Amanda M. Castro is a Network TV writer at Collider and a New York–based journalist whose work has appeared in Newsweek, where she contributes as a Live Blog Editor, and The U.S. Sun, where she previously served as a Senior Consumer Reporter.
She specializes in network television coverage, delivering sharp, thoughtful analysis of long-running procedural hits and ambitious new dramas across broadcast TV. At Collider, Amanda explores character arcs, storytelling trends, and the cultural impact of network series that keep audiences tuning in week after week.
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Amanda is bilingual and holds a degree in Communication, Film, and Media Studies from the University of New Haven.
Running Point's second season has seen an impressive increase in audience size, and its success is evident in its having now reached over 25 million hours viewed (in total) on Netflix, according to the streamer. This growth has affected the tempo of the show and allowed it to establish a pattern for itself, a velocity that works for a nicely patterned series that knows how to build on this momentum.
The first season was a very fast-paced workplace comedy set in a professional basketball organization, largely thanks to Kate Hudson's portrayal of Isla Gordon. The second season has maintained the same base as season one while adjusting the storyline's overall direction. In addition to being funny, the overall story is becoming more structured, character arcs are getting stronger, and the show is developing a clearer direction. The outcome of these changes has been an overall better-prepared, more mature second season with sharper comedy and deeper character development.
‘Running Point’ Expands Its Core Premise Without Losing Focus
Isla Gordon and her family court side in 'Running Point' Season 2.Image via Netflix
While the show’s premise is set against the backdrop of professional sports, it places more emphasis on how the team’s internal workings affect one another than on the actual athletic action. The core theme of season two is the shift from Isla proving her capability to maintaining her authority as an owner. Isla is now an owner, managing expectations for continued success while contending with the competing interests of her extended family and the organization as a whole.
This change gives the writers the ability to develop more realistic, relatable conflicts because the gravity of your decisions as a leader has a much greater impact on the overall organization (and on the series) than it did in the previous season. The added ability to create a series of events that extend beyond individual episodes has significantly assisted the writers in developing the story for Season 2.
COLLIDER
Collider · Quiz
Collider Exclusive · TV Medicine QuizWhich Fictional Hospital Would You Work Best In?The Pitt · ER · Grey's Anatomy · House · Scrubs
Five hospitals. Five completely different ways medicine goes sideways on television — brutal, chaotic, romantic, brilliant, and ridiculous. Only one of them is the ward your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out exactly where you belong.
🚨The Pitt
🏥ER
💉Grey's
🔬House
🩺Scrubs
QUESTION 1 / 8APPROACH
01
A critical patient comes through the door. What's your first instinct?Medicine under pressure reveals who you actually are.
QUESTION 2 / 8MOTIVATION
02
Why did you go into medicine in the first place?The honest answer says more about you than the one you'd give in an interview.
QUESTION 3 / 8COLLEAGUES
03
What do you actually want from the people you work with?Who you want beside you under pressure is who you are.
QUESTION 4 / 8LOSS
04
You lose a patient you fought hard to save. How do you carry it?Every doctor who's worked a long shift has had to answer this question.
QUESTION 5 / 8STYLE
05
How would your colleagues describe the way you work?Your reputation on the floor is usually more accurate than your self-image.
QUESTION 6 / 8RULES
06
How do you feel about hospital protocol and procedure?Every institution has rules. What you do with them is a choice.
QUESTION 7 / 8TOLL
07
What does this job cost you personally?Nobody works in medicine without paying a price. What's yours?
QUESTION 8 / 8PURPOSE
08
At the end of a long shift, what keeps you coming back?The answer to this question is the most honest thing about you.
Your Assignment Has Been MadeYou Belong In…
Your answers have pointed to one fictional hospital above all others. This is the ward your instincts, your temperament, and your particular brand of dysfunction were built for.
Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center
The Pitt
You are built for the most unsparing version of emergency medicine television has ever shown — one that puts you inside a single fifteen-hour shift and doesn't let you look away.
You need your work to be real, not romanticised — meaning over drama, honesty over aesthetics.
You find purpose inside the work itself, not in the chaos surrounding it.
You've made peace with the fact that this job takes from you constantly, and gives back in ways that are harder to name.
Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center demands exactly that kind of person — and you would not want to be anywhere else.
County General Hospital, Chicago
ER
You are the person who keeps the whole floor running — not the most brilliant in the room, but possibly the most essential.
You show up, do the work, absorb the losses, and come back the next day without needing the job to be anything other than what it is.
