zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
Netflix's Kevin James-Led NASCAR Sitcom Looks Like A Start-And-Parker
Netflix's Kevin James-Led NASCAR Sitcom Looks Like A Start-And-Parker-August 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:00

Image for article titled Netflix's Kevin James-Led NASCAR Sitcom Looks Like A Start-And-Parker

The first official trailer for Netflix’s The Crew was released on Friday, and boy does it look bad. The show, which will debut on the streaming app on February 15th, follows a NASCAR race team as the team boss retires and places his young daughter at the head of the operation. Obviously there will be plenty of room in this show for lowest-common-denominator humor, including perhaps derision of a young woman working in an old boy’s club.

Clearly they’re going for a King of Queens vibe with random NASCAR shit in the background to look semi interesting. Look at that, an unmounted Goodyear, a weldy machine, and a engine lifty-majigger. Wow, it’s like we’re in a real NASCAR shop. Look at that, it says NASCAR right on the wall!

I don’t want to be too down on Kevin James. After an 8-episode recurring side-character on Everybody Loves Raymond, he managed to parlay that tiny character into nine seasons near the top of the bill on CBS’ sitcom roster. He has been typecast as an affable comedy buffoon, and he keeps taking the roles because they pay well. He’s Larry the Cable Guy for the thinking man. Which is a shame, because he was fantastic as a murderous neo-Nazi who gets his head runover by a lawnmower in .

Then again, he has a habit of acting in projects which frequently use sexism and homophobia as punchlines. Obviously there’s a much larger Hollywood-sized problem going on there, but if the shoe fits, I suppose.

The premise of the show, based on the trailer, appears to be that a group of team members have to work together to somehow thwart the ambitious young woman taking over as team boss. Kevin James’s character is apparently the crew chief or something, making him the figurehead of this apparent mutiny. The new team boss is coming in to a failing team (which doesn’t have the ability to finish the season in the top 20) looking to make changes in order to make it more successful. For some reason the people on that team don’t want to be more successful, I guess? And for some reason they want to stick with a driver who crashed out because he was distracted by a cloud that looked like Abraham Lincoln.

With NASCAR working diligently to rehabilitate its ages old image as unwelcoming to women and minorities, I’m curious how this show will thwart any of these stereotypes. I fear that it will only serve to exacerbate the tropes surrounding NASCAR and its fanbase.

If your idea of hilarious is a minority character eating a rock, or a fish-out-of-water city girl accidentally shooting a baby deer, or more fucking premature ejaculation jokes, or one of the heads of a massive motorsports operation not understanding how technology works, then this show is absolutely for you. If you’re like me and your ears bleed when any show has a goddamn laugh track, then maybe sit this one out.

Based on the trailer, I can only hope that this show qualifies 43rd for the Daytona 500, runs three laps at the back of the pack, and saunters its way back to the garage to collect its participation trophy. It’s the same show Kevin James has always done, but wrapped in a NASCAR façade. I don’t often root for things to fail, but this looks like a wreck on par with the big one at a restrictor plate track.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
The Salute At The End
The Salute At The End
The Dakar Rally is on in , and is, as it is every year, an absolute test of the human will through some of the most extreme, barren, and beautiful land on Earth. These testing areas produce very human moments. Take a look at, for instance, the salute at the...
Aug 10, 2026
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Will Run The IMS Road Course For The First Time Ever This Year
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Will Run The IMS Road Course For The First Time Ever This Year
Nearly a decade after the Xfinity Series traded one of its best races of the year for a much less exciting one at the big oval nearby, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the series will move to the IMS road course this year. The switch comes a couple of months after...
Aug 10, 2026
Crash Testing For Race Cars Is Just As Intense As You'd Expect
Crash Testing For Race Cars Is Just As Intense As You'd Expect
We often talk about , since those are the cars we drive and knowing how they’ll handle an impact is important. But race cars need to be crash tested as well, because safety in auto racing is more than just slapping on or and immediately calling it good. I was...
Aug 10, 2026
NASCAR Changes Aerodynamics Package To Make Short Tracks And Road Courses More Watchable
NASCAR Changes Aerodynamics Package To Make Short Tracks And Road Courses More Watchable
introduced for its top-tier last season to , from both and viewers. But one thing we could all agree on was how the package did at road courses and short tracks, which was really, really badly. Horribly. Every synonym for “unwatchable”-ly. But NASCAR will try to change that this...
Aug 10, 2026
These Are The Fascinating Cars and Trucks Racing Dakar For The First Time This Year
These Are The Fascinating Cars and Trucks Racing Dakar For The First Time This Year
The rally is nearing its close, and while it’s looking like traditional competitor Honda will take the motorcycle class, some new makes have joined the competition in the car and truck categories, and they probably aren’t ones you might have expected. Of course, this is a year of many...
Aug 10, 2026
Rock Beats Axle
Rock Beats Axle
There’s plenty of crashing at the Dakar Rally, and in off-road racing in general, but you don’t get a dramatic axle-eating wipeout in a well-framed video too often. It’s painful to watch, but also, kind of neat. Here we can see what looks like a Toyota factory-backed Hilux race car...
Aug 10, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved