretty good cast, and FX seems to genuinely care about making smart, edgy TV programs. It’s basically the opposite of CBS.
(And since I don’t really have anything else to say about this, I’d just like to point out that Duplass stars in True Adolescents, an indie movie currently making the film festival rounds that was written and directed by an NYU film school grad student named Craig Johnson, who used to be my roommate. Because that’s what really matters: how does it relate to me? Anyway, small world. You don’t care. Move along.)
