The Abbi Jacobson-led reboot of the beloved movie A League of Their Own premiered recently on Amazon Prime.
The film is a fictionalized account of the very real formation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), which was started in the 1940s when some men's baseball players were serving in WWII.
Jacobson's reboot as a series aims to revive the original spirit of the movement and film, while also addressing the not very diverse casting and writing decisions of the original movie.
This has not made Jacobson friends, with backlash reviews coming in quickly after the show launched.
Showrunner Jacobson doesn't have a personal Twitter account, so they used the show's account to address the critiques head on.
\u201cI've been pretty blown away by the response this weekend. I was really changed learning about this generation of women. I feel really proud of this show + to know its resonating with people really means a lot. On the flip side--- 1/2\u201d— A League of Their Own (@A League of Their Own) 1660583699
\u201c2/2 - I have seen a lot of people angry and mad at our inclusion of more experiences (POC, QWOC, queer) and that anger (aka fear) has only made me more sure about why this reimagining needed to be made. Why representation matters so much. - Abbi\u201d— A League of Their Own (@A League of Their Own) 1660584031
Will Graham, the other creator of the show, created a thread in his own Twitter addressing the "historical basis" of the league that reviewers were critiquing.
He specifically posted links to articles with a queer history of the original league, as well as the women of the Negro Leagues.
\u201cWe\u2019ve had such an amazing positive first 4 days for the show, but predictably there are some people who are trolling the show and questioning the stories. So I thought it might be useful to post a few articles emphasizing the real history. #LeagueOfTheirOwn\u201d— Will Graham (@Will Graham) 1660708138
Replies to Jacobson's tweets—and to the show itself—are largely positive on Twitter, however.
The bad reviews appear to be limited to other forums.
People specifically praised the show's decision to lean into the real world diversity often left out of history and tell those stories.
\u201c#ALeagueOfTheirOwn thread: it made me so happy as a black lesbian to see a black friendship so close and so real and so developed on the screen that shows set in the modern day fail to do over and over. the love max and clance have for each other, the COMPLETELY platonic love...\u201d— ice \ud83e\udd67 (@ice \ud83e\udd67) 1660374993
\u201cThis show is bringing me a lot of joy. Especially seeing Black women as whole storylines and not just an afterthought. Okay Abbi, I see you girl. \n\n#ALeagueOfTheirOwn\u201d— B. (@B.) 1660369018
\u201cit\u2019s all about women empowerment.\nwomen supporting women. women of color. queer women. a celebration of queerness. i\u2019m here for all of it! this show is so authentic and realistic\n\n#ALeagueOfTheirOwn #LeagueOfTheirOwn\u201d— dylan \ud83c\udf31 (@dylan \ud83c\udf31) 1660357886
Others mentioned while the show's diverse stories were welcome, they also genuinely liked it as a piece of storytelling and art.
\u201c#ALeagueOfTheirOwn wasn\u2019t just good because of all the sapphic rep and relationships. it\u2019s also cause they had really good written episodes, important plot and most importantly, made us spend time with the characters so the connection with audience was made.\u201d— soph | big \ud83e\uddc0 era (@soph | big \ud83e\uddc0 era) 1660734253
Pushing back at some of the people who are critiquing the show on Twitter, others pointed out people will always find something to hate if they want to.
\u201c@LeagueOnPrime THIS. People will find anything they don't like if they'll look enough. Even worse, the haters have for some reason united to write all these bad reviews and stuff. So what should we all do? Keep going.\ud83d\udc9b\u201d— A League of Their Own (@A League of Their Own) 1660584031
And if you don't like it, change the channel.
\u201c@RealGrumpyNadya @LeagueOnPrime It IS a series about women playing baseball during the war. It\u2019s also a series about the realities & struggles of life, then AND now.\nYou could have changed the channel 30 minutes into it.\nGlad you watched as much as you did. \nHope you learned something in the long run.\u201d— A League of Their Own (@A League of Their Own) 1660583699
A vocal element of fans on Twitter are specifically praising the show for its queer representation and storylines.
One person brought up Rosie O'Donnell—who was in the original show—saying she approved of the show's new queer storylines.
\u201cThrowback to that time Rosie O\u2019Donnell talked to us about the upcoming re-make of A League of Their Own and how she thought it shoulda been way more gay all along. Atta girl, Rosie. Atta girl. #legend \n\n#ovariestalk #aleagueoftheirown #rosieodonnell #abbiejacobson\u201d— If These Ovaries... (@If These Ovaries...) 1660653373
\u201c#ALeagueOfTheirOwn truly goes to show how breathtaking a queer piece of media can be when the people behind it actually care to show realistic and powerful stories about queer women. I'm still trying to process how happy I am to get to experience a show like this.\u201d— dan \ud83c\udf51 (@dan \ud83c\udf51) 1660559013
In less formal terms, some are happy it's so queer.
\u201cA League of Their Own said \u2018What if it was the 1940s and everyone was Queer.\u2019 And I said \u2018Thank You for understanding my very niche television wants and needs.\u2019 #ALeagueOfTheirOwn\u201d— Cori De (@Cori De) 1660360564
\u201cEveryone says Thank you Abbi Jacobson #ALeagueOfTheirOwn\u201d— Jee (@Jee) 1660408662
Finally, people did take time to poke fun at the reviewers.
They also praised Jacobson.
\u201c@LeagueOnPrime Loved it. \nI was more \u201coffended\u201d by cgi baseballs. \ud83e\udd23\u201d— A League of Their Own (@A League of Their Own) 1660584031
\u201cAbbi Jacobson writing #ALeagueOfTheirOwn\u201d— Liv (@Liv) 1660278448
A League of Their Own is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
*Correction (8/18/22 at 10am): A previous version of this article was updated to correct the spelling of Abbi Jacobson's name.
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