nicole calascibetta is facing third and long…
The second season of Necessary Roughness kicked off last night on USA Network. For those who are unfamiliar, the show revolves around Dr. Dani Santino (Callie Thorne), a single mother and a psychotherapist who treats high-profile cases such as the New York Hawk’s bigheaded wide receiver Terrance “TK” King (Mehcad Brooks). It’s a show that blends together sports, mental health and your run of the mill personal issues.
In the first season, we were left with a football field length of problems: Dani’s steamy encounter with the organizations “fixer” Nico (Scott Cohen), Dani’s son Ray was caught with marijuana plants in the backseat of his car, “TK” was sent off to rehab and the owner of the New York Hawks croaked.
The second season picks up by resolving those issues while throwing in a few more. First of all, we find out Juliette, a Paris Hilton in her own right and the daughter of the deceased owner of the New York Hawks, was left the rights to the team. Since Juliette despises football, she can’t understand why her father left her this billion-dollar organization and pouts about it for most of the episode. She has her mind set on selling the team and puts the whole organization on edge. Easily, the best part of the episode is when Juliette decides she’d like to sell the team to a rapper named “Deez Ballz” instead of silly old Mark Cuban. In the end, Juliette comes to her senses and decides to take on the title of owner of the New York Hawks. We can clearly tell she’s more mature now because instead of wearing a skimpy cocktail dress she’s in something more mature and pulls her hair back in a bun. So you know this girl can clearly run a football organization.
When it comes to Dani, she doesn’t want to face her situation with Nico because of her romantic ties with New York Hawk’s trainer Matt (Marc Blucas). Since Dani can’t keep her head on straight, she takes a brief hiatus from her clients and seeks therapy for herself. Dani confesses to her therapist, “I’m caught between the man who I love that I can’t have and the man that I’m dangerously attracted to and shouldn’t have”. For some reason we’re supposed to feel sympathy for a girl who’s left a billion dollar organization and a woman who can’t decide on who she wants to get with at work. Maybe it’s just me but I couldn’t find a violin small enough.
After “TK” spends a month in rehab, he is released from the facility and forced to adapt to a sober life style. Welcoming Terrance back into field is a new teammate with an ego to match. Terrance must now learn to handle his addiction and his need for the spotlight. When Matt finally confronts TK on the field about his inability to be a team-member, TK finally sees the error in his ways and helps the new guy out with some advice that leads the team to victory. As for Dani’s son Ray, he gets off the hook with community service hours, but finds trouble elsewhere in the alluring charm of Juliette. The episode ends with a sultry text from Juliette to Ray even though Dani has made it quite obvious she doesn’t want Juliette around her son.
Similar to Psych on USA Network, you’ll find characters you like and some storylines that will be somewhat interesting. However, the only way this show could get any safer is if they changed the game to flag football. Yes, there are quite a few conflicts in the show but ultimately you know how it’s going to end. Overall it lacks a compelling factor that will grasp audiences and hold their attention. Callie Thorne stands out as a strong actress who can carry the show, however the rest of the cast falls into the “mediocre” acting category. If Necessary Roughness can provide some unpredictability instead of your cookie cutter solutions, season two might be more interesting to watch. If not, it might be time to step off the field.
