My dad, born in 1943, is supposedly a member of the “Silent Generation,” which means that he liked Bob Dylan, but only as long as he played protest songs and liked protests only as long as the protesters had short hair and got a damn job.
My mom, born in 1948 is a Baby Boomer and pretty much fits the stereotypical bill. She wore stuff with shoulder pads in it in the 80s and watched “M*A*S*H”. What, you thought all Baby Boomers were at Woodstock? Bah.
I date to 1973, which means I spent most of my 20s and 30s overly-preoccupied with “authenticity” without ever bothering to ask why, setting back my emotional development a good ten years. I also have strong feelings for Winona Ryder and never felt older than when she showed up as the half-crazy mom of a high school kid in “Stranger Things.”
My fiancee was born in 1980 and, according to most sources, that makes her a Millennial, but she bristles at that label. I can see both sides. In some ways she has more Gen-X qualities, separate and apart from liking a tired old Gen-X guy like me, than Millennial qualities. On the other hand, she is constantly explaining to me how technology works and unironically likes things simply because they bring her joy and that’s TOTALLY not a Gen-X thing.
Point is: generations are somewhat amorphous and difficult to peg. Major League Baseball thinks it has a way of getting to a specific generation, however. Via a new TV show:Today, AwesomenessTV and Major League Baseball announced that their new scripted series “Out of My League” will premiere on September 19th on AwesomenessTV. The series features an all-star cast featuring Lauren Elizabeth Luthringshausen (3M fans) and Brian Redmon (654K fans) with Caeli Santa Olalla (16.9M fans) and Ryan Abe (857K fans). Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star center fielder, Joc Pederson (439K fans) also makes a special appearance.
Shot in and around legendary Dodger Stadium, “Out of My League” follows Claire (Luthringshausen), a die-hard Dodgers fan visiting her dad in LA for the summer, and Chase (Redmon), a surfer who knows little about baseball. Claire is doing a good job avoiding distractions while spending her days at the ballpark rooting on her team, until she meets Chase and both of their worlds are turned upside down.
“We produce premium content that engages our Gen Z audience, and partnering with MLB gave us the opportunity to make stories with the themes this audience cares about in the iconic setting of America’s pastime, “said Paul Kelly, Chief Partnerships Officer at AwesomenessTV. “‘Out of My League’ brings a new perspective of the baseball experience to this audience, whether they are established supporters of teams or new baseball fans.”
The trailer is below.
Full disclosure: “AwesomenessTV” is, apparently, partially owned by NBC’s parent company, Comcast, even if I’ve never heard of it before. I have heard of Major League Baseball and will grant that (a) this show is not aimed at me, it’s aimed at “Generation Z,” which I assume is what my daughter’s generation is; and (b) a show like this may be better received by those types than yet another appearance of Fallout Boy playing a three-year-old song before the All-Star Game is, so good for Major League Baseball for making an effort.
Which is to say, hey, whatever works. Beyond Joc Pederson’s leaden acting in the trailer (should’ve gotten Puig for that part!), your appreciation for it will likely be directly proportional to how close you are to being the target audience:
