The League
The League is an American sitcom that premiered on FX on October 29, 2009. The series, set in Chicago, is a semi-improvised comedy about a fantasy football league, its members, and their everyday lives.[1]
Synopsis
The series revolves around six friends who participate in a fantasy football league. The show follows the friends, who will do anything to win, while also dealing with a variety of situations that occur in their everyday lives.
Cast
Main Characters
- Mark Duplass as Pete Eckhart, the three-time champion of the league; recently separated from his wife. Currently single, he has tried meeting women on several occasions. Pete has a small reputation in the league for tricking his friends (such as Andre) into making bad player trades. He works out of a cubicle, though avoids doing actual work as much as possible.
- Stephen Rannazzisi as Kevin MacArthur, an assistant district attorney; league commissioner. Pete's best friend. Since he has difficulty competing in the league on his own, he often takes football knowledge from his wife, Jenny, thus convincing the other guys that she runs his team. Jenny eventually joins the league herself. He never played in the Shiva Bowl until the end of Season 3, when he won the League Championship.
- Nick Kroll as Rodney Ruxin, a Jewish product-liability attorney who will go to great lengths to do well in the league, but has shown an eagerness to please his wife that surpasses his love for the league. He is shown to be extremely paranoid, often thinking that his opponents are "trying to get into his head," or that other members of the league are "in collusion" to cheat him, but his paranoid hunches have been correct on at least two occasions in ("Expert Witness") and ("The Lockout"). In the episode "The Bounce Test," the character himself describes his physical appearance as follows: "I look like a Nazi propaganda cartoon of a Jew." He and Sofia currently have one child named Geoffrey (A.K.A. "Baby Geoffrey") and own a dog named Cale(the name Kevin told Ruxin in confidence that he and Jenny wanted to name their next child if it was a a boy). Despite it being his first name, he hates being referred to as "Rodney" and prefers it when people call him Ruxin. He won the League championship at the end of season 2. When he was in high school he had a reputation for dating obese girls that had resemblances to "cattle", giving him the dubious honor of having the nickname "The Herdsman". He inherited his sarcastic nature from his father, Rupert (Jeff Goldblum), who also prefers his friends call him Ruxin.
- Paul Scheer as Andre Nowzik, a rich plastic surgeon whose naivete makes him the brunt of many jokes. He wears what he believes to be trendy clothing that actually makes him look foolish and often uses cliche catch phrases such as "Child Please!", "Try the Veal", and "Homie Don't Play That". Furthermore, he's hosted the last three drafts; the first season he hosted at his house, the second season in Las Vegas, and the third season was locked out of his house as part of his Sacko punishment and had to draft his team from a restaurant. In the first episode of the second season he renamed the trophy "The Dre" which was then renamed by the rest of the crew as "The SheDre" (A hybrid between the original name "The Shiva" and "The Dre").
- Jon Lajoie as Taco MacArthur, Kevin's younger brother, a perpetually stoned and unemployed musician. He doesn't care or know much about football, but has won the League Championship at least once in 2006, evident by his handwritten name on the trophy. He oftentimes hooks up with women easily, and lives via handouts from his brother and "Eskimo family tree" (people who have slept with women he has slept with), making his own food and personal hygiene products, and bartering. He also makes ringtones, which often include noises which come from animals. Taco takes martial arts, owns a naginata (a long pole with a blade at the end) and is studying the arts of naginatajutsu. He usually means well but his acts of kindness usually have disastrous results. He is perhaps the most emotional of the League, prone to crying when his feelings are hurt. In the unrated version of season 1, Ruxin claimed that the reason Taco is such a "frittata" is because they made him smoke marijuana when he was 8.
- Katie Aselton as Jenny MacArthur, Kevin's wife, who helps him run his team and has as much enthusiasm for the League as the actual members do. For season 2, Jenny wanted her own team for the league, but she was outvoted by Ruxin's brother-in-law, Rafi. Later she is introduced into the League to replace Rafi and went as far as the Shiva Bowl with the bad team Rafi had.
Reoccurring Characters
- Nadine Velazquez as Sofia Ruxin
- Jason Mantzoukas[2] as Rafi, Sofia's brother. Violent and hostile towards Ruxin (though Ruxin is unable to convince people of Rafi's dark side), he often attempts to get the rest of the league to go along with his various get rich quick schemes such as making pornographic films in Andre's apartment while he is out of town.
- Alina Foley as Ellie MacArthur, Jenny and Kevin's young daughter.
- Janina Gavankar as Shiva Kamini Soma Kandarkram, a doctor who was the valedictorian of most of the league members' graduating high school class. She is a urologist, specializing in genital reconstruction.
Notable NFL players and analysts as guest stars
The League's League
- The stars of The League actually play in a real fantasy football league on Fox Fantasy with the show's creators.
Production
The League was given a pilot order on July 15, 2009, with the pilot written by Jeff Schaffer and Jackie Marcus Schaffer and Jeff Schaffer also directing. The series is executive produced by Jeff Schaffer, Jackie Marcus Schaffer and the production company, FX Productions.
When the series was given a pilot order several roles were cast with, Mark Duplass playing Pete Eckhart, Stephen Rannazzisi playing Kevin MacArthur, Nick Kroll playing Rodney Ruxin, Paul Scheer playing Andre Nowzik, Jon Lajoie playing Taco MacArthur and Katie Aselton playing Jenny MacArthur.[3]
The League was given a series order on August 20, 2009 with six episodes.[4] A second 13 episode season of The League premiered on September 16, 2010 on FX.[5] On January 15, 2011, it was announced that the series had been picked up for a third season,[6] which premiered on October 6, 2011.[7]
On December 13, 2011, The League was renewed for a fourth season of 13 episodes set to air in the Fall of 2012.
DVD release
Fox Home Entertainment released the first season on DVD and Blu-ray on September 14, 2010. On August 3, 2011, Fox Home Entertainment announced that the second season would be released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 4, 2011.
| DVD Name |
Region 1 Release Date |
Region 2 Release Date |
Region 4 Release Date |
Ep # |
Discs |
Additional Information |
| Season One |
September 14, 2010[8] |
TBA |
TBA |
6 |
2 |
Extended Episodes, Deleted Scenes, Blooper Reel, "Andre: Dress with Style, Win with Style", "Legalize Kevin's Pubic Smoke", "Alt Nation", "Mr. McGibblets Fun House and Dojo", "Three Penis Wine Infomerical", "Vaginal Hubris Extended", "Birthday Song" and the pilot of Archer. |
| Season Two |
October 4, 2011[9] |
TBA |
TBA |
13 |
2 |
Extended Episodes, Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel, "Taco Tones Productions Presents: Vinegar Strokes", "Taco Tones Productions Presents: I'm Inside Me, Notarize!", "El Notario", "Andre's Extended Fads" and "Ruxin's Wedding Video". |
References
External links
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