“I Think You Mean ‘The Boys Club'” – NR’s Review of RED Tv’s “The Men’s Club” Season 1

Asides from impending holiday festivities, one of the most exciting things about the fall/-mber seasons is the return of television. Most of us have been excited to watch Tiwa-Mide return to the screens; but even before their official return in Skinny Girl In Transit Season 5, Mide had already come back in The Men’s Club. 

The Men’s Club (TMC) is a webseries created by REDTv with a new episode released every Monday on YouTube for the past ten weeks. The series centers around 4 young men from different Nigerian tribes (that wazobia effect) and the problems they face in their life. The men are played by Ayoola Ayoola, Baaj Adebule, Daniel Effiong and Efa Iwara . 

Baaj Adebule is Louis Okafor a spoiled mummy’s boy… or just a boy who has never learned to fend for himself? It’s hard to pick a description. However, we will go with the former because the latter is a description that fits all the four men of TMC in some shape or form. Louis’ character is stuck doing a day job that he hates because his mother insists and he is caught up in an engagement to a lovely lady that he insists is not the one for him because the relationship was pre-arranged. To relieve himself of his failed career, he also runs a hotel in the evenings that his mummy bought for him, and said hotel also serves as de-facto location for all his escapades that his mummy did not pre-approve. Phew

Then there is Efa Iwara as Tayo Oladapo. Tayo is unfortunate enough to find himself married to Naomi – a spoiled daddy’s girl who constantly reminds him that everything he has (from the job he goes to, to the car he drives, and the house he lives in) were all given to him by her daddy. I am beginning to think “Failed Parenting Examples” might have been a better title for this series. In his “frustration” (because of-course all frustrated men resort to this, right?) he decides to start fraternizing with Hadiza, played by Enado Odigie – a young lady he meets at work. 

At this point, Tayo thinks he has found the perfect balance to his life. In fact, he might even think he has the best of both worlds. On one side, he has rich wife at home caring for ‘his son’ and having her daddy pay the bills, and on the other hand he has his love interest whose birthday he remembers over his own wife’s. And to be fair, it all seems hunky dory until Tayo’s younger brother comes into town and we come to realize there’s a relationship between little bro and wifey. 

And if you think this Days of our Lives drama can’t possibly get any worse, let me disillusion you real quick by introducing you to Aminu.

Ayoola Ayoola is in familiar territory while still being out of that territory with his character of Aminu. Aminu, like Mide, is again a rich and confident young man running his own company and trying to grow his business. However, unlike Mide, Aminu barely has any interest in respecting the females in his life (such as his fiance Jasmine, played by Sharon Ooja) until he meets the banker. 

He meets this banker at his office when she comes over to complete some transaction. It is at this time that he realizes he likes this girl and, like any reasonable young man would do, he decides the best way to show his affection to her is by having her get sent back to meet him, showing up late for the meeting, then proceeding to insult her by causing her to spend the whole day waiting for him to be ready for said meeting. Who says chivalry is dead? It’s not! It has just taken up a whole new meaning. 

And as if to further buttress our skepticism, there is the character of Lanre Taiwo. Lanre is played by Folarin Daniel Effiong. Lanre is a grown man who seems to be in a happy relationship with his university student girlfriend. He must really like her because he fends off advances from an older cougar-type lady who seems to be using his business as a means to get him in her bed. This character in and of itself and its conflict or lack thereof is a whole post of its own so we’ll move on. 

Please, who thought this shot was a good idea?

Asides from the floundering daytime soap television formula that this show sticks to, it seems as though the production team behind this is creating this for a tasteless audience. Otherwise how does one explain the lighting or the lack thereof from scene to scene. There seems to be a budget and an idea – and you can tell this based on the lead casts and some of the settings – but the execution was a failure. This is the second RED TV series we’ve seen (the first being Our Best Friend’s Wedding), and what’s consistent between both is an absolute disregard for production quality. 

Then there are the performances…

The main leads do a decent enough job of working with the conditions provided them. Ayoola is convincing as lover boy and business man. Efa struggles a bit occasionally but for the most part does a believable job of an oppressed husband. Folarin of life is forever consistent. And we discover a new side to Baaj Adebule with his strength in portraying Louis here. Then there is Enado and Sharon who also do well but from there onwards, all is questionable. How do you explain the performances of Patrick? Of Naomi? Or of Tonye? 

All in all, The Men’s Club, was an adequate filler but was overly dependent on its formulaic storyline without any attempt at producing a memorable web series. 

Check out our review of TMC S3 E1-5 HERE