Has Jordan Found the Model for a Great Branded Web Series?

The buddy cop formula just works. Stick the right two guys together, let them riff off one another, and odds are you have a hit.

Los Angles Clippers stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul have some amazing on-court chemistry, and ever since they teamed up in 2011, the two have dominated NBA highlight reels with Griffin’s signature dunks and Paul’s precise and creative passes. Now, Griffin and Paul are taking that chemistry off-the-court to Jordan’s new branded web series, “BGCP3TV in HD.”

Co-created and co-written by Chapelle’s Show veteran Neal Brennan, the series features some legitimately hilarious sketches in the vein of contemporary comedies such as “Loiter Squad” and “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!“—sans the over-the-top wackiness that makes those latter shows a little less accessible.

So far, Jordan has released two episodes—with more potentially on the way. Fittingly, both episodes premiered on Adult Swim in consecutive weeks before going on YouTube for all to see.

Probably the highlight of the series is the second sketch in Episode 2, in which Griffin and Paul, plus special guest Jabari Parker, try to “scare straight” some adorable kids from wanting to become basketball stars—mostly with some less than effective tactics.

“You think it’s easy being able to buy whatever you want?” mocks Griffin at one point. “Do you know how many things there are to buy in this world?”

The shows purposefully cumbersome name, highlighted by street interviews of people attempting its pronunciation, and those patented Adult Swim-style transitions help round out the humorous presentation.

Throughout the series Griffin and Paul display some solid acting chops—Griffin in particular has repeatedly shown he’s a multi-talented entertainer with a legitimate shot at an acting career once he retires. Brennen backed up that claim in Nike’s press release for the series: “There are a lot of funny athletes out there, but it’s rare that you see a guy like Blake—I can honestly say he’s an actor who just happens to be an amazing basketball player.”

With real talent and a creative strategy that calls for humor to trump branding, Jordan was able to promote their new Super.Fly 3 sneaker without being obnoxious. The show never pretends like it isn’t an ad, embracing the absurdity of promotion with purposefully hammed up mentions of the shoe.

Griffin even begins the second episode by mentioning that “more and more people are getting into the content game.” As long as that means more series like this, then we’re all for it.