The League Season 4 [Blu-Ray]

The fourth season of The League (FX's comedy centering upon the world of Fantasy Football) finds the show becoming increasingly inconsistent, but continuing to be buoyed by one of the funniest casts on television. The titular coalition consists of married couple Kevin (Stephen Rannazzisi) and Jenny (Katie Aselton), as well as Kevin's oddball brother, Taco (Jon Lajoie), who has little knowledge or interest in football. They're joined in this hyper-competitive endeavour by a group of friends, including uptight lawyer Ruxin (Nick Kroll), laidback bachelor Pete (Mark Duplass) and dorky plastic surgeon Andre (Paul Scheer). As this season opens, Jenny is set to give birth to the couple's second child, and the gang is invited to Dallas Cowboys' training camp, after one of Taco's harebrained business ventures proves to be unexpectedly lucrative, allowing for cameos from Cowboys players like Jason Witten and team owner Jerry Jones. The episodes are a mixed bag, too often hampered by the kind of dovetail plotting expected from Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm writer Jeff Schaffer, who co-created the show with wife Jackie. It's frequently a case of being able to piece together how all the tangents will tie together in some convoluted manner long before they actually intersect. Luckily, the chemistry of the leads at this point in the show's run has been sufficiently honed to make the many scenes where the group sits around trading barbed remarks hum with the energy of genuine friendship and ball-busting camaraderie. The show's secret weapon is Jason Mantzoukas (as Ruxin's brother-in-law, Rafi), with the actor and improv comedian bringing the impossibly abrasive character to life with irrepressible zeal. It's obvious that many of the show's best moments are created by allowing this group of quick-witted performers to bounce ideas off of each other with the cameras rolling. This is especially evident in the supplemental material, with an extended gag reel showing how it can be incredibly hard to keep a straight face in a scene once a good moment gets a case of the giggles going. The show's loose approach is further illuminated in the featurette "Alt Nation," an even longer look at the bevy of alternate takes in which the actors are constantly spitting out different ways to tackle a particular line. The release is rounded out nicely by deleted scenes and "Taco Tones," featuring a couple of tunes from musical YouTube sensation Lajoie, like a pleasing group rendition of instant classic "Pete's Tiny Erect Dick."