Ranking the HBO Summer Sunday Lineup

There’s a comforting consistency to the way HBO rolls out its shows. Game of Thrones, Veep and Silicon Valley each wrapped up their annual season fairly recently. Worry not, for those two hours will not go to waste in the summer, not under HBO’s patriarchal eye.

Their replacements, an equalizing set containing one hour-long drama and two half-hour comedies, are decidedly more contentious in the market than the preceding group. Both comedies are brand new and the drama might as well be, replacing a Mathew with a Colin and a Woody with a Rachel. For this avid veiwer, though, True Detective doesn’t rank number one on the night. Instead:

1. The Brink

You”ll need a certain sensibility (and I say sensibility because nothing about this show runs the risk of going over anyone’s head) to, not appreciate, but to allow The Brink to take over your brain for its 30-minute run-time. A coup in Pakistan threatens peace in the region and the world. Jack Black is our lumbering moron on the ground in the Middle East and Tim Robbins is our guy at the U.S. Presidental roundtable, the Secretary of State constantly butting heads with the Secretary of Defense for the President’s favor. It’s a comedy and just barely a satire.

As always, Robbins seems to enjoy his job way too much (it’s a good thing). Black is putting Jack Black into the show. Where House of Cards and HBO’s own Veep seem to each have a central, consistent idea about the worst of American politics, The Brink, as quickly as it cuts from one character to the next, jumps between the serious and crass view.

As jarring as that is, it lets Tim Robbins hit on a translator while the President ponders bombing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. It’s not as direct or focused as the best political satire, but it is fast and loose enough with the quips and ironies it’s bound to resonate at some point or another, given you can accept the premise that an ace bomber pilot might also be dealing drugs to his fellow Navy shipmates.

2. True Detective

I’m wont to find an order of words in the English language that would combine into a sentence not already written about the second season of True Detective. I’ll try anyway.

The show was controversial before the first season ended, and the decision to anthologize it, leaving the entirety of the first season’s premise and characters behind, only piqued the curiosities of the viewership even more. Now we have a trio of detectives – Colin Farrel, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch – with a combined baggage load of a Boeing 747.

Two episodes in, the plot is a bit needlessly complex, we’ve traded overwrought monologues from the semi-villainous Vince Vaughn (showing an odd similarity to Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin in Netflix’s Daredevil) with relatively worthwhile road debates between McAdams and Farrel. Kitsch is still an unknown quantity. The fact that the rest of the cast is not after two episodes is perhaps a good sign that the undercurrent murder mystery of it all is about to kick into high gear. So far the best part about the show is Farrel and Vaughn’s tumultuous yet respectful relationship.

It feels like concern Vaughn’s career criminal is showing Farrel’s career bent cop, but neither of them are honest enough to admit it. Say what you will about season 2. It’s definitely trying.

3. Ballers

Thankfully not spelled with a Z, Ballers isn’t doing much to elevate itself above that kind of hokum. The worst thing about this show is how good it looks on paper – Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is a retired football star trying to win capitalism by managing the money of current football stars. The result is a writer’s room lacking inspiration beyond that very solid premise and very solid (figuratively and literally) leading star.

In short, Ballers lacks balls. The Rock is a bit hurting for money, but he discovers an extra bank account with a little relief. The primary football star is kind of a selfish dick, but he’s actually just a good boy trying to get another trophy. Another athlete is playing coy with a tangible contract, but he eventually signs with The Rock after a brief and mildly emotional discussion.

Everybody’s smiling at the end of every scene. The potential for comedy is strong for a show trying to wriggle its way into the professional football back stage (the teams are NFL-real). But, bark overcomes bite and we get scenes of mild amusement too afraid to make a real statement, yet still trying to edge out a dramatic remark. It doesn’t work, at least not yet.