You care about patients as individual human beings, not as cases to solve or dramas to live through.
You believe in the system even when it fails you — and you understand that emergency medicine is about holding the line just long enough.
ER is television about endurance. You have it.
Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, Seattle
Grey's Anatomy
You came to medicine with your whole self — your ambition, your emotions, your relationships, your history — and you have never quite managed to leave any of it at the door.
You feel things fully and form deep attachments to the people you work with.
Your personal and professional lives are permanently, chaotically entangled — and that entanglement drives both your greatest disasters and your most remarkable saves.
You understand that extraordinary medicine often happens at the intersection of clinical skill and profound human connection.
It's messy at Grey Sloan. You would not have it any other way.
Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, NJ
House
You are drawn to the problem above everything else — the symptom that doesn't fit, the diagnosis hiding underneath the obvious one.
You're not primarily motivated by the patient as a person — though you are capable of caring, even if you'd deny it.
You work best when the stakes are highest and the standard answer is wrong.
Princeton-Plainsboro exists to house one extraordinary, impossible mind — and everyone around that mind is there because they're smart enough to keep up.
The only way forward here is to think harder than everyone else in the room. That is exactly what you do.
Sacred Heart Hospital, California
Scrubs
You understand that medicine is tragic and absurd in almost equal measure — and that the only sane response is to hold both of those things at the same time.
You are warm, self-aware, and funnier than most people in your field.
You use humour to get through terrible moments — and at Sacred Heart, that's not a flaw, it's a survival strategy.
You lean on the people around you and let them lean back. The laughter and the grief are genuinely inseparable here.
Scrubs is a show about learning to become someone worthy of the job. You are still very much in the middle of that process — which is exactly right.
The Ensemble Cast Strengthens the Series’ Identity
Isla Gordon and Ali Lee sitting at a basketball game together in Running Point.Image via Netflix
While Hudson remains the focal point, Season 2 places greater emphasis on its ensemble. The series has improved by giving the supporting characters fully developed arcs, making it feel like a more even playing field. Ali (Brenda Song) now has her own ambitions and frustrations to pursue in this year's series, and as a result, she becomes an integral part of several storylines that help develop her character. The added development for Jackie (Fabrizio Guido) and Ness (Scott MacArthur) also helps the series build both comedic and narrative momentum throughout the season.
Cam's (Justin Theroux) expanded presence in the Gordon household has created a new source of tension/volatility within the family unit, with his presence on-screen providing consistent tension throughout the entire season, thereby adding to the dysfunctionality aspect of the show's primary narrative source(s) of conflict.
The addition of newcomer Ray Romano (as Coach Norm Stinson) to the supporting cast has brought another layer of tonal complexity to the ensemble. Norm’s storyline has been seamlessly integrated into the overall narrative without disrupting the series' pacing.
Season 2 Finds a Better Balance Between Comedy and Character
Kate Hudson, Scott MacArthur, Drew Tarvey, Fabrizio Guido and Justin Theroux in Running Point.Image via Netflix
Season two focuses on situational comedy and the fast-paced dialogue typically associated with Running Point. However, what is most notable about season two is the connection between the comedy and the character development. Comedy is more frequently connected to the characters themselves and their motivations than ever before, rather than being separate moments of comedy. The result is that both the comedy and the storytelling have a greater impact on the audience as a whole, creating a more unified experience throughout the series.
There is also a deeper emotional connection between the characters, particularly around work-related issues and personal relationships. Isla's place in a male-dominated industry has continued to affect her decision-making and interactions with others throughout the season, creating a subtle yet very effective tension. The combination of these aspects has been executed without affecting the series' pace, making it more accessible while adding more depth than the previous season.
The Series’ Growth Aligns With Its Rising Viewership
Running Point Season 2 Interview | Kate Hudson & Brenda SongImage via Netflix
The increase to 25.2 million hours viewed reflects the series’ improved execution. Running Point benefits from a structure that supports consistent engagement, with tightly paced episodes and interconnected storylines that encourage continued viewing. Its blend of workplace comedy and family drama remains accessible, while the added depth in Season 2 gives audiences a stronger reason to stay invested. The series does not attempt to shift genres or significantly alter its format. Instead, it refines its existing strengths.
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Running Point may not prioritize realism in its portrayal of professional basketball, but its focus on character dynamics and organizational chaos continues to resonate. Season 2 demonstrates a clearer understanding of those strengths, resulting in a more cohesive and engaging series. As it continues to grow its audience, the show’s upward trajectory suggests it is well-positioned to maintain its momentum.
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