\n<\/p>\n
\u201cClipped,\u201d which begins Tuesday, on Hulu<\/a>, is the latest gossipy sports docudrama, this time about the scandal surrounding Donald Sterling, the former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers who was banned from the N.B.A. for life in 2014 after recordings of him making racist comments became public. Remember? The lady who wore the face visor?<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure if \u201cClipped\u201d hopes you know the details of this story or hopes you don\u2019t, but vague familiarity is baked into its very being: The show itself seems familiar because of the glut of sports shows that followed in the documentary and scripted footsteps of \u201cO.J.: Made in America\u201d and \u201cThe People v. O.J. Simpson,\u201d and basketball stories in particular had a surge after \u201cThe Last Dance,<\/a>\u201d including the recent, similar \u201cWinning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.\u201d Sports-related series aside, \u201cClipped\u201d also resembles fellow mildly prestigious podcast-to-TV shows like \u201cGaslit\u201d or \u201cThe Dropout,\u201d and it has a similar behind-the-headlines premise to \u201cPam & Tommy.\u201d (\u201cClipped\u201d is based on the ESPN 30 for 30 podcast \u201cThe Sterling Affairs.\u201d)<\/p>\n \u201cThis story has a girl, a tape, sports, racism, money,\u201d says a crisis public relations manager in Episode 5. \u201cThere is something in it for everyone.\u201d Fair enough! \u201cClipped\u201d does indeed have those things going for it, as well as strong, anchoring performances from Laurence Fishburne as Coach Doc Rivers, Cleopatra Coleman<\/a> as V. Stiviano, Ed O\u2019Neill as Sterling and Jacki Weaver as Shelly Sterling.<\/p>\n At the show\u2019s highs, you can practically hear a coach reminding his players to focus on the fundamentals: voice, stakes, heightening, details<\/em>. It nails those aspects (and in some cases fingernails them \u2014 manicures get a lot of screen time), giving everything an admirable, almost hygienic momentum. The characters here are either smart, savvy, gifted or cruel, and they say what they mean. That\u2019s a rarity in current dramas, lending \u201cClipped\u201d a refreshing clarity. But it can also ring a little immature, and what the show gains in aerodynamics it loses in nuance and texture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n