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Cybertainment: Web dramedy 'Suit Up' spoofs big-time college football
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Marc Evan Jackson plays crisis manager Jim Dunnigan.
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The big business side of college football takes center stage in "Suit Up," a new Web series on Yahoo! Screen. This comedy/drama from Fox Digital Studio takes viewers behind the scenes of a scandal-ridden football team that enlists the aid of a professional crisis manager to get them out of hot water.
Glory University is a Southern college where football rules, and everyone's salary depends on what happens on the football field. When a wealthy rap mogul and team supporter offers the team's star quarterback inappropriate gifts -- in the form of pigs for his farm -- the TV stations have a field day and a "Pigs for Play" controversy starts brewing. The university hires crisis manager Jim Dunnigan, played by Marc Evan Jackson ["Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"] to make the problem go away.
Dunnigan is a pro who handles crises for government and big business, but every move he makes at Glory seems to hasten the team's downward spiral, starting with his decision to suspend the quarterback, which sparks fan riots and litigation.
Each new episode brings more woes to the Glory team and to Dunnigan -- injured and out-of-control players, drunken mascots, lost broadcast deals, lawsuits and more.
"Suit Up" benefits from good writing, a fast-paced script and good actors, which not all Web series have. Barry Corbin does a nice turn as the school's chancellor.
It's a spot-on send-up of college sports as big business. Although the situations and scandals here are generally comical, there are striking parallels to some real-life events in the wake of the Penn State University/Jerry Sandusky case.
"Suit Up" offers some sharp observations about the inner workings of big-time college athletics and university politics.
There are eight episodes, each running around 10 minutes.
First Published September 23, 2012 12:00 am
