The best family dramas and dramedies show families that have some degree of love and closeness among them, which keeps them plugging away even in the face of difficulties. A new Disney+ dramedy centers the family around basketball, but certainly doesn’t lack for both warmth and drama.
THE CROSSOVER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “My brother and I always dreamt of becoming the greatest of all time,” says the voice of a narrator (Daveed Diggs). “And for one of us, that dream was about to come true.” Then we see a Lakers playoff game in 2031.
The Gist: In that game, a rookie is about to take a winning shot, gets fouled and lands on his right wrist. Instead of going out, he walks up to the line and uses one hand for his free throw.
That rookie is Josh “Filthy” Bell (Jalyn Hall), who we see in the present day as a 13-year-old, playing a pickup game with his twin brother Jordan, nicknamed “JB” (Amir O’Neil). Both are talented basketball players, and their coach at Langston Hughes Junior High, outside of New Orleans, is their father, retired NBA star Chuck Bell (Derek Luke).
Basketball is life in the Bell family, to the point where Chuck’s “rules of basketball” are also essentially his life rules, too. Keeping things in perspective is Dr. Crystal Bell (Sabrina Revelle), Chuck’s wife, the twins’ mom, and the vice principal at Langston Hughes. She’s in the running to fill the open principal’s spot, a job she’s been doing in an acting capacity, anyway.
She’s there to remind the boys to keep up with their schoolwork Filthy has no problems with it; he’s a wordsmith, which comes through in his freestyling. JB struggles more; he’s skipped some homework, and he’s behind on a report that discusses how they want to pursue their life’s passion.
The twins hang out with Vondie (Trevor Raine Bush), the team’s center, and their neighbor and old pal Maya (Deja Monique Cruz). Maya seems to have a bit of a crush on Filthy, but he doesn’t notice; in fact, when he sees that his crush, Alexis (Skyla I’Lece) has come back to Langston, Maya continues to be in the friend zone.
During a practice before a game against their biggest rival, Chuck collapses due to an asthma attack. The doctors want him to take it easy, especially because his blood pressure is way up. Chuck tries but finds it difficult.
As JB continues to struggle with his report, he confides to his mother that while he likes basketball, it’s not the all-consuming passion it is for his dad and brother. He asks his teacher if he can do something a little bit different for his report, and she tells him to state his passion to the class. He freestyles about photography, hip hop and fashion; in other words, basketball isn’t the only thing he likes. This gets Alexis’ attention, but it definitely disappoints Filthy, who truly thought they were going to conquer the NBA together.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The basketball theme makes The Crossover a bit different than many family dramedies, but it definitely goes in the same category as shows like Parenthood, Gilmore Girls, This Is Us, etc.
Our Take: While some of the dynamics of The Crossover feel “TV convenient” — the twins’ father is their coach, and their mother is the principal of their school — there’s still a warm feeling about the series that makes us want to follow the Bell family through what looks like a very eventful eight years.
Created by Kwame Alexander based on his 2014 rhyme-filled graphic novel of the same name (Kimberly A. Harrison and Damani Johnson are his co-showrunners; Diggs and LeBron James are also EPs), The Crossover starts to build its world immediately, showing us in the flashforwards just how divergent Filthy and JB’s lives became by the time that Filthy stepped to that free throw line in his rookie season.
It’s definitely a coming of age story, but in more of a TV-PG way, where the boys have their crushes and first kisses. In fact, the coming-of-age part of this story is more about how, though Diggs’ narration says that “Family is joined together like a net,” the lives of the twins start to diverge in middle school. As far as Filthy is concerned, life is basketball and basketball is life. JB, though, starts to get interested in other things; in most families, that would be seen as healthy. With the Bell family, though; opinions on that might be mixed. Mom is definitely in favor, Dad might be OK with it, but Filthy can’t even wrap his mind around the fact that his twin brother might not want to live and breathe hoops.
It’s an interesting dynamic, especially when you watch the second episode, where Langston goes on a losing streak and Filthy goes into a personal slump, Chuck gets some pretty heavy health news, and JB realizes that he can’t manage his ADHD without his meds. Yes, the drama amps up quite a bit in that second episode, but it somehow feels like a natural outcropping of what Alexander and company established about the Bells in the first episode, instead of an artificial ratcheting of the drama screw. And it dovetails well with what we see in the flashforwards, which we won’t spoil here.
What Age Group Is This For?: The series is TV-PG, as we mentioned, and it definitely would be suitable for kids 7 and up.
Parting Shot: Filthy finds out that JB asked Alexis to the dance. As he stares at his brother, slightly ticked off, the narrator talks about “being left off balance, trying to play yourself back into position, as in… the crossover.”
Sleeper Star: Deja Monique Cruz has the thankless job of playing Maya as the “friend zoned” buddy, but it does look like her story has some depth, as we know that she’s close to the entire Bell family and her relationship with her father has been fraught since her mother died.
Most Pilot-y Line: “Filthy hoops, be he has zero swag,” Vondie says unconvincingly about his buddy.
Our Call: STREAM IT. The Crossover is a warm family dramedy with just enough of the drama part to keep us interested in following the Bells as they navigate life, school and hoops.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
