Previewing Lights Out

If you didn’t go into Lights Out knowing that it was about a boxer, you may mistake the opening scene for yet another medical show with a lifeless, bloodied remains of a man laying in a solitary room. But the beaten body is that of Holt McCallany (Three Kings) as Patrick Leary, you can call him Lights, after his last fight as a boxer who is only accompanied by his wife, Catherine McCormack (Braveheart) who waives off the doctor to sew up his cut herself.

The show quickly jumps five year and Lights living almost every ex-boxer cliché, he squandered it all away by lavishly living, gifts to his family: wifey gets a medical degree, pops gets a gym, sister gets a diner, and his brother gets an MBA to manage his finances which he poorly invests away, leaving Lights to appear at bingo parlors and cheesy local advertisements; but he hasn’t quite hit rock bottom just yet because he has yet resorted to the one place careers go to die: Dancing with the Stars.

With his wife in school, Lights has because Mr. Mom to his three daughters, Meredith Hagner (Royal Pains) is the materialistic oldest, Ryann Shane (Amelia) is the middle studious one (which reminded me of Modern Family in the first episode), with Lily Pilblad (Fringe) as the runt of the family who is too young to remember daddy as a fighter and wonders why he is getting punched by other dudes whenever old fight footage comes on television. Lights also has an obligation to his father / trainer Stacy Keach (Titus) who seems to care more about his failing gym than his own failing health. And he does not seem to get any help from his brother Pablo Schreiber (Vicky Christina Barcelona) who has put him in his financial troubles.

It is a good thing for Light Out that the boxer stays out of the ring because it is very hard for sports stories to work (there were only four sports movies released in 2010) when you can flip on ESPN at any given time and see something more amazing than anything a writer can dream up. Friday Night Lights didn’t hit its stride until it focused most of its storylines off the field. When Light Out does focus on the sport is some of its weakest spots like a training montage in episode three that you cannot help but think of Rocky or Lights encounter with a Mixed Martial Arts fighter which may be the most unbelievable part of the show, which says a lot considering the lead character is a Caucasian American former Heavyweight champion (something that hasn’t happened in my lifetime).

Light Out is reminiscent to Men of a Certain Age in that it is depressing to watch. But where there is a glimmer of hope for Ray Romano and his buddies, it seems like things get progressively worse for Lights with every passing episode trying to dig himself out of his hole, only to find himself deeper in it as he has runs in with Bill Irwin (Rachel Getting Married), a shady businessman, Billy Brown (Race to Witch Mountain) as the man who took his title five years ago, and Brown’s fight promoter Reg E. Cathey (American Psycho) who would like to see that rematch finally take place.

Lights Out airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on FX. You will be able to stream episodes on Hulu after they air.