High-stakes season for ‘Ballers,’ ‘Insecure’

Dwayne Johnson

Even when he isn’t fighting fanged creatures or scaling 100-story-high skyscrapers, Dwayne Johnson still intends to change the world for the better.

In HBO’s Emmy-nominated comedy series “Ballers,” which kicks off its nine-episode fourth season at 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. tomorrow, the action superstar’s sink-or-swim mission takes a more personal turn.

This time, NFL player-turned-financial manager Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne) makes a strategic move from Miami to California, to take advantage of better career prospects and bigger investment opportunities.

He then teams up with old pals and new acquaintances to take up the cudgels on behalf of his troubled big brother, who took his own life after his once-promising football career was cut short by an unfair NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) ruling.

But, Spencer has his work cut out for him, because the sports organization’s big boss (Jamey Sheridan) isn’t one to get easily spooked or intimidated.

When Spencer isn’t licking his wounds from his personal tragedy, there are other similarly compelling issues in his life that add fuel to “Ballers’” narrative progression—from NFL player Ricky Jerret’s (John David Washington) after-retirement options, to surfing champ Parker Jones’ (Mason Gooding, who is Oscar-winning actor Cuba’s good-looking son) image-tweaking dilemma.

Parker doesn’t want to be treated as the surfing community’s Great Black Hope, but the businessman steering his career (the scene-stealing Russell Brand) sees him as “a black Michael Jackson with an uncomplicated erotic life!”

“Ballers” explores the cutthroat world of professional football through a group of past and present players striving to stay in the game. Stringing their stories together is ex-football superstar Spencer, who has reinvented himself as a principled financial manager, with the help of his partner, Joe Krutel (Rob Corddry).

Spencer and Joe must learn to adapt to the complicated new world they navigate because, as Joe succinctly states, “A moron has bullsh**ted his way into the Oval Office by doing nothing more than lying. The world has changed”—and they need a tougher game plan to survive, and thrive!

Issa Rae in “Insecure”

Romantic persuasions

Just as entertaining is the hilarious comedy series “Insecure,” which begins its eight-episode third season at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow (after the season premiere of “Ballers”), with a same-day primetime encore at 11:30 p.m. on HBO.

Starring Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Issa Rae (as Issa Dee) and Yvonne Orji (as Molly Carter), the series follows the friendship of two African-American women as they deal with their flaws while attempting to navigate different worlds, and the romantic persuasions that provide a welcome distraction for the bosom buddies.

The first episode sees Issa’s life getting more complicated when she’s forced to come to terms with her ambiguous relationship with Daniel, a childhood friend and on-and-off-again fling.

For her part, Molly is in a sexually satisfying “arrangement” with dashing Dro, but the fact that he’s “happily” married makes their relationship far from ideal! So, she begins setting boundaries in order to concentrate on her dream job at an African-American-owned law firm.

That’s easier said than done, however, because Molly’s charming “source of romantic distraction” is simply too hard to resist!