Sneak Peek Review: The League returns for Season 2

Last October, FX released a great compliment to their smash hit It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when they aired The League in Sunny's follow-up time slot. For what it's worth, I was so instantly taken with The League that I named it as a Show You Should Be Watching and even gave the show an "IT" Award for "Best New Series" in the first ever ETMC It and Sh*t Awards last December. FX rightfully renewed the series for a second season that will be longer than last season's six episode run.

FX sent me an advanced copy DVD with the first two episodes of the new season as well as an opportunity to join a roundtable teleconference with show co-creators, executive producers and directors Jeff Schaffer and Jackie Marcus Schaffer. After watching these episodes, the only drawback I can find is that I have to wait two weeks longer than the rest of the world to see more new episodes and learn what happens next.

For those who are not in the know, The League follows a group of friends in a long running fantasy football league, which they all take very seriously. The zany group includes:

- Kevin (Stephen Rannazzisi), the commissioner of the league whose big secret that his wife Jenny (Katie Aselton) really is the one calling all the shots and making all the transactions

- Taco (Jonathan Lajoie), the slow-witted slacker who is also Kev's little brother

- Peter (Mark Duplass), whose favors his fantasy football obsession so much that it resulted in the end of his marriage

- Ruxin (Nick Kroll), whose drive to win the league championship is held back by having to juggle fantasy football with the needs of his hot wife

- Andre (comedian Paul Scheer), who is a plastic surgeon rich in wealth but a lifelong geek. Last season, he won The League's championship.



Season two begins with the gang holding this year's fantasy football draft in Las Vegas. Sin City holds some new surprises for the league members including a hilarious cameo by Chad Ochocinco as himself, a new member joining the "league" and Jenny's determination to split from Jeff's team to manage her own.

While the Bengals' wide receiver seems to be a one-shot deal, the other additives appear to be season long arcs. For one, Ruxin's brother-in-law Rafi (Jason Mantzoukas) seemed like oil to the original cast's water at first and I thought that it was too soon to be bringing in another central character. However, he fit right in with the group by the time I was a few minutes into the second episode and will be a welcome addition moving forward. Meanwhile, Jenny's persistence to break out on her own is heading to a boiling point.

Season two looks to be on par with season one in terms of the offbeat comedy and the show's popularity seems to be on the rise as seen by the large amount of promos run during last night's Monday Night Football games. It's good to see the NFL embracing this series.

Make sure to check out the season premiere of The League this Thursday, September 16th following the season premiere of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FX. In the meantime, the hilarious season one DVD and Blu-ray have just been released by FX at a reasonable price and can be ordered here.