The League is a television series on FX about a Fantasy Football League. Season One’s first episode premiered on October 29, 2009, and the show is currently in its third season.
The series revolves around a group of friends in Chicago who love fantasy football and will do anything it takes to win the coveted “Shiva trophy.” Season One introduced the characters: Kevin the commissioner whose wife runs his team, Pete who is the three-time champion and tricks other characters into making terrible trades, Ruxin an attorney with a gorgeous wife and wants to win with all of his heart but fails almost every time, Andre a rich plastic surgeon who the other characters make fun of often for his awful trades and horrendous fashion style, and Taco, Kevin’s younger brother, a jobless pothead but a funny musician.
Season One was FX’s trial season; it was only six episodes long to see how audiences would react. The show got 990,000 viewers for those six episodes which included the Fantasy Football Draft all the way to the ShivaBowl. Views increased for the second episode reaching almost one and a half million views. The show had a few guest NFL players every season including Terry Bradshaw, former NFL Quarterback and current Football Analyst, in episode three and Antonio Gates, a tight end for the Chargers. The season finale was December 10, 2009.
Since the first season did so well, the producers decided to continue the series with a second season. This season consisted of 13 episodes, the first of which premiered on September 16, 2010. Viewership was over 1.7 million for the premier episode which had Chad Ochocinco as a guest star. The first episode of this season also introduced a new character: Ruxin’s brother in law, Raffi, a very weird and creepy guy that nobody likes. Ruxin is forced to hang out with Raffi because of his wife. Season two also has two other NFL players guest star: Joshua Cribbs and Terrell Suggs. The season ended on December 9 2010 with a double header finale with over one million viewers.
The League is currently in its third season which premiered October 6, 2011. The premier of season three introduced yet another character called Dirty Randy, portrayed by Seth Rogen. There were about 1.3 million viewers for the first episode of season three, which guest starred Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew, Atlanta Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes, and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Sidney Rice.
Many people still do not know about this hilarious comedy television show on FX. It is, however, starting to grow rapidly and now has commercials advertising it unlike previous seasons. New episodes air Thursdays on FX at 10:30 p.m. and re-runs of older episodes are played as well on FX. With growing viewership and more commercials about this show, The League will grow into one of TV’s funniest shows.