When I heard Sebastian Maniscalco was going to be playing an old-school bookmaker who takes wagers over the phone in the Max Original comedy series “Bookie,” I thought it be might be a period piece, given you can bet on sports these days just by downloading an app, as you might have gleaned from any of the kabillion advertising spots they run on TV and the zillions of sponsored features in which analysts and former players share their picks to beat the spread.
But they worked around that by setting the show in Los Angeles, as California has yet to legalize online gambling. It’s probably only a matter of time before that changes, which only adds to the dark humor and the sense of impending doom in a series that shows terrific promise in the pilot episode. Maniscalco is in his comfort zone playing a wisenheimer bookie, and series creators Chuck Lorre and Nick Bakay (“Two and a Half Men,” “The Kominsky Method,” “Young Sheldon”) are surehanded veterans when it comes to crafting situation comedy.
In the opening scene, a degenerate gambler has just been kicked out of his house (there’s a sad, handwritten “FOR SALE BY OWNER” sign on the lawn) but can’t even make it to his car before dialing up Maniscalco’s Danny and making a desperate bet: “Three-game parlay: KC minus 6 ½, Browns-Ravens, first quarter under 10, and the Jags plus 3 ½.” If you don’t wager on sports, that sounds like pure gibberish — but for the millions who do place a buck or two on games, that accurate lingo immediately indicates the show knows its material.
We settle in for a fast-paced opening episode in which Danny and his muscle, Ray (deadpan all-star Omar J. Dorsey), a former NFL player who says he’s more of a “visual deterrent” than an enforcer, make their daily rounds, with Danny jamming to Yacht Rock tunes such as America’s “Horse With No Name” and Michael McDonald’s “What a Fool Believes,” much to Ray’s dismay.
“Bookie” is filled with crisp one-liners. Danny reminds his wife that they he had two conditions for them to get married: “No banks, no musicals.” Danny’s sister Lorraine (a very funny Vanessa Ferlito), who runs his tiny office and sells mushrooms on the side, says to a ‘shroom buyer, “No, you can’t Venmo me, I’m not cutting your f------ hair.”
The highlight of the premiere episode comes when Danny and Ray track down their client Charlie Sheen at a rehab center called “Freedom from Bondage House,” where Sheen is running a poker game but claims he’s actually sober (“I am clean as a whistle, I just run a game here. ... There’s no guns, the food is terrific and there’s ample parking”) and says he’s good for the 75 grand or so he owes them: “You’ll get your money. I am THIS close to being a judge on ‘Japan’s Got Talent.’ ”
Sheen is so good at playing himself, one envisions and hopes for an entire semi-fictional series with that premise. In the meantime, we’ve got a solid and funny comedy with “Bookie.” It’s not a sure thing, but it’s a 7-point favorite to endure.
