1st & 10: Season 1 (1984)

1st & 10 is fairly fun to watch. It's sort of Cheers meets Friday Night Lights with a dash of Silk Stalkings. (I had to rent the single double-sided disc from a competing service since the two-disc set on this service remains on Save status.) 1st & 10 is an early HBO series that lasted seven seasons. Season 1 is dated 1984 so the opening 3D graphics and score are lame, the punch lines are clever but undersold, and the laugh track is a giggle track. There are testosterone-soaked shenanigans in the locker room and after hours, jiggling cheerleaders with teased hair, and several women in topless scenes. Our story begins as Diane Barrow (Delta Burke) wins the California Bulls football team from her ex-husband after he is caught in flagrante delicto with one of his team's "tight ends." She proves to be a capable team owner/manager, taking the team all the way to the championship game, assisted by dedicated old-school Coach DeNardo (Reid Shelton), though her ex's nephew as general manager is a snake in the grass that's in cahoots with her ex, the mob, and anyone else they can bribe. All the players have distinct, over-the-top personalities and get screen time and laughs. The show deals adroitly with some thorny issues and Fran Tarkenton cameos as sports announcer. Disc 1/Episode 1: By the Bulls (Diane demands the team for revenge with her ex then rises to the occasion), 1/2: The Opener (Diane chooses her starting quarterback and learns her general manager is sneaky), 1/3: All Roads Lead to Dayton (Bulls play their first road game as Diane's ex keeps trying to stab her in the back), 1/4: The Slump (The mob goes on strike and boycotts beer sales while Carl's new contract makes the team jealous), 1/5: Play Me or Trade Me (After Carl is injured, Bob almost gets traded -- and into Diane's bed), 1/6: You Are Who You Eat (Diane directs the team on the field as DeNardo coaches her from a hospital bed), 1/7: Uneasy Lies the Head (Coach wrestles with his mortality, overmedicates himself, and makes a bad call), 1/8: The Sins of the Quarterback (Bryce, a Mormon, wants to quit after a cheerleader says he got her pregnant), 1/9: I Only Read Defenses (Rona fires two cheerleaders with mob ties as Larry learns it is his last season), 1/10: Wine Time (Jethro and Bubba, conned in a wine scam, miss the game in jail after they run amok), 1/11: Rona's Fling (Rona enters rehab for good but a much-younger beau endangers her recovery), 1/12: Not Quite Mr. Right (Diane falls again for a man she once almost married), 1/13: Super Bull Sunday (The team gets distracted by the promise of fame before the championship game). Enjoy! 3 stars.