TV Reviews : ‘Diamond Life’: Baseball Takes a Back Seat to Art

Imagine ordering a Dodger Dog and being handed some weird nouvelle cuisine sausage arrangement instead. That’s how you might feel after watching “Diamond Life,” an hourlong documentary on Bakersfield’s minor-league baseball team airing today at 9 p.m. on KCET Channel 28 (repeating on Friday at 11 p.m.).

Expecting a few “Bull Durham” high jinks? Do you want to taste life in the boonies? Experience the flavor of this Central Valley purgatory called the California League? Savor the nuts and bolts of the game, the texture of the season?

Sorry. We’ve got serious artists at work here.

There’s nothing wrong with avoiding the obvious, but instead of bringing you into this world, “Diamond Life’s” stylized approach has a distancing effect. Scenes are shot from very far away, preferably with a car obstructing the view. If there’s a chain link fence to focus on, all the better. We get close-ups of caps, shoelaces, washing machines.

When the fans file into the park, we don’t see them, we see their shadows on a stairway wall. Instead of giving us characters to care about, the hour (produced by Ray Farkas) provides glancing acquaintances with a collection of remarkably uncharismatic young players. Intercut are shots of Dodger Stadium, depicted as a hazy Camelot. Dodger veteran Rick Dempsey ruminates, Tom Lasorda blusters, the late commissioner Bart Giamatti rhapsodizes.

The concept of pressure and competition is the main theme, but it’s never enacted on the field. When Bakersfield wins the league championship we feel no triumph. After “Diamond Life” is all over you feel as if you’ve dreamed it rather than seen it